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Friday, March 10, 2006

Ind. Law - More on sealing of Jill Behrman's death report

Updating this ILB entry from March 2nd is an AP report today published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and headlined "Judge withholds autopsy on IU coed." Some quotes:

MARTINSVILLE – A judge has denied a newspaper’s request to release autopsy and forensic reports in the death of an Indiana University student whose body was found in 2003, nearly three years after she disappeared while riding her bicycle in Bloomington.

The records remaining sealed under court order include details on how 19-year-old Jill Behrman died, which investigators want to keep secret as they search for whoever killed her. * * *

Morgan Superior Court Judge G. Thomas Gray on Tuesday denied a request from the Herald-Times of Bloomington to make public the documents he ordered sealed in December 2003.

“The court has determined that a release of the information in this file will hinder the ongoing investigation into Miss Behrman’s death,” Gray wrote in his response.

Public access attorneys, however, argue that state law requires that after any death investigation a county coroner must make public details on the probable cause, manner and mechanism of death.

“When an autopsy is done, these three items should be made available to the public,” said Steve Key, general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association. “I would argue the General Assembly is very specific about its intent.”

Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega last week announced plans for the grand jury investigation, which could take months to complete.

Meanwhile, Indiana Daily Insight assures us today that Greta Van Susteren is on the job, albeit concerned:
Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren has spent the past two days in Indiana (and her show originated from Indiana Wednesday night) because she is working on a special involving the murder of Bloomington's Jill Behrman. Van Susteren blogs: "I am not sure when it will air — probably mid-April. The topic is a cold case and is being done not by our On the Record staff but the FOX documentary unit. The more I work on the special, the more perplexed I am about the case. I am hoping when we finish all our work I will have a greater confidence that the case will be solved. Right now, I have serious doubts whether there will be justice. The case is very strange..."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 10, 2006 08:07 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions | Indiana Law