Sherwood District Court Judge "Butch" Hale gives a LRPD cop break for illegally using ACIC access and his clerk refuses to provide court records pursuant to an AFOIA request
Rogue LRPD cop McWayne gets a pass from Judge Hale and his clerk, Grace Gault, won't release public records. |
In August of 2021, LRPD cop Miles McWayne was involved in a domestic dispute with his baby mama, Brittnay Wiles. Wiles had moved on and had a new boyfriend, Stephen Babb. McWayne wasn't happy about the new relationship and he illegally accessed records concerning Babb on the Arkansas Crime Information Center ("ACIC") database.
Babb filed a complaint and LRPD conducted an internal and criminal investigation and charged were filed against the rogue cop.
The case was initially filed in Little Rock District Court, but was subsequently transferred to Sherwood District Court after Judge Melanie Martin recused. Martin is a friend to LRPD cops and doesn't want to deal with their fuck-ups to keep her relationship with them on good terms.
Judge Hale's actions in this case sends a clear message to other LRPD cops that they can do the same thing and don't have to worry because he has their back.
Hale is no stranger to shady practices, in fact a lawsuit was filed against him by the ACLU back in 2016 that claimed he ran a "debtor's prison".
That lawsuit was settled in November 2017.
Those "practices go way back", no doubt refers to the Hale Dynasty at the Sherwood District Court.
We sent a FOI request for a copy of all filings in case to the Sherwood District Court Clerk as there are no viewable records on the CourtConnect website.
They illegally denied our request claiming "it's an open case".
Our Russ Racop is busy preparing yet another AFOIA Denial of Rights complaints.
McWayne is still to this day on Administrative Leave from LRPD, with pay.
LRPD cops enjoy protection afforded by the agreement the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police has with the City of Little Rock. It's almost impossible to fire a LRPD cop for any infraction. It's a long drawn out process that keeps a paycheck coming. More about that in an upcoming story.
Good news is that Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins does not follow LRPD's game plan. A similar incident happened with one of of his detention deputies. The Sheriff does not play.
***UPDATE - 4/27/22 11:46 a.m. ***
We made a verbal FOI request to the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney this morning for a copy of their case file concerning the McWayne case. They illegally denied our request with the same "open case" bullshit.
We sent this reply.
Stay tuned, this is going to be a fun day.
*** UPDATE - 4/27/22 3:30 p.m. ***
After a contentious email exchange with the Sherwood District Court Clerk, she decided to comply with the law and provide the public records we requested.
We also spoke with the director of the Arkansas Crime Information Center, Brad Cazort about illegal use of the ACIC database.
We asked him about sanctions his agency could apply to individuals that misuse the system. He told us that such individual can be denied access and in order to have it reinstated they have to make that request before the ACIC Board.
Cazort said that in all the years he has worked at ACIC only two individuals have sought reinstatement of privileges after they had been revoked.
Cazort said was it denied in once instance and granted in the other subject to certain restrictions.
Perhaps this will be a factor with LRPD and their continued employment of McWayne.