Interim state medical examiner says he would rather go to jail than abide by the state Open Records Act

Interim Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Sibley said Thursday he won't release unfinished autopsy reports even if disclosure is required by state law, News9 reports.

"If there is a problem with that and I have to go to jail over it, so be it," said Sibley. "I would have no problem going to jail with a clear conscious."

Earlier this month, Sibley refused to release to KOCO and The Oklahoman the autopsy report in the slaying of an Oklahoma City mother.

"It is my belief that the premature release of further details may interfere with the ongoing investigation and subsequent prosecution," Sibley told KOCO.

Sibley refused to cite an statutory provision exempting the autopsy.

Apparently, he doesn't care that one doesn't exist.

According to News9, medical examiner spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard, a former television reporter, said releasing documents early became an issue after the murder of an Anadarko pastor. Pressure from the state attorney general forced the medical examiner to release the body diagrams.

(The Oklahoman reported Friday that it and other news organizations last year began getting diagrams in homicide cases before autopsy reports were finalized. The attorney general's office advised the medical examiner's office those initial reports were public under the Open Records Act.)

Autopsy reports are a government record to which the public is entitled. That should not change.

This blog has pointed out since April that the press and public have used autopsy reports elsewhere to uncover incompetency and corruption by police, medical examiners and coroners.

State legislators have twice rejected limiting what the public may know from autopsy files involving homicides and cases in which the manner of death is either pending or unknown.

The most recent attempt was withdrawn in May because of stiff opposition on the House floor.

Among those critical of the bill was state Rep. Lucky Lamons, a former Tulsa police officer. He said autopsy records should remain open, especially considering the problems plaguing the state Medical Examiner's Office.

Lamons pointed out that Tulsa police still solved homicides even though it never asked the medical examiner to withhold information.

In the meantime, two open government advocates in the state tell me they hope a prosector will oblige Sibley and throw him in jail.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications

State medical examiner refuses to release autopsy report in slaying of OKC mother

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office won't release the autopsy report in the slaying of an Oklahoma City mother, KOCO reported Thursday.

"It is my belief that the premature release of further details may interfere with the ongoing investigation and subsequent prosecution," Interim Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Sibley told the station.

But Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater last week seemed to contradict that claim, telling KOCO that the public has the right to know the information.

On Thursday, Sibley refused to cite an statutory provision exempting the autopsy.

But if Sibley and the ME's Office can't cite a clearly applicable exemption, the autopsy is open under Oklahoma's Open Records Act.

As the Oklahoma Supreme Court said in 2003, “The public body urging an exemption has the burden to establish the applicability of such exemption.” (Citizens Against Taxpayer Abuse, Inc. v. City of Oklahoma City, 2003 OK 65, ¶ 12)

This, of course, concerns the public's right to know the information. What about the public's need to know what is in an autopsy report?

This blog pointed out last April that the press and public have used autopsy reports elsewhere to uncover incompetency and corruption by police, medical examiners and coroners.

Even so this past spring, state legislators for a second consecutive session debated limiting what the public could know from autopsy files involving homicides and cases in which the manner of death is either pending or unknown.

The bill was withdrawn in May because of stiff opposition on the House floor.

Among those critical of the bill was state Rep. Lucky Lamons, a former Tulsa police officer. He said autopsy records should remain open, especially considering the problems plaguing the state Medical Examiner's Office.

Lamons pointed out that Tulsa police still solved homicides even though it never asked the medical examiner to withhold information.

KOCO said it will continue pushing for the autopsy report.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications

DHS employee tells TV station she deleted e-mails related to investigation of sexual harassment claims at state ME's Office

A DHS employee hired to investigate sexual harassment claims at the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office might have violated state law by deleting e-mails from her state account, Fox 25 in Oklahoma City reported Tuesday.

The television station said the e-mails might show that the employee illegally shared her investigatory files with lawmakers.

The employee told Fox 25 that she had deleted the e-mails before the station requested them.

By deleting the e-mails, the station noted, the employee might have violated state law regarding the retention of records by state agencies.

Oklahoma's Records Management Act prohibits state officials from deciding on their own to mutilate, destroy, transfer, remove, alter, or otherwise damage or dispose of records they create or receive in the course of their public duties. (OKLA. STAT. tit. 67, § 209)

"No state record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of unless it is determined by the Archives and Records Commission that the record has no further administrative, legal, fiscal, research or historical value," the statute states. (OKLA. STAT. tit. 67, § 210)

Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism