CHEYENNE -- A draft bill to require county coroners to disclose to the public as much information as possible drew objections from county coroners Tuesday afternoon.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, invited the coroners and members of the media to a public meeting on the proposal.

The proposal applies to coroners' cases, which are defined as unanticipated deaths.

The bill would require disclosure of all documents received by the coroner except those exempt under the state's public records law.

Case said the information can be partially redacted, or blacked out, if necessary.

The philosophy behind the bill is to provide transparency in death investigations, which was possible in the past with coroners' inquests open to the public.

"We still have the tools of inquest but nobody uses it any more," Case said.

The coroners said science has eliminated the need for inquests.

By doing so, Case said, "The public has been left out of the equation."

Although Jim Angell, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association, and WPA attorney Bruce Moats said it appeared the bill basically clarifies what is to be part of the autopsy report, Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said he was concerned it would open the law on coroner records.

McAuslan said his office has two reports -- the coroner's report, which is the investigative report, and the autopsy report, which is information from the medical examiner on the cause of death.

McAuslan said if someone asks for both reports, they will be released.

Albany County Coroner Thomas Furgeson said in his office a toxicology report is separate from the autopsy or death report.

"You get what you ask for," Furgeson said.

Case said later that part of the problem appears to be the different names for the reports depending on the county.

Case also said the Fremont County case of three teenage girls who died in June 2008 on the Wind River Indian Reservation might have gotten him started on the disclosure bill.

The girls' cause of death has never been made public.

"I still think that's a great tragedy but it's kind of a different subject. But it got me thinking," Case said.

He said he also found issues statewide concerning differences in interpretation of the coroners' reports, their contents and their names.

'I don't think anybody is trying to hide anything," Case said. "A lot of it is just educating people on all sides to get a common understanding."

The coroners' major objection was the possible release of confidential "third-party information" from law enforcement agencies.

If they are compelled to make that information public, the coroners said it would destroy their working relationships with law enforcement.

One solution suggested was to list in the bill the reports that constitute coroners' records and exclude the third-party information.

Case said another meeting probably will be scheduled later in Casper.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at 307-632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com