Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office mistakenly sent a confidential 45-page document to multiple news organizations on Thursday afternoon.
The first page of the document says “May contain confidential information including attorney work product” in all capital letters. It details evidence in cases, including listing manslaughter or homicide cases in which suspects, named in the document, have not yet been criminally charged.
The cases have explicit, unreleased details about how the person was killed, additional injuries and evidence police have gathered in the cases.
The sharing of such confidential investigative details could jeopardize uncharged cases by tipping off suspects named in the document. It also raises the question of how the document was sent to 76 people, including a public works director and the sister of a murder victim.
It can also taint juries for the cases that have been charged, Maine Commission on Public Defense Services Executive Director Frayla Tarpinian said when told about the email.
“Oh my god,” Tarpinian said. “That’s a huge issue. I’m sure they’re scrambling right now.”
The email was sent by senior paralegal Kristy Winslow, seemingly intended for lawyers and investigators connected to the cases. The email asked people to update their cases for a criminal division report and she attached an example from August.
In response to the initial email, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Bogue replied to all email recipients, telling people to update the list for any changes since July.
Both Winslow and Bogue tried to recall their emails after they were originally sent.
Frey’s office sent another email 32 minutes later instructing recipients to delete the documents. Any disclosure of information from the documents could endanger the investigations and safety of people, spokesperson Danna Hayes said.
“The inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information by this office was a mistake and we own that,” Hayes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, a distribution list reserved to push public information out to the media was accidentally used. We will learn from this error and are working hard to ensure this does not negatively impact the significant work we do on behalf of the people of Maine.”
There are legal protections around what documents are released while investigations are ongoing to protect the process as well as to shield people who may be accused but not actually involved, Tarpinian said.
“From a defense standpoint, I would love to know what the police have about somebody who’s going to be my client,” Tarpinian said. “My client having information about what the police know or have is incredibly helpful in shaping defense.”
For cases already going through the legal system, the defense attorneys should in theory already have all the evidence contained within the document, Tarpinian said. She was concerned to hear that homicide cases in which juveniles are charged are included in the document.
If a case remains in juvenile court, the person is supposed to be rehabilitated and released, which could be jeopardized by these details, she said. However, that concern lessens if the person is bound over to adult court.