The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that a judge is ordering the Clark County Coroner’s Office to pay the legal fees it incurred after filing a FOIA suit against the office last July. The judge had previously ruled in favor of the newspaper, finding that the reasons the Coroner’s Office and the D.A. had advanced to keep the information the newspaper sought “insufficient to justify withholding the information.” The Las Vegas Review-Journal had asked for autopsy records via the FOIA request. 

The District Attorney’s office had argued, based on an A.G.’s opinion, that the Coroner’s Office could refuse to release or could redact such records. Judge Jim Crockett found that the opinion does not overrule state law.