Lancaster County Coroner to become sole petitioner in public records case

• By Tom Lisi/ LNP | LancasterOnline

The Lancaster County coroner has taken over a court appeal seeking to block access to information the state Open Records office and the courts have repeatedly determined should be accessible to the public.

The coroner, Dr. Stephen G. Diamantoni, said Tuesday his lawyers plan to amend a court filing to make it clear the broader county government is not behind the challenge.

Diamantoni is specifically appealing a December ruling by the state Office of Open Records ordering the coroner to publicly disclose the name of a 3-year-old boy who died in an accidental shooting in southern Lancaster County in the fall.

But he is arguing more broadly that the names of any minor whose death is investigated by the coroner, an elected official whose government office is taxpayer funded, should be shielded from the public.

Diamantoni said Tuesday that the county commissioner’s office asked that the petition be updated to make that distinction. He confirmed that his office was behind the decision to appeal the Office of Open Records ruling and said the solicitor’s office, which operates under the county commissioner’s office, was no longer involved with the litigation.

“The county had requested that we change from the county’s name to the coroner’s name since we had initiated the appeal,” Diamantoni said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, county Solicitor Jackie Pfursich said that the Right-to-Know officer in the solicitor’s office works with elected officials to respond to public records requests, but not on appeals of decisions that don’t go their way.

“Once we have had an adverse decision from the (Office of Open Records), it’s up to the elected official to determine whether they’d like to pursue it further,” Pfursich said.

To be refiled as an action from the “Lancaster County coroner’s office,” the rest of the public records case is expected to remain the same.

The issue of what entity filed the appeal prompted public accusations from county Commissioner Josh Parsons that LNP | LancasterOnline had spread “misinformation and disinformation” when it reported that Lancaster County was the plaintiff in the case.

The original filing, dated Jan. 3, listed “Lancaster County” as the only plaintiff and listed its address as the county government building. The coroner’s office is located in another part of the county.

Though Diamantoni’s office will become the sole petitioner in the legal action before the Court of Common Pleas, the county’s lead public records officer, who reports to Pfursich, was the original recipient of LNP’s request for the information and issued the initial denial of the newspaper’s request on Oct. 30.

At Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, Parsons said he believes Diamantoni’s appeal was made in good faith and that as a medical doctor, the coroner wants to protect personal information about a deceased person.

But he said he and his fellow commissioners strongly believe the county should err on the side of transparency.

“Our history has been to support open records,” Parsons said of the board of commissioners. Parsons has served on the board since 2016.

The commissioner also said he believes Diamantoni isn’t likely to prevail in court.

October death

The 3-year-old who was shot was camping with his parents at Tucquan Park Family Campground in Martic Township on Oct. 20. The child’s father left a 9 mm firearm unattended on a collapsed table while he examined a music speaker that was not working. The child unholstered the gun and accidentally shot himself in the left eye.

No evidence of drugs or alcohol was found on site.

Diamantoni ruled the shooting death an accident in October, and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue charges in the case in November.

The attorneys handling the open records appeal for Diamantoni are Kevin J. McKeon and Melissa A. Chapaska of the private firm Hawke McKeon & Sniscak in Harrisburg. LNP is represented by Paula Knudsen Burke of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.