Howard County coroner appeals judge’s decision

Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler and his attorneys filed an appeal Friday morning in the case surrounding a teenager’s suicide.

ABC 17 news reported when Howard County Judge Scott Hayes issued a partial summary judgment in the lawsuit between the Howard County Coroner’s office and the Glasgow School District.

The judgment said the Howard County Coroner “wrongfully denied access to open public records” that the Glasgow School District requested under Missouri’s Sunshine Law. The judgment also said the coroner is not a “law enforcement agency” and cannot close the records requested by the district as “investigative reports.”

The district sued the coroner’s office in March 2017 for the records from a coroner’s inquest earlier that year. The jury in the coroner’s inquest found that the suicide death of 17-year-old Kenneth Suttner was caused by harassment at work and school.