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Ohio Supreme Court Rules Against Releasing Pike County Murder Reports

Authorities set up roadblocks at the perimeter of one of four properties near Piketon, Ohio following the murders of the Rhoden family on June 21, 2016.
John Minchillo
/
Associated Press
Authorities set up roadblocks near Piketon, Ohio, after the 2016 massacre of seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family. The murders are still unsolved.

An attorney representing newspapers that sued for unredacted autopsy reports of a southern Ohio massacre is criticizing a court ruling shielding those reports.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Thursday that the Pike County coroner does not have to release the reports with complete information on the eight people shot to death in April 2016.

The Columbus Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer separately sued for access to the full autopsies.

Cincinnati attorney Jack Greiner says the decision sets a negative precedent that will allow police to block autopsies by declaring them investigatory records.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office is investigating the unsolved killings. Spokesman Dan Tierney says the office is pleased with the ruling.

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