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Columbine

Inside the Columbine investigation:
  • Part one
  • Part two
  • Part three

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    Access to Columbine autopsies urged

    Newspapers' lawyers argue that data could clear up questions

    By Jeff Kass
    Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer


    GOLDEN Unsealing the autopsies of the Columbine victims could help clear up a number of controversies regarding the shootings, an attorney argued Tuesday in Jefferson County District Court.

    Steven Zansberg said the autopsies would reveal:

  • Whether a sheriff's deputy, not students Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris, killed student Daniel Rohrbough. The boy's parents have made that allegation in a lawsuit.

  • When teacher Dave Sanders died. Accounts vary widely over whether his life could have been saved if rescue personnel had reached him sooner, Zansberg said.

  • Whether Klebold killed himself, as some reports have claimed.

    Zansberg, representing the Denver Post, made his arguments before Judge Brooks Jackson. The Denver Rocky Mountain News has asked the judge to release Klebold's autopsy.

    Attorneys representing victims' families, as well as the Klebold family and Jefferson County contend releasing the autopsies will unduly upset the victims' families.

    "It's still a traumatic event for the community," said attorney James Rouse.

    Judge Jackson continued the hearing until Nov. 30. Victims' families are expected to testify at that time.

    Klebold and Harris rampaged through the school on April 20, 1999, killing 12 students and Sanders. They then killed themselves.

    To date, two of the 15 autopsies have been released — those of Harris and student Isaiah Shoels.

    October 11, 2000

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