From Aspen Public Radio:  A First Amendment attorney says the release of a video that shows town councilman Chris Jacobson destroying items in the Pitkin County Jail after his drunk driving arrest is legal, and the public has a right to see it.

That runs counter to the position of Jacobson’s attorney, Arnie Mordkin. He claimed last month that it was an ethical, if not a legal, violation when the sheriff’s office gave footage to the media. He says it is not a public record.

But Steve Zansberg, a Denver-based attorney and the president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coaltiion, says that it is.

“There’s nothing improper with a custodian of records making a decision as here that a particular criminal justice record should be disclosed in favor of the public interest,” he says.

Mordkin also says the dissemination of the video on the Internet will taint a jury pool and therefore hurt his client.

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