Nevada Supreme Court rules records in open criminal cases are not automatically shielded from public records requests

What happened

The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a request to adopt a blanket rule that would keep records in open criminal cases away from the public, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The decision was unanimous. The justices said creating exemptions to the Nevada Public Records Act is a job for the Legislature, not the court.

In a footnote, the court wrote that the city of Sparks had presented "no compelling reasons for what would effectively rewrite our NPRA jurisprudence," according to the Review-Journal.

How the case started

A 2023 traffic stop

The dispute traces back to a 2023 traffic stop involving Reno police Officer Tyler Baehr. According to the court's opinion, as reported by the Review-Journal, Baehr took Erica Bluth's phone during the stop, viewed her photo gallery and used his own phone to "capture intimate materials found there."

Baehr has denied the allegations. He has been charged in federal court with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, the Review-Journal reported.

The records requests

Bluth was later interviewed by police and filed public records requests with both Sparks and Reno. She sought items including reports, body-camera footage and communications containing her name. Sparks had taken over the investigation.

Reno said it had nothing responsive to her requests for reports and body-camera footage, but it identified 40 potentially responsive emails. Bluth asked for 14 of them, and Reno refused, citing concerns related to active litigation. Sparks also denied her request for similar reasons.

The lower court order

Bluth and her attorney sued the cities. In February 2025, Washoe County District Judge Barry Breslow ordered that Bluth receive redacted records pertaining to her. Lawyers for Sparks argued that the judge "abused (his) discretion" by ordering partial disclosure and said the order should be reversed.

Who backed the secrecy rule

At oral arguments in August, Sparks Senior Assistant City Attorney Mariah Northington told the seven justices that the city considers open and active criminal cases confidential. She urged the court to set an objective legal standard supporting that position.

The request drew support from Southern Nevada agencies. Attorneys for the Metropolitan Police Department and the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas also voiced support for such a rule, the Review-Journal reported.

What open-government advocates said

Concerns about law enforcement control

Attorney Maggie McLetchie represented the Review-Journal, the Nevada Press Association and the Nevada Open Government Coalition during oral arguments. She said the proposed rule would have given law enforcement unilateral control over the release of public records. "That would greatly erode public trust," she said, according to the Review-Journal.

The Review-Journal's response

Review-Journal Chief Legal Officer Ben Lipman said the publication was glad the high court again affirmed that investigative files are not exempt from the Nevada Public Records Act. He said he hopes the ruling "finally ends the ongoing illegal practice of so many governmental entities that categorically withhold records based on that rejected claim."

Why it matters in Las Vegas

Metro police and the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas were among the agencies that supported treating records in open criminal cases as confidential. Under Thursday's decision, the court declined to create that blanket rule and left any new exemption to the Legislature. Readers can follow related coverage in our public safety section.

What to watch next

• The federal case against Reno police Officer Tyler Baehr, who has been charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and has denied the allegations.
• Whether government agencies change how they handle records requests; the Review-Journal's Ben Lipman said he hopes the ruling ends the practice of categorically withholding investigative records.
• Any action by the Legislature, which the court said is the body responsible for creating exemptions to the Nevada Public Records Act.