Aaron Malin had yet to enter law school when he filed his first open records request under Missouri’s Sunshine Law. What began as a researcher’s curiosity — he sought records of communication between Cole County prosecutor Mark Richardson and a Missouri drug task force — has become a decade-long campaign for government transparency.
Although a judge ordered Richardson to produce the records in 2017, Malin is still waiting. He now works as a legal consultant with a St. Louis law firm.
“I made three separate requests over the course of a few months, and [Richardson] acted as though it was just beneath him,” Malin said on St. Louis on the Air.
Malin connected early with a legal ally, Dave Roland, an attorney and the director of litigation for the Missouri Freedom Center. Their partnership ultimately led to dozens of Sunshine lawsuits filed across Missouri, including in St. Louis.
“Aaron called us at just the right time, and he mentioned that he had submitted requests to about a dozen of these task forces and was getting stonewalled entirely by some of them. A couple of them even tried to deny that they existed at all,” Roland said. “At the end of several years of effort on that front, we did firmly establish that these multijurisdictional drug task forces are indeed subject to Missouri Sunshine Law.”
The next step is actually obtaining those records. Last week, Roland filed a motion for civil contempt against the Cole County prosecuting attorney’s office.
“It is absolutely clear they have not been complying with the court's order,” Roland said. “Now the question is, will the court actually hold them to account?”
To hear the full conversation about Missouri’s Sunshine Law and Aaron Malin and Dave Roland’s 10-year effort to obtain records from the state’s drug task forces, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
