Sunshine Law? Oh wait that gets thrown out anytime a judge decides it should regardless of what the law says.

To release that tape would be sick. I hope the prosecution has other evidence.

What reasons are there to release the tape?

I may be wrong but I think the sunshine law applies to public officials meeting in secret. would not really apply here?

I would hate to see this video released. It would be a terrible thing for the victim's family to endure.

I do believe that the judge has the authority to keep this video out of the public if necessary.

Why are the media outlets so interested in seeing this video? Crime sells I guess. Sad.

The Sunshine Law requires open public records. Records are considered anything that is written or taped, video or audio, whether in electronic or hardcopy form, that is in the government's possession. That is why government e-mail accounts and meeting records are included in public access. Thank God there are a few exceptions, such as addresses and phone numbers of law enforcement or corrections officers and information pertinent to an ongoing criminal investigation.

Sunshine law applies to ALL public records. This would include any evidence in a trial.

In my opinion absolutely NO evidence of ANY trial should be released to the public until the jury has come back with a verdict. This would prevent the contamination of the jury when selected. So anything beyond "Mr. So and So has been arrested for such and such and will go to trial in November." Is all the media should be allowed to put out there. No Defence Attorneys screaming their client is innocent or Prosecuting Attorneys screaming the Defendant is guilty until the trial is over.

I, like most, can see no legitimate reason to get a copy of the video in question for personal use. I also dread to think what it would do to the family members if they happened to see it.

But it comes down to one thing. Do we have a Sunshine law or do we not? Most hailed the Sunshine law as a good thing when it first came into effect. Since then we have seen the slow but constant eclipsing of that law by people in the Judicial system.

We have seen in the last five years or so the slow but sure advancement of the shadows into our public records. In the past, as in this case, it has been done for what appears to be the best of reasons. To spare the families any more heartbreak or emotional distress.

We start with Autopsy photos being hidden to spare the family.

We move to hiding a video tape of a family member being murdered.

Next we hide video footage of someone being severly beaten.

We constantly lower the bar until it becomes too detrimental to the family to see their loved one, who is an elected official, in a secret meeting taking money from someone else.

All of this legislated from the bench so to speak. It is not in the Judges job description to decide what the laws are. It is his job to keep the trial fair for both sides. He can decide whether or not this video is legitimate evidence or should be kept out of the trial as such. He does not get to decide what is and is not public records. That would require a different trial completely if not direct legislation from actual elected law makers.

We have all seen examples of this throughout the years. A good law finally goes into effect and its suddenly "let's make an exception there", "we should put in an exemption here", "since it does not count there or here we can allow a free pass in this area also", only to continue until the law means absolutely nothing to anyone who can keep up with the precedents.

What reason to release the tape? Only that if you want a transparent government it has to be transparent at all times in all cases.

Executions are recorded in Florida yet the public can not gain access to the material. Why should the murder of a decent young man be available to all the creeps out there who thrive on the macabre. On the other hand, take the two idiots who murdered this young man out into the street and put a bullet into them, thats justice in it's simplest form and it should be on the 6 o'clock news.

While I am always strongly in favor of the open record laws there is the occasional exception. This is one. There is no reason that the media needs to see this at this time. Possibly after the trial is over then that may an appropriate time to see all the evidence but not now.

This reminds me of when several media outlets insisted on the release of the pictures of the autopsy of Dale Earnheart Sr after his death. They carried on for a long time that they had the right to see those. The court system never did release the pictures.

There are just some things that do not need to be made public.