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Judge Rejects Sheriff's Solution To Bollea Tape Case

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2008

CLEARWATER - The court battle over whether the taped conversations of Pinellas County Jail inmate Nick Bollea are public record is expected to continue, now that the judge has rejected a solution put forth by Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats.

Coats, who operates the jail, has suggested through one of his attorneys that Circuit Judge George Jirotka decide the matter simply by ruling on the legal substance of Bollea's position as it appears in the lawsuit Bollea filed.

Today, Jirotka rejected that legal avenue. That essentially means the case will proceed, with each side introducing evidence to bolster their respective positions, said Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda.

Bollea, who is serving an eight-month sentence at the jail, where the conversations with his family have been taped, is trying through his attorneys to persuade Jirotka to stop any more recordings from being released.

More than 20 hours of conversations Bollea had with his father, famed former wrestler Hulk Hogan, and his mother, Linda Bollea, who is divorcing Hogan, have already been provided to the media. The sheriff released them after receiving a public information request from a local television station.

The releases stopped after Bollea filed suit in June, arguing, among other things, that the sheriff was violating Bollea's privacy.

Coats' office believes the conversations are public record, but the sheriff wants Jirotka to rule whether that is the case before he makes available any more audiotapes. Jaime Eagan, associate general counsel for the sheriff's office, apparently tried to get the judge to decide the tapes were public by ruling on the basics of the lawsuit itself, without anything else introduced in court, but the judge rejected that approach today.

Bollea's attorneys say the conversations were not public because of Bollea's status as a juvenile at the time Coats released the first batch of recordings. They also say they should not have allowed a television station to videotape Bollea's video visitations with his family as that violates a code governing media access to prisoners.

The sheriff's office believes the recordings are public because Bollea had been adjudicated as an adult and lost any confidentiality he might have had as a juvenile. The sheriff also believes an inmate's right to privacy is greatly diminished when compared to that of the general public.

As for whether Coats violated a code governing media access to prisoners, Eagan has argued the code Bollea's attorneys were citing is for the Department of Corrections, which oversees the state's prison system, not a county jail system such as the one Coats oversees.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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