| Matter of Rodriguez v Johnson |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 07468 [66 AD3d 536] |
| October 20, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Elias Rodriguez, Appellant, v Robert T.Johnson, Respondent, et al., Respondents. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Andrew S. Holland of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (David Stadtmauer, J.), entered January 27, 2006,denying petitioner's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) application to compel respondentDistrict Attorney, inter alia, to disclose certain documents pertaining to petitioner's criminalprosecution, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
We affirm for reasons different from those stated by the CPLR article 78 court. We find thatrespondent met its obligations under FOIL (Public Officers Law § 84 et seq.).Respondent satisfied the requirements of Public Officers Law § 89 (3) by certifying that ithad conducted a diligent search for the documents it could not locate (see Matter of Bridgewater v Johnson,44 AD3d 549 [2007]). It properly deleted identifying characteristics of witnesses fromcertain documents on the ground that disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion ofpersonal privacy (see Public Officers Law § 87 [2] [b]). It properly withheld,pursuant to the public interest privilege, the statements of two witnesses who spoke with lawenforcement personnel (see Sanchez v City of New York, 201 AD2d 325 [1994]).Respondent was not required to provide either reprints of photographs (Matter of Adams vHirsch, 182 AD2d 583 [1992]) or duplicative documents (see Matter of Cobb vLombardi, 261 AD2d 172 [1999]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Buckley, Catterson, Freedmanand Abdus-Salaam, JJ.