A few weeks ago courtesy of Mlive.com we brought you the news that the FBI had filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by the Insane Clown Posse. On September 13th, attorneys from the Bloomfield Hills-based law firm, Hertz Schram responded to the motion by stating that the FBI has not released all of the requested information and they question the adequacy of the bureau’s search for documents.
According to attorneys from Hertz Schram they received 156 pages of documents while the website MuckRock.com received only 121 pages pertaining to the classification of Juggalos as a gang. They also state while MuckRock Production received less documents they received 16 pages that were omitted from the documents sent to them. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for November 7th in Flint U.S. District Court.
You can read the full article from Mlive.com below.
FLINT, MI — Attorneys for the Insane Clown Posse say the Federal Bureau of Investigation is withholding information they requested to explore why federal law enforcement officials decided to label the band’s followers a gang.
The FBI filed a motion for summary disposition Friday, Aug. 23, after the Detroit-based rap duo and its Bloomfield Hills-based law firm, Hertz Schram, filed a lawsuit in September 2012 in Flint U.S. District Court demanding the FBI turn over information that led the agency to list the band’s fans — known as Juggalos — as a gang.
The lawsuit claims the band asked the FBI, through an Aug. 24 Freedom of Information Act request, for information about the National Gang Intelligence Center’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment Emerging Trends report.
The FBI argued in its motion to dismiss, which was filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, that the bureau turned over all pertinent records in two separate releases. However, attorneys from Hertz Schram claim in their Friday, Sept. 13, response that the FBI has not released all of the requested information and they question the adequacy of the bureau’s search for documents.
Attorneys representing the band could not be reached for comment.
READ: The documents the FBI released to Hertz Schram
FBI officials declined to comment on the allegations.
The band’s attorneys point to a March 11, 2012, FOIA request filed by the website MuckRock.com as proof that the FBI is not releasing all of the information sought by FOIA requests submitted by the band’s attorneys.
MuckRock, which operates as a proxy service for individuals filing FOIA requests, submitted the request on behalf of a user, which the band’s attorneys claim is “substantively identical” though differently worded than the band’s request.
However, the band’s attorneys argue in their response to the government’s summary disposition motion that the 156-page response the band received and the 121-page response the MuckRock user received were different.
“Despite its smaller size, the MuckRock Production includes 16 pages of documents that were omitted from the Hertz Schram Production — including FBI reports regarding incidents in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Springfield, Ill.,” according to the filing by the band’s attorneys.
READ: The documents the FBI released to MuckRock.com
“The difference in content between the productions undermines the integrity of the procedures utilized in compiling them, and raises questions as to whether the Hertz Schram production is indeed the product of a good faith search for records by the FBI,” the band’s attorneys argue in their response. “It is entirely reasonable for one to believe that a hypothetical third request regarding the classification and activities of the alleged Juggalo ‘gang’ would yield yet another inconsistent FOIA production.”
Devin Schindler, a professor at Lansing-based Cooley Law School, said questions such as whether the government has acted in bad faith when fulfilling a FOIA request are typically answered during a trial and are not resolved during a summary disposition hearing.
Schindler said FOIA law calls for the government to release the documents but there are about a dozen exceptions that allow the government to exercise judgment on what it will release. He said differing documents could have been produced if different government FOIA coordinators handled the requests and interpreted the exemptions differently, if one coordinator searched more extensively for documents than the other or simply acted in bad faith.
Either way, Schindler said, the fact that two different sets of documents were released raises questions.
“There’s strong evidence something went wrong in the system,” Schindler said.
The band has defended its followers since its inclusion in the 2011 report.
“We are not a gang! We are a family!” an expletive-laden statement released by the band following the filing of the lawsuit said. “We come together for our luv of the Insane Clown Posse, Psychopathic Records, and our Juggalo pride.”
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Nov. 7 in Flint U.S. District Court.
Faygoluvers Comments
wonka69
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 24th, 2013 08:53 pm GMT -5 at 8:53 pm
psy. fuked up! they should have never tried 2 battle the government! you can’t win! you beat the f.b.i.,the i.r.s. gonna be up that ass!
LTB
Comment posted on Wednesday, September 25th, 2013 12:22 pm GMT -5 at 12:22 pm
I walked in the recruiters office yesterday with an AJB t shirt, a hatchetman necklace, and a hatchetman flatbill. Not a word of gang anything came up. Then again, my dad was with me in full police uniform.
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