NEFAC Legal Fund Supporting Son’s Search for Answers About Mother’s Death
The New England First Amendment Coalition is suing the Narragansett Police Department for access to records that could answer questions about the 2021 death of Narragansett resident Liliana Turano-Morris.
NEFAC and Turano-Morris’s son William Soares are challenging the police department’s refusal to provide any documents related to the death or its investigation, despite being largely public records under Rhode Island law.
The case is being supported by the NEFAC Legal Fund which is used exclusively for journalism and open government litigation within the six New England states.
On April 13, 2021, Turano-Morris was found dead by her husband in their bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head and her husband’s handgun beside her. According to information provided to her son by police officers, two other gunshots had been fired, one in a chair and one high up the wall in the cathedral ceiling style bedroom.
According to Soares, the authorities ruled her death a suicide, but there was no suicide note, she had plans to meet a friend for lunch that day, and she had texted Soares that morning asking for advice on COVID-19 vaccines.
To date, the police department has refused to release a single record relating to Turano-Morris’s death despite multiple requests.
“For five years, the people who loved Liliana have lived without answers. She deserved a thorough investigation, an honest record, and law enforcement agencies willing to show their work,” Soares said. “This lawsuit is a step toward the truth — not just for me, but for everyone who loved her and for every Rhode Islander who trusts that their government will be honest about matters of life and death.”
Records of a public agency such as a police department are presumptively public under Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (“APRA”). The Narragansett Police Department is citing, among other reasons, privacy interests to keep the requested records secret under APRA.
Rhode Island law, however, doesn’t generally recognize the privacy interests of the deceased and any interests that might exist are outweighed by the case’s great public interest. They have also cited the exemption that allows an agency to withhold records relating to criminal investigations, without providing any details about any investigation whatsoever.
“This is exactly the kind of government opacity the APRA exists to prevent,” wrote NEFAC and Soares in their Aug. 6 complaint.
“Privacy does not outlive the individual,” NEFAC and Soares explained in their lawsuit. APRA’s investigative exemption “is not a blank check for a department to lock away an entire case file.”
The coalition and Soares are represented by attorneys Mackenzie C. McBurney and Alexa T. Millinger at Hinckley Allen.
The NEFAC Legal Fund was established last year with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
NEFAC is the region’s leading defender of the First Amendment and open government. The coalition began in 2006 to advance and protect the five freedoms of the First Amendment, including the principle of the public’s right to know. We’re a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of an informed democratic society.
Our coalition is funded through contributions made by those who value the First Amendment and who strive to keep government accountable. Please make a donation here.
NEFAC appreciates the support of all its donors and contributors. In particular, we would like to recognize the Estate of Gloria L. Negri, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the following Leadership Circle donors: Rhode Island Foundation, The Boston Globe, Paul and Ann Sagan, The Harbus Foundation, Boston University, the Champa Charitable Foundation and the Robertson Foundation. Major Supporters of NEFAC’s work include Hearst Connecticut Media Group, Gravel & Shea PC, the Academy of New England Journalists, and Truro News.