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'A paramount value' Paper argues pictures protect public against corruption
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Lawyers for the widow of Dale Earnhardt urged a judge Tuesday to keep an injunction in place barring the public release of the race driver's autopsy photos. "Indeed, the only reasons access seems to be sought at all are to grab public attention and sell newspapers, all of which would come at the expense of the Earnhardt family," Teresa Earnhardt's attorneys said in memorandum filed in Circuit Court in Volusia County. But an attorney for The Independent Florida Alligator, a student newspaper at the University of Florida that is seeking to dissolve the injunction, countered that the state has no right to keep the photos sealed. "Access to public records has always been regarded as a paramount value in Florida," attorney Tom Julin said. "It assures government accountability ... and protects the public and individuals against both negligence and corruption." Circuit Judge Joseph Will in Daytona Beach is scheduled to hear oral arguments June 11 over whether the autopsy photos should be made public. The judge also has said he will use the case to test the constitutionality of a new state law that exempts autopsy photos from Florida's liberal open records law. The new law, which has language making it retroactive, was passed in March at the urging of Teresa Earnhardt. The law is overbroad, interferes with news gathering activities and discriminates on the basis of content of speech because a judge can allow autopsy photos to be viewed only if the petitioner shows 'good cause' for seeing them, Julin said in the memorandum. Citing a recently decided Florida Supreme Court case, Julin also argued that the law can't be applied retroactively. "To hold otherwise would authorize every public official to withhold public records merely because of the mere possibility that legislation would be passed to exempt the requested record from the law," Julin said. The photos won't reveal more information than is already known, argued Earnhardt's attorneys, Thom Rumberger and Skip Eubanks. If even restricted access to the photos is allowed, there is little stopping an intrepid fan or photographer with a tiny camera from making images of them and then selling them to a tabloid or posting them on the Internet, the attorneys said. Unlike other cases, such as the Danny Rolling murder photos, there is no public issue raised by the autopsy photos. Rolling murdered five University of Florida students a decade ago. Crime scene photos were made public only at the courthouse under strict supervision and were not allowed to be copied. "Unlike the photographs in Rolling, disclosure of Mr. Earnhardt's autopsy photos would shed no light whatsoever on any criminal acts or acts of public officials, but it would seriously harm the Earnhardt family," Teresa Earnhardt's lawyers said. Earnhardt died during a crash in the last lap of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. Four days later, his widow asked for the autopsy records to be sealed, saying she feared the photos would be made public over the Internet. The sealing of the photos was challenged by a Deland-based website and the Orlando Sentinel, which had been investigating NASCAR safety. Lawyers for the Sentinel and Earnhardt reached an agreement in March allowing an independent expert to study the photos and write a report on the race car driver's cause of death. Meanwhile, Alligator also challenged the sealing of the photos.
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