A Pennsylvania Office of Open Records determination for Butler County to provide the name of a 2-month-old boy who died Nov. 8 in Butler Township to a newspaper has been reversed.

A Butler County Common Pleas Court judge reversed the final determination issued in February by the Office of Open Records directing the county to release the name of the infant whose father, Vincent Miceli, 32, of Butler Township, is facing a homicide charge in connection with the boy’s death.

Tribune-Review reporter Justin Vellucci submitted a Right-to-Know Law request to the county seeking the boy’s name and cause and manner of death.

The county responded, but redacted the boy’s name and address, prompting Vellucci and the newspaper to appeal to the Office of Open Records, which issued a final determination in December in their favor.

The county appealed the decision.

In her Wednesday, May 6, order, Judge Kelley Streib, who held a hearing on the appeal May 1, said the name should not be released at this time.

She said Vellucci and the newspaper acknowledge that section 5988 of the Judicial Code prohibits court employees and officers from releasing the name of a minor victim of physical abuse when prosecution is pending, but argue the county, through the coroner’s office, is required to release the name.

The county countered, arguing it defies common sense that the Legislature would impose that restriction on employees and officers of the court, but not the coroner who made the cause of death findings and reported them to an officer of the court, Streib wrote in the order.

Pursuant to the Right-to-Know Law, records held by local agencies, such as the county, are presumed to be public unless they fall under exemptions in that law or other laws, court order or protected by privilege.

The only issue presented for review is whether documents held by the coroner are subject to a limited exception for the name of a minor who was the alleged victim of physical abuse leading to a pending criminal matter for homicide, Streib said.

The county’s appeal was based on a Right-to-Know Law exemption for records of an agency relating to or resulting in a criminal investigation, including records containing information made confident by law or court order, she said.

Both parties agree section 5988 is not ambiguous, but the newspaper argued only court officers and employees are prohibited from opening the records for public inspection.

That argument fails, Streib said.

Streib’ cites previous court decisions, including one stating, “When the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, it must be given effect in accordance with its plan and obvious meaning.”

Any person, not just court employees and officers, who violates section 5988 commits a third-degree misdemeanor under the law, she noted in the order.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court case Hearst T.V. Inc. v. Norris, which the newspaper cited in its argument, is not on point because the issue in that case was whether two sections of the Coroner’s Act conflicted with each other and with a section of the Right-to-Know Law, Streib said.

“For all the reasons above, the county is prohibited from releasing and the name of the minor victim is exempt from disclosure. Butler County correctly redacted and withheld the name of the minor victim/decedent and the OOR’s determination to the contrary is erroneous and error of law,” Streib’s stated in her opinion.

The criminal case against Miceli is active in Common Pleas Court. Township police responded to a Spooner Drive residence where Miceli was watching the boy after the boy’s mother called 911. Paramedics tended to the baby, who was lying nude on a couch in the living room and not breathing, police said.

Miceli told police he noticed a small bruise on the infant’s head, but didn’t know why it appeared. He said he went to the kitchen to get the baby’s bottle and when he came back, noticed the bruise was bigger and the infant was shaking.

Police said when asked about the baby’s actions after Miceli returned from the kitchen, Miceli reportedly replied, “Dude, he was dead.”

Miceli said he called the child’s mother at work to inform her of her son’s condition, and the baby’s mother then called 911 from work.

The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide. An autopsy determined the baby’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.