The following article came from timesunion.com:
Court ruling eases access to Pa. death records
MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press
Updated 12:53 p.m., Thursday, October 18, 2012
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that coroners cannot withhold information about the cause and manner of deaths until after the end of each year.
The high court ruled 5-1 in favor of a south-central Pennsylvania television station that was turned down when it sought such records from the Cumberland County coroner after a Shippensburg University football player died more than three years ago.
The ruling overturned decisions by the Office of Open Records, a county judge and Commonwealth Court, which had all ruled against WGAL-TV and in favor of then-coroner Michael Norris.
The station wanted information about the death of Thomas Rainey, 19, inside his apartment in April 2009. Authorities said Rainey’s death was not suspicious.
The earlier rulings, siding with Norris, had cited a provision of the Coroner’s Act that said their records must be made public for each year by the end of the following January. But the Supreme Court majority said public access requirements under the Right-to-Know Law are not in conflict with the other law, making the records more immediately available.
The court said both laws provide immediate access to cause and manner death records.