Several community members urged the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners on July 22 to create an independent oversight body to review the county coroner's handling of the death investigation of Jax Graton. The speakers said mistakes and poor communications by the coroner's office have eroded trust and traumatized the family.

The requests came during the meeting's public comment period, where three speakers described what they called a pattern of missteps by the Jefferson County Coroner's Office and asked the board to ensure an outside review. "I am here to ask that you engage with independent oversight of Jax Graton's death investigation," said Z Williams, co-director and co-founder of Bread and Roses Legal Center.

Advocates said their concerns fall into two categories: potential conflicts of interest and specific procedural failures. "Colorado coroners are elected. That means that their position is shaped by personal, professional and political relationships," Williams told the commissioners, adding that those relationships can create an appearance that prevents impartiality. Ken Unity Keeper, representing Colorado's chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, said the family had been treated with "missteps, contradictions, and erasure" and demanded an oversight board with "real authority, clear structure, and protected independence from the very agencies that it seeks to hold accountable."

Speakers recounted concrete interactions they said caused harm to the family. Brandy Carey said Graton left home April 15 at about 10 p.m.; the family did not realize Graton was missing until April 23, a missing-person report was filed on April 24, and remains were found June 6. Carey described repeated, demeaning conversations with coroner's staff and said an employee incorrectly recorded Carey as the decedent's mother, which she said delayed release of the body to the family. "Rather than compounding a grieving mother's trauma with lack of empathy and common decency, the coroner Anne Cannon could have simply called the Lakewood Police Department to confirm that Sherilyn is in fact Jax Graton's mother," Carey said.

Speakers invoked professional standards. Williams referenced the Colorado Coroner Code of Ethics and guidance from the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IACME), saying the standards expect coroners to avoid conduct that could bring the profession into public disrepute and to maintain confidentiality and impartiality. "These actions have caused the scale of the harm and trauma to the family, friends, and community," Williams said.

No county action was taken during the meeting; the public comment period is an opportunity for residents to address the board, and commissioners did not indicate a vote or formal next steps on an oversight request during the July 22 session. Ashley Young attempted to join remotely but experienced audio problems and was not able to complete remarks during the initial public comment slot.

Speakers asked the board to create an independent oversight body with real authority and structural protections so future death investigations can be conducted transparently and with community trust.

The commissioners thanked the speakers for their comments; the transcript does not record any formal pledge by the board to create an oversight entity during the meeting.