State Ex Rel. Richards v. Foust

This case presents two questions. The first question concerns whether the attorney general's office has jurisdiction to represent the district attorney, and the second deals with whether closed prosecutorial files are exempt from public access under open records law. We hold that the attorney general's office has the authority to represent the district attorney. We also hold that prosecutorial files are exempt from public access. We thereby reverse the holding of the *431court of appeals.1

On March 24, 1989, Harlan Richards submitted to Dane County District Attorney C. William Foust, a written…