One man is dead. His wife was critically wounded. Her son, who was present at the shooting, is in jail — but on separate drug charges. No charges have been filed in the shooting incident, which happened on April 13 in one of our smallest communities — Epsom. Investigators had said they were waiting on the autopsy for Gerald Leon Rollins before jumping to conclusions as far as charges were concerned.

We understand their situation wanting to know more about how Rollins died. But now Dr. Stephen Cullen, Daviess County’s coroner, has the autopsy results, and should by now have also completed a “coroner’s report.” However, he has refused to release those documents for inspection and-or copying. Office personnel told the newspaper on May 24 that the prosecutor’s office had made the request to keep those records secret, which was confirmed by Detective Ron Morgan.

According to current Indiana law, Dr. Cullen can keep the autopsy results confidential, if he feels they are investigatory in nature and that making them public would hinder a police investigation. However, the “coroner’s report” cannot be kept confidential, according to Indiana law. Indiana Code 36-2-14-18 specifically details what the coroner must make public following his or her investigation into a death. A coroner’s report, which is public record, must include a probable cause of death, probable manner of death and probable mechanism of death, along with various other details concerning the autopsy.

We ask Dr. Cullen to adhere to Indiana law and release the coroner’s report.

State law concerning coroner’s reports will soon be changing. Coroners will have a two-week deadline to submit such reports, but as of July 1, 2007, prosecutors will be able to ask for a court order to seal coroner’s records. In Daviess County that is sure to happen routinely — and that will be unfortunate.