|
|
 |
 |
  |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Joining the fight Six Florida organizations join Earnhardt photo fight
Updated: Thursday April 19, 2001 3:38 PM
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Six Florida news organizations asked a Broward County judge to include them in two newspapers' challenge of a new state law banning the viewing of autopsy photos without permission. The Tampa Tribune and its TV affiliate, WFLA-TV, The Gainesville Sun, The (Lakeland, Fla.) Ledger, the (Sarasota) Herald-Tribune and the Ocala Star-Banner want to join a lawsuit filed by the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that questions the constitutionality of the new law, said attorney Gregg D. Thomas, who represents the new parties. "Usually, when there's a constitutional challenge, other parties are permitted to participate, too," Thomas said Wednesday. "I think there's widespread newspaper support for the positions taken by the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel." No hearing has been set. Autopsy photos used to be public records in Florida, but Gov. Jeb Bush signed a measure late last month making it a felony for a medical examiner to make the photos public. The law was a result of a dispute between the Sentinel and Teresa Earnhardt of Mooresville, N.C., the widow of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500 in February. The Sentinel protested the sealing of the Earnhardt's autopsy photos shortly after the crash, saying it wanted its own medical expert to view the pictures for an investigative series the newspaper was writing on NASCAR safety. The Sentinel and Teresa Earnhardt, who didn't want the photos to be made public, reached a settlement that allowed an independent medical expert to view the images, which would then be sealed permanently. A University of Florida student newspaper and a Deland, Fla.-based Web site have also filed lawsuits seeking access to Earnhart's photos.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
