Here's a link to an opinion dated yesterday (3/5/25) from the Arkansas Court of Appeals in the case of Deakins v. Coger. (I filed suit in Washington County Circuit Court Coger v. Deakins). I won a judgment against the county and the county appealed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals (after the Washington County Quorum Court appropriated $20,000.00 to hire outside attorneys for the appeal work.)
This is another win for attorney Steve Zega against the county, for me, and for everyone who values our Arkansas Freedom of Information Act law, but unfortunately at a cost to Washington County taxpayers.
If you just read the opinion and what County Judge Deakins said, you might think this was a one time incident. It was not. That's why I am writing this update.
I had been fighting for access to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC) meetings for years - at least since 2019. To be fair to the current administration, that started when Joseph Wood was county judge and he closed the meetings to the public.
When Deakins became county judge in January 2023, I met with him and Lance Johnson on 1/27/23. I left that meeting thinking we were going to be able to work together. He told me I should, "Pick my battles and decide which hill I'm willing to die on."
The week before or immediately after the meeting that triggered the lawsuit (but before the lawsuit was filed) there was another CJCC meeting where the same thing happened, i.e., we were told the Zoom link didn't work and the meeting was closed to the public. I contacted Deakins before both meetings and asked him to instruct the CJCC coordinator to follow the law. He told me to contact the organizer. On 2/7/23 I told him I would "remedy it as you suggest." That's when I finally realized nothing was going to change under the new administration.
In any event, the 2/7/23 violation of AFOIA was the straw that broke the camel's back. After years of being denied access and the county just blatantly violating the law again and agian, I hired Mr. Zega and filed the lawsuit. I was fed up with their arrogant behaviour and disregard for the law. When I’m done with something, I’m done.
Below you will find a message string between me and Deakins from 2023. The latter part of this text string occurred after the lawsuit was filed, but the first screenshot on the message is Deakins’ response to me after I contacted him about the 2/7/23 meeting and he did nothing.
Months prior to that, in May of 2022, Senator Greg Leding requested and received this opinion from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office No. 2021-088 which said, among other things, that the "CJCC meetings must be open to the public." (my emphasis):
"Section 14-14-109 requires that “[a]ll meetings of a county government governing body, board, committee, or any other entity created by, or subordinate to, a county government shall be open to the public.”[2] That statute’s coverage is not limited to “governing” bodies in contrast to the FOIA.[3] Instead, it is much broader, and particularly relevant here, it applies “any … entity created by, or subordinate to, a county government.”
Applying that standard to your description of the CJCC, it is apparent that this committee is an “entity created by, or subordinate to, a county government.” Consequently, under section 14-14-109, the CJCC’s meeting must be open to the public.[4]"
To be clear, you should know that the county, Judge Deakins, the county attorneys, and the CJCC coordinator and members had several chances to heed requests for public meetings, follow the law, and not violate AFOIA. They chose not to do that.
You can read the entire trial transcript which contains all the testimony at trial and where Deakins admits that he wanted the CJCC meetings to be private. Deakins said at trial it was because that's what the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recommended, but I haven't seen that anywhere in NCSC study. The study actually promotes transparency:
"Develop and implement a communication policy for your CJCC and for each criminal
justice agency that encourages responsible transparency." P. 7 NCSC Study
"Good change management involves transparency, education, communication and relationship-building to bring everyone together around a shared vision, and
motivates individuals to bring that vision to life." P. 90
Read the full NCSC study here and the CJCC recommendation starts on page 93:
"NCSC recommends the development and implementation of a CJCC for Washington County
that includes decision-making representatives from county, courts, prosecution, defense,
probation, law enforcement, detention, service providers, and community members." P. 93
"Develop and implement a communication policy for your CJCC and for each criminal justice
agency that encourages responsible transparency." P. 95
Communication should be proactive, clear, concise, timely, written at a 4th grade reading level, available in multiple languages, and accessible to those with visual, audial, and processing impairments or disorders, and include information on ways to provide feedback. Utilize mediums that will reach multiple and different types of constituents. Revisit your policies and procedures at least annually. P. 95-96
Mr. Steve Zega, my attorney, has been in trial yesterday and today. Thus, I have not had a chance to discuss the opinion with him, but this case was expensive to file and to fight it on appeal. One of my first questions to him will be whether I am able to recover my attorney fees and costs from the county.
Stay tuned.
This is great news. Alarming and sad that public inclusion and transparency is even an issue in our county government. I so appreciate the time, expense and effort to fight this on everyone's behalf.