Court: Former Howard County Coroner purposefully violated Sunshine Law - krcgtv.com
NEW BLOOMFIELD — The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, on Tuesday ruled that the former Howard County Coroner purposefully violated the Sunshine Law by not releasing a copy of an inquest he did on the death by suicide of Kenneth Suttner of Glasgow in 2016.
Suttner took his own life after being bullied at work and school, according to former coroner Frank Flaspohler's inquest into the case. The inquest named the Glasgow School District, Suttner's supervisor at work, and others as causes of his death.
After the inquest, the school district and the mother of one of the people accused of causing Suttner's death asked for transcripts of the inquest in order to clear their names and reputations. Flaspohler provided a copy to the mother of the accused but refused to give a copy to the school district, claiming at one point that the coroner's office was a "law enforcement agency" and the transcripts of the inquest were a closed investigative report.
But the court noted that Flaspohler had already provided a copy to the mother of the accused and that despite his claim, his office is not a "law enforcement agency." It also noted that while he was refusing to provide a copy of the documents to the Glasgow schools, he went on national television and talked about them openly.
The court also found that Flaspohler's son and the special counsel in the case, April Wilson, conspired to keep the documents out of the district's hands. Wilson texted Flaspohler's son "I thnk if he wld [sic] send to me it becomes investigative and cannot be released." The court said she was wrong, and it found other examples of Flaspohler attempting through various means to keep from releasing the documents to the school district. "All this supports the finding that Coroner's Office acted with a conscious design, intent, or plan to violate the law," it said.
For his violations, the circuit court had ordered Flaspohler to pay the school district more than $73,000 to reimburse it for the money is spent trying to obtain the inquest transcripts. The appellate court ruled that this was too much, and sent the case back to the circuit level for re-evaluation to determine a more equitable figure.
Flaspohler lost his job in the November 2020 election.
source: https://krcgtv.com/news/local/court-howard-county-coroner-purposefully-violated-sunshine-law
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