Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has screwed up on this one. Why the stonewalling? Why won't the state Department of Justice release the autopsy records from the Crandon shootings?
There are no reasonable excuses.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The state Department of Justice says it needs more time to consider whether it will release autopsy reports on Tyler Peterson and the six people the Forest County sheriff's deputy shot and killed while off-duty back in October.
More than a month after the Journal Sentinel requested full copies of the reports, and six months after the initial media inquiries, the department has yet to conclude whether to make them public under the state Open Records Law.
There is no longer an ongoing criminal investigation in the case because the lone suspect took his life, according to the attorney general's findings.
In a letter responding to a Journal Sentinel request submitted March 4, an attorney in the office said he had not yet balanced the privacy interests of the crime victims and their families vs. the public's right to the information in the pathologists' reports.
...The autopsy report on Peterson is of particular interest, given the assertions by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen that the 20-year-old shot himself three times in the head during a confrontation with tactical officers roughly 10 hours after he massacred a group of friends in his former girlfriend's Crandon apartment.
To date, the attorney general has released no medical or pathological reports detailing Peterson's wounds and verifying the conclusion that Peterson took his life after being wounded by a law enforcement sniper.
...The autopsy reports prepared by the Fond du Lac County medical examiner were not included in the 1,200 pages of materials released that day.
While Van Hollen has maintained that Peterson shot himself three times, reports released in February say that authorities found only two shell casings from the 40-caliber Glock handgun found near his body. Twelve live rounds were found with the gun, which had a 15-shot capacity, according to the records released in February.
...Witness accounts varied on the number of shots heard during the fatal confrontation. Some, including the sniper who wounded Peterson, described three shots; others reported they heard one loud shot and two softer reports.
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the reticence of Van Hollen's office raises questions among the public.
"Information would help a dubious public understand how the deputy fired three shots into his own head before it became fatal," Fox said. "When explanations aren't forthcoming, it raises questions."
Adding to concerns about the Department of Justice investigation are the resignations of two lead administrators in the criminal investigation section, and the revelations that portions of the investigative report were edited by Deputy Attorney General Ray Taffora, Van Hollen's top appointed aide.
According to internal e-mails recently released, Taffora wrote to the investigators Dec. 6: "I want to make sure we know what these reports say so we are in a position to coordinate with the district attorney any release of documents/public comments that may occur."
Leon Stenz, the Forest County district attorney, has refused to provide any reports to the news media, and referred all requests for information to the Department of Justice. Stenz was elected Florence-Forest County circuit judge in April. He takes the bench Aug. 1.
Van Hollen needs to come clean now.
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