Riverfront Times (St. Louis): After two years and nine lawsuits, Aaron Malin’s campaign to hold Missouri’s drug task forces accountable to the state’s Sunshine law is paying off. But now, for the first time since the former Show-Me Cannabis researcher began his lawsuit spree in 2014, the payoff actually comes with a dollar sign.

In an October 11 ruling, a Cole County Circuit Court judge ordered Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Richardson to pay Malin $12,100 for “knowingly and purposely” violating the state’s open records laws. According to Malin, it’s the single largest civil penalty awarded for a Sunshine law violation in Missouri history.

The ruling also comes with good news for the lawyers representing Malin in court — chiefly those from the ACLU of Missouri and the Freedom Center’s David Roland: Richardson will also have to pay their attorney fees, though the amount has yet to be determined.

“Just because you’re the elected prosecutor of Cole County doesn’t mean you’re above the law,” says Malin in a phone interview from Colorado.

A Missouri native currently enrolled in law school in Denver, the activist began his campaign of “strategic litigation” after attempting to dig into the secretive operations of the state’s multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. When the task forces rejected his Sunshine requests, he refused to concede that these governmental agencies were somehow exempt from the rule of law.

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