From Steamboat Today:  Steamboat Pilot & Today is fighting a lawsuit brought by the Routt County Coroner’s Office that seeks to keep autopsy reports secret for the 3-year-old boy who died March 27 in Steamboat Springs.

On April 16, Steamboat Pilot & Today submitted a public records request to the Coroner’s Office asking for the autopsy and pathology reports related to the death of Austin Davis. Two days later, Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg, who is being represented by the Routt County District Attorney’s Office, filed an application in 14th Judicial District Court asking the court to order the coroner not to release the records. On Wednesday, Steamboat Pilot & Today, through Denver attorney Chris Beall, filed its opposition with the court.

Officials have not disclosed how Austin died, but Austin’s grandmother, Charity O’Konski, said after a court hearing Wednesday that police told her Austin died from “extreme dehydration.” Police believe Austin’s mother, 24-year-old Meghan McKeon, might have left Austin home alone for four days. McKeon lived with her son at a campground in a cabin that had no running water. McKeon has been charged with two counts of felony child abuse resulting in death.

This is the second time the Pilot & Today has pursued legal avenues to get information about the case. The newspaper first asked Judge James Garrecht to unseal McKeon’s arrest warrant. Despite objections from both the prosecution and defense, Garrecht ordered the arrest warrant be unsealed. He wrote that public access to the records is controlled by the constitutional right to access to judicial records under the Colorado and United States constitutions, and specifically the First Amendment.

Visit Steamboat Today for more.