JUDGE: ATTORNEY CAN HEAR ZIMMERMAN 9-1-1 TAPE
Friday, November 28th, 2008 -- 9:14 AM
A media attorney will be able to listen to a 9-1-1 call made by a UW-Madison student at the time she was murdered.21-year-old Brittany Zimmerman of Marshfield was killed in her Madison apartment April 2.
The handling of her 9-1-1 call was botched, but details of the call have been kept secret.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard G. Niess ruled Wednesday the attorney can listen to a 911 call made from her cell phone, but that he cannot disclose its content to his clients or anyone else.
The judge will rule later on whether the tape should be released publicly.
He said he is inclined to order the release of other records withheld by Dane County - including a fuller version of a report on mistakes made at the county's 911 center, but he wants to hear more from the county on reasons to keep them secret.
Dispatcher Rita Gahagan said she couldn't hear anything on the call and hung up. Gahagan did not call Zimmermann's phone back, as required under county policy, and did not dispatch police.
Officials later said there were sounds on the 90-second tape that should have prompted the police to be dispatched.
The Journal Sentinel and other media outlets were denied copies of the 911 tape, and they sued Dane County under the state open records law on May 13.
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