Opinion ID: 4228702
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Records of a deceased individual

Text: {¶ 17} We first determine whether autopsy reports qualify as “[r]ecords of a deceased individual” pursuant to R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e). That phrase, according to the Enquirer, “refers to a decedent’s records, created prior to death, that come into the possession of the coroner.” Autopsy reports, the newspapers argue, are “records of the coroner” and not protected from disclosure pursuant to R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e). {¶ 18} The Enquirer’s definition is unpersuasive. Notably, the newspapers argue that documents must be prepared by law enforcement in order to qualify as CLEIR. But if that were correct, then such documents could never simultaneously be “[r]ecords of a deceased individual” as the Enquirer wishes to define the phrase. In other words, no document could ever satisfy the R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e) CLEIR exception as it is construed by the Dispatch and the Enquirer. {¶ 19} Unsurprisingly, the Enquirer offers no support for its claim that “[r]ecords of a deceased individual” includes only documents possessed by the deceased and created prior to death. And the Enquirer’s statutory argument relies 6 January Term, 2017 on an unreasonably narrow construction of the word “of.” According to the Enquirer, R.C. 313.10, and R.C. Chapter 313 more generally, “consistently use[]” the preposition “of” to “connote possession, ownership, or belonging.” For example, the Enquirer contends, “the records of the coroner,” as used in R.C. 313.10(A)(1), plainly means records belonging to the coroner, not records about or referring to the coroner. The Enquirer also points to the phrase “the body or remains of a deceased person,” which appears repeatedly in R.C. 313.08. {¶ 20} But the Enquirer oversimplifies the Revised Code’s use of the preposition. R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(b) exemplifies the erroneous nature of the Enquirer’s narrow interpretation of the word “of.” That statute provides that “[p]hotographs of a decedent made by the coroner or by anyone acting under the coroner’s direction or supervision” are not public records. (Emphasis added.) R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(b). Plainly, in this sentence, “of” means “about” or “depicting” the decedent, not “belonging to” the decedent. {¶ 21} Apparently recognizing the flaw in its narrow construction of the word “of,” the Enquirer implies that the phrase “[r]ecords of a deceased individual” may be ambiguous. It is our practice to resolve any doubts concerning the interpretation of the Public Records Act in favor of disclosure. State ex rel. Glasgow v. Jones, 119 Ohio St.3d 391, 2008-Ohio-4788, 894 N.E.2d 686, ¶ 13. When statutory language is ambiguous, it is appropriate to consider the legislative history. But there, too, the Enquirer’s argument is undermined. In 2009, when the General Assembly amended R.C. 313.10 to insert the “[r]ecords of a deceased individual” language, the preamble to the bill announced that one purpose of the act was “to specify that certain records of a decedent relating to the criminal investigation of the decedent’s death are not public records.” 2008 Sub.H.B. No. 471. The act made two relevant changes to the statute: it added R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e), the CLEIR exception at issue in this case. And it added R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(f), which excludes from the definition of “public records” 7 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO “[l]aboratory reports generated from the analysis of physical evidence by the coroner’s laboratory that is discoverable under Criminal Rule 16.” 2008 Sub.H.B. No. 471. It is logical to conclude that if laboratory reports about the decedent constitute the “records of a decedent” referred to in the preamble, then so too would the decedent’s autopsy report. {¶ 22} The newspapers’ second statutory argument is vulnerable to the same objection as the first: it is not apparent what records, if any, would remain subject to the R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e) CLEIR exception if their interpretation prevailed. A decedent’s medical and psychiatric records are already exempt from disclosure by another provision of the statute, as is a decedent’s suicide note. R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(c) and (d). What other records belonging to a deceased individual might a coroner routinely have in his or her possession? In an affidavit, Special Agent Michael D. Trout of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (“BCI”) described his personal experience on crime scenes and suggested that the answer is none: [A]ny personal effects or other items found on a body or in possession of the deceased at the time of death are ultimately collected, bagged, and kept by law enforcement as evidence. The coroner generally does not keep these types of items and the coroner generally does not collect and take evidence at the crime scene, other than the victim’s body. We must presume that the language chosen by the General Assembly was intended to be effective. Thus, we decline to adopt the newspapers’ interpretation of “[r]ecords of a deceased individual.” {¶ 23} We hold that an autopsy report is a “[r]ecord[] of a deceased individual” within the meaning of R.C. 313.10(A)(2)(e). 8 January Term, 2017 b. Confidential law-enforcement investigatory records {¶ 24} The Public Records Act defines “confidential law enforcement investigatory record[s]” as including any record that pertains to a law enforcement matter of a criminal, quasi-criminal, civil, or administrative nature, but only to the extent that the release of the record would create a high probability of disclosure of any of the following: