Montrose — Coroner Mark Young will not be required to release Kevin Hale’s psychiatric records to attorneys for the men accused of killing the openly gay Montrose man, a district court judge ruled Wednesday.
Young last week complied with a court order to give the files to District Judge John Mitchel for review, but said he would go to jail before giving them to defense attorneys.
In a hearing on the issue in Montrose District Court on Wednesday, judge Mitchel ruled that the records would be kept private.
The psychiatric records are at issue in the defense of Jason Fiske, 24, and Adam Hernandez, 21, who face first-degree murder charges in Hale’s death. At the time of his death, Hale, 37, had been under psychiatric care and was taking psychiatric medications, according to family and friends.
Young said he needed Hale’s psychiatric records – part of 300 pages of medical files – to help in making a determination about the cause of death.
Montrose Public Defender Harvey Palefsky said he argued for release of the records under the due process clause that requires that all information relevant to a case be turned over to defense attorneys.
