How does the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act classify autopsy reports and what triggers public release?
Executive summary
Under Minnesota law, autopsy-related data created or collected by coroners and medical examiners are presumptively public but are subject to explicit confidentiality when they are part of an active investigation or otherwise classified by state or federal law; the Data Practices Act therefore makes much basic identifying information public while delaying or restricting release of investigative or homicide-related materials until legal review or case status changes [1] [2]. Release decisions during active law enforcement investigations require coordination with prosecutors and follow statutory safeguards and administrative procedures that can include in‑camera review or contested‑case proceedings [1] [3].
1. What the law presumes about autopsy and coroner data
Minnesota’s Government Data Practices Act (chapter 13) starts from a presumption of public access: data held by government entities are public unless another statute or law specifically classifies them otherwise, a principle repeatedly stated in state guidance and agency materials [2] [4]. Applied to death investigations, the statute explicitly lists many data elements created or collected by a medical examiner or coroner — including name, dates of birth and death, physical descriptors, identifying marks, clothing description, marital status, and location of death — as public unless another law classifies them nonpublic [1].
2. When autopsy reports and investigative materials are withheld
The statute carves out an important exception for data that are part of an active investigation: information created or collected by a coroner or medical examiner that ties to a chapter 390 mandated active investigation is confidential or protected nonpublic until the coroner’s or medical examiner’s final summary of findings is completed [1]. Moreover, if the final summary or death record indicates the manner of death is homicide, undetermined, or pending and there remains an active law enforcement investigation, those data remain confidential — a rule designed to prevent undermining criminal inquiries [1].
3. Who can obtain restricted autopsy data and when
Even when autopsy‑related data are confidential because of an ongoing investigation, the statute permits disclosure to certain state or federal agencies charged by law with investigating the death, and it allows the county attorney for the jurisdiction to review and, where the county attorney determines release will not impede the investigation, to authorize release to specified persons [1]. When the law enforcement investigation becomes inactive, the law specifies that the data then become private or nonpublic data rather than public, meaning access remains limited under the Act’s classifications [1].
4. Procedural and adjudicative safeguards for contested releases
Beyond the statute’s text, Minnesota’s administrative framework provides mechanisms for resolving disputes over classification and release: the Office of Administrative Hearings and administrative law judges can order discovery of not‑public data under controlled procedures, including in‑camera review, and the Data Practices Act contemplates contested‑case processes and expedited complaint remedies for alleged violations [3]. Agencies and requesters also face defined procedural steps under the Act — for example, entities must notify requesters when data are withheld and may charge for copies where allowed — reflecting the Act’s balance between transparency and privacy [5] [4] [6].
5. Practical implications and competing interests
The net result is a layered rule: routine identifying facts from autopsies are public by default, but the State prioritizes investigatory integrity and privacy where necessary, especially in suspected homicides or active probes — a posture that can frustrate journalists, families, and watchdogs seeking full autopsy reports while protecting prosecutive and investigatory interests [1] [2]. Where disagreements arise about withholding, the Act furnishes legal avenues — from county attorney review to administrative hearings and judicial relief — and places limits on government collection and disclosure to the purposes authorized by law [3] [5].