The public release Friday of the amended autopsy report on the 2019 death of Elijah McClain ended a legal fight that didn’t need to happen, said Steve Zansberg, president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

In a statement announcing disclosure of the July 2021 amended report, Adams County Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan suggested she is a champion of transparency, writing that, as an elected official, she has “a democratic duty to provide citizens with information … This is a win for the people of Adams County and every family here in Colorado. Openness prevails.”

But Broncucia-Jordan unnecessarily prolonged the amended report’s release by more than a month when she denied Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests for the document made by Colorado Public Radio and other news organizations, forcing them to go to court, contended Zansberg, a First Amendment and freedom-of-information attorney who represented CPR, its reporter Allison Sherry, and five other news outlets in a lawsuit against the coroner.

“It is unfortunate that public officials — both the Adams County coroner and the attorney general — did nothing to clarify Ms. Broncucia-Jordan’s obligations under the law when she was first asked to release the public record on Aug. 12,” he said.