According to Deadspin, MSU is reportedly suing ESPN in an attempt to withhold a portion of sexual assault reports, filed by university police, from a public records request. The school’s lawsuit stemmed from a request by the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, which asked the school not to turn over certain reports, because the prosecutors have yet to determine whether they will press charges against those named in the reports.
Michigan State sues ESPN to withhold sexual assault police reports from network's public records request: https://t.co/BvCEMJRcEH pic.twitter.com/ylRPTRF70Q
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) May 4, 2017
According to the Lansing State Journal, ESPN’s information request called for Michigan State to turn over “all police reports containing allegations of sexual assault since Dec. 10, 2016, as well as records of arrests made between Feb. 6 and Feb. 9.” The request was filed on Feb. 10, the day after the school announced that three Michigan State players and one staff member, Curtis Blackwell, were suspended pending the results of a sexual assault investigation.
On Apr. 24, per the State Journal, assistant prosecuting attorney Lisa McCormick wrote Michigan State’s police department asking them to deny ESPN’s request, reasoning that the office was still determining whether to charge parties involved in the reports.
