A court hearing

has been scheduled to determine if the city of Peachtree City can legally

release the investigative file of a local doctor who was accused and later

cleared of child molestation.

Jill Karen

Lazarus, the wife of Dr. Kenneth Lazarus, has filed an open records request

with the Peachtree City Police Department seeking "a complete unabridged

and without redactions" copy of the investigative file that was built

against Kenneth Lazarus for child molestation. Lazarus was no-billed by

a Fayette County Grand Jury in March 1999 on the charges, which claimed

that he sexually touched a 6-year-old child in his home.

The no-bill

finding indicated that the Grand Jury felt there was insufficient evidence

at the time to indict Lazarus on criminal charges.

The city received

a temporary stay to halt the records from being released Jan. 4 in an

order from Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. that will remain in effect until

the full hearing takes place at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 16.

In a document

seeking the temporary stay, attorney Christy R. Jindra (an associate of

City Attorney Rick Lindsey) argued that the records sought "are not

subject to disclosure under the Georgia Open Records Act as it is read

in conjunction with other state and federal laws."

Jindra also

argued that the records requested include hospital records, police investigative

notes, personal statements from Lazarus, and records from the Department

of Family and Children Services, the Georgia Crime Information Center

and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Releasing some of the records could

cause a violation of privacy statutes, she said.

In the order

handing down the temporary stay, Caldwell wrote: "... it clearly

appears that there are legitimate questions as to the disclosure of certain

records that are in the possession of the city of Peachtree City which

are the subject of this request...".

Georgia's Open

Records Act states that most law enforcement records need not be disclosed

"in any pending investigation or prosecution," but "the

prosecution shall no longer be deemed to be pending when all direct litigation

involving said investigation and prosecution has become final or otherwise

terminated."