MD’s highest court takes records case

Maryland’s highest court has agreed to hear a case involving the state’s public records law and whether it requires Maryland State Police to turn over records involving a trooper who used a racial slur.

The court said Wednesday it would take the case of Teleta Dashiell, who filed a complaint after a Maryland State Police trooper accidentally left her a telephone message containing a racial slur. After she complained, Dashiell was told in a letter that that “appropriate disciplinary action” had been taken and was documented in the trooper’s personnel file. But when Dashiell filed a Maryland Public Information Act request to learn more, the agency told her no records could be released.

The Court of Appeals, Maryland’s highest court, will likely hear arguments in May.