ID: "something different' for Boise police shootings inquiries

From the Idaho Statesman:

Coroner will not call inquests - Sonnenberg plans on ‘trying something different' in the DiPaola and Lowery cases

Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg doesn't plan on calling public coroner's inquest hearings on two fatal shootings by police officers this fall... Sonnenberg said he is going to "try something different" to look into the deaths of Jonathan DiPaola and Tyler Lowery.

He said he plans to work with special prosecutors from outside Ada County and the local multiagency police task force to release a public report when the investigations are completed... The coroner's decision to ditch the inquest hearing comes about a year after the controversial inquest into the death of 16-year-old Matthew Jones...

Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower recused himself from the two current officer-involved shooting cases, asking Twin Falls Prosecutor Grant Loebs to review the Dipaola shooting and Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman to review the Lowery shooting...

Bower, Loebs and Hiedeman have entered into an agreement to handle investigations into officer-involved shootings for each other so the impartiality cannot be questioned, Bower said. "I think we recognize the perception might be we are too close to officers involved," Loebs said...

Bruce Jones, Matthew's father and the only witness to the shooting, said he thinks the changes — getting rid of the inquest process, having a visiting prosecutor review evidence and publicly releasing a detailed report — are good.

I do too. In my home town, police seem to shoot people with some frequency, and could stand some outside scrutiny. Bully for Sonnenberg, Heideman, and Loebs.