The ACLU of Nebraska and the Media Freedom Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School filed a lawsuit on behalf of journalist Emily Bazelon and web-based magazine Slate, alleging that the Lincoln Police Department failed to comply with Nebraska’s Public Records Act.
The lawsuit stemmed from a police report filed in June of 2004 by an alleged rape victim. To the victim’s knowledge, no thorough investigation was conducted due to the prominence in Nebraska athletics of the alleged perpetrator. Nearly ten years later, the rape case was marked open even though charges have never been filed. A letter from the victim to LPD from Nov. 2013 requested that the case be marked closed and the records released to Emily.
The victim contacted Emily due to a series of articles written by Emily on the subject of rape by college players. In a Dec. 2013 article, Emily expressed concerns about the lack of prosecutions in such cases.
In June, 2014, the Lincoln Police Department granted the alleged victim access to the records and the lawsuit was settled.
