Court Limits Penal Code § 502: Sharing Public Court Records Not a Crime, Appeals Court Rules

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Penal Code § 502(c)(2); Illegally Accessing and Using Confidential Computer Data: 

Rule:  Penal Code § 502(c)(2) does not make criminal a person’s use of confidential personnel computerized files when the same information is also available via non-confidential sources, such as public court records.   

Facts: Diana Maria Teran, petitioner in this post-preliminary examination motion to dismiss pursuant to Pen. Code § 995, had been an employee of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) from 2015 to 2018, working as a “constitutional policing advisor.”  In this capacity, she was tasked with providing advice about the “best practices” for running LASD in a manner “consistent with . . . constitutionally supported polic[e] activities.” She also assisted with efforts to ensure compliance with LASD’s discovery obligations pursuant to Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83, which requires law enforcement to take the initiative in providing criminal defendants with any potentially material exculpatory information. 

In order to execute her responsibilities in this regard, Teran reviewed and tracked complaints, investigations, and discipline involving deputies employed by LASD, accessing this information in several ways. For instance, Teran had access to LASD’s Performance Recording and Monitoring System (PRMS), a computer database that contained personnel information, including information about complaints against sheriff’s deputies, materials compiled during a resulting investigation, findings of fact made by investigators, and documents stemming from civil service proceedings such as court decisions following an appeal filed by a deputy or LASD. Teran also reviewed similar information that LASD maintained in an excel spreadsheet tracking deputies’ disciplinary proceedings. In addition to all this, other LASD employees e-mailed to Teran court documents from proceedings in which deputies challenged civil service commission decisions.  Teran further required that her assistant download files from PRMS and share them with her through either e-mail or a shared drive.

Teran quit this job in November, 2018, joining the Los Angeles District ....