As I wrote in the last blog I published I am presently awaiting a records request that I made to the Keene, NH Police Department on 1/21/25. That request was made in the form of a letter to the Keene Police Chief, Steve Stewart.
I received an email response from Assistant Cheshire County Attorney Tim Donovan on 1/24/25 that they were unable to locate the records I was seeking. I reiterated in an email response that same day that I was looking for all department records that pertain to Mr. Robert Lamontagne. On 1/27/25 Attorney Donovan responded that the request was being forwarded to the Keene Police Records Department for fulfilment. Oddly, Attorney Donovan also responded that they were not treating my request as a “91-A” records request.
New Hampshire RSA 91-A is New Hampshire’s “Right-to-Know” law that requires that governmental entities respond promptly and provide most records when they are requested. The law itself in section 91-A:4, IV. (b)(3) requires that the Keene Police provide a written statement of the time reasonably required to fulfill the records request if they cannot immediately provide the requested records. By saying the government was not treating my records request as a “91-A” request, Attorney Donovan conveniently avoided having to tell me how long it would take to prepare Mr. Lamontagne’s records for release.
I reached back out to Attorney Donovan a month after the request on February 21, 2025 asking what the status of the records request. I was told by Attorney Donovan that he personally had seen the Records Department working on my request but that he did not have any further information.
Frustrated, weeks later, I just recently reached back out to Attorney Donovan on March 8, 2025 with the following email:
Hi Attorney Donovan.
Having not heard back from you or the Keene Police Department Records Division I am compelled to ask you the following question:
Why did you (the government) decide not to treat the records request I made as a 91-A request? What legal authority do you rely on for this?
I realize that I didn’t quote or reference 91-A in my letter to the Chief of Police, but given that 91-A is so well known in New Hampshire to be controlling for such requests it simply made sense to me that the Chief would perceive the request as such.
As you are most definitely aware, 91-A requests have codified timeframes associated with them. According to RSA 91-A:4, IV. the government has five days to respond with an estimate of the necessary time needed to fulfil the request. I received no estimate which in my view makes the City of Keene quite possibly in violation of the law.
Mr. Lamontagne and I have been very patient with this request due to the fact that his records might be extensive given the seriousness of the case he was involved in. Our patience has been exhausted though as we are both determined to investigate his case and convictions to see if any post-sentence relief is warranted.
Given that the nature of the post-sentence investigation is circled around allegations of prosecutorial and investigative misconduct, Mr. Lamontagne and I can’t help but be suspicious as to what the real motivation is for not providing these records.
The last thing I really want to do is file a lawsuit against the City of Keene for failure to properly transact 91-A requests…Â but I will if I have to.
If you could please give me some sort of explanation that I can provide to Mr. Lamontagne I would be very appreciative.
I hope we can resolve this without having to go to court.
Respectfully,
Bradley
After sending it, I realized I made an error in my email. I actually *did* include a reference to RSA Chapter 91-A in my original letter to Keene Police Chief Stewart. I actually had made it pretty clear that I was making an official 91-A request.
I inform you all of this update as it looks like I may have to file a lawsuit against the Keene Police Department to get the records I’m looking for to assist Rob with defending his case. Quite frankly, the taxpayers of the City of Keene shouldn’t have to foot the bill to defend this as it is so blatantly obvious that the Keene Police are stalling with this request.
Think about it…Â if it works out that a court agrees that Rob’s due process rights were actually violated by the State failing to disclose the lead investigators credibility issues (a “Brady” violation), think about all the other defendants out there who could challenge convictions obtained by Detective James McLaughlin where they too weren’t told that he was placed on the EES for quite literally falsifying records. Boy would that be costly and embarrassing for various government agencies if convictions began to fall.
It is my personal opinion that Keene Police Chief Stewart should have to personally pay to defend against me for most likely having to sue them for violating 91-A.
The Department should know better.
