HUNTINGTON — A South Charleston freelance reporter is suing Cabell Circuit Clerk Jeffrey Hood and Cabell County Prosecutor Sean "Corky" Hammers alleging they denied him access to court records and documents.
On May 12, 2016, Jay Lawrence Smith went to Cabell Circuit Court and used the public access terminal to check the status of pending cases and found four cases he wanted to look at, one of which involved Hood, according to one of the complaints filed in Cabell Circuit Court.
Smith claims Janet Call McCoy refused to pull the cases for him when he requested to see them and told him, "You have enough blogs as it is." A few minutes later, McCoy taped a piece of paper to the window that said, "We no longer pull case files." He claims the policy was enacted illegally and out of spite.
Smith claims as he was leaving the courthouse he was brought into a bear hug by Doug West, a court security officer, and told not to come back. He later requested the documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
In the second lawsuit, Smith claims he contacted the prosecutor's office on Feb. 5, 2018, regarding moonlighting by attorneys and requested documents, but was told there were no documents pertaining to the information he requested.
Smith claims Hammers also failed to answer follow-up requests.
Smith is seeking the documents and court cases he requested in both cases. He is representing himself.
Cabell Circuit Court case numbers: 21-C-212, 21-C-213