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Modest request Florida governor requests autopsy law be upheld
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a new law that exempts autopsy photos from being public records. The new law is being challenged by The Independent Florida Alligator and a Deland-based Web site in Volusia County Circuit Court. A hearing is scheduled for June 11. "The autopsy records law is good public policy," Bush said in a statement. "The privacy rights of our families demand that these sensitive autopsy records be kept confidential except in rare circumstances. I will do whatever I can to ensure that the autopsy records law is upheld in the courts." The new law was passed by the Florida Legislature in March at the urging of Dale Earnhardt's widow. Earnhardt died during a crash in the last lap of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. Four days later, his widow, Teresa, asked for his 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 Web site 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, The Independent Florida Alligator also challenged the sealing of the photos. A judge ruled that the Earnhardt autopsy photos would be a test case for the new law.
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