Arizona Republic

Tuesday, October 26, 1999



Corrections withholds list of witnesses for execution

Associated Press

The state of Arizona doesn't want you to know who is invited to witness
an execution set for Wednesday.

The state Department of Corrections on Monday turned down requests
by the Associated Press, The Arizona Republic and the Tribune for a
list of those invited to witness the execution of Ignacio Alberto Ortiz,
who is scheduled for execution at the state prison in Florence for killing a
Tucson woman in 1978.

Camilla Strongin, a Correc-
tions Department spokeswoman, said Director Terry Stewart doesn't
want to release a witness list until after the execution because the
information would subject witnesses to undue notoriety and harassment.
That's always been the state's policy, she said. Steve

 Elliott, APs Phoenix. bureau chief, said that a witness list is public
information and that the state has no right under Arizona's open records
law to keep it secret.

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