Haynie

Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez and Steven J. Renick, Los Angeles, for Real Party in Interest.

Petitioner Elgin Haynie seeks a writ directing the trial court to vacate its order denying his petition for disclosure of public records under the Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq. (hereafter, "the PRA"). We grant the petition for writ of mandate.

On July 1, 1999, one or more Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies stopped Haynie while he was driving a vehicle.

On July 12, 1999, Robert Mann, Haynie's counsel, mailed a letter to the sheriffs department identifying the county employees involved in this incident as Deputies Mertens and Jensen, and requesting the release of pertinent documents, including tape recordings. The request stated in part: "Tape recordings include but are not limited to tape recordings of any radio calls leading up to the Incident, including but not limited to any tape recordings containing any information forming the basis for the decision to detain and/or arrest Mr. Haynie, and any tape recordings made of any communications between the deputy or deputies involved and Mr. Haynie and/or anyone present at the time and place…