El Paso County Coroner Seeks to Hide Flick and Zetina's Autopsy Reports

The Colorado Springs Independent spoke to Steve Zansberg—a Denver-based First Amendment attorney at Ballard Spahr—about the publication’s efforts to review the autopsy reports of a police officer and auto theft suspect killed in a police shootout.

"Coroner Bux has previously sought permission to withhold a homicide autopsy report on grounds that would apply to a broad category of similar cases, and the court rejected that application," Mr. Zansberg said. "This case should yield the same result. The interests of surviving family members [are] always at issue in the aftermath of a murder, and if that were adopted as a valid basis to withhold autopsy reports, it would apply in every homicide case."