Press advocates ask court to overturn Florida autopsy-photo law
By The Associated Press
11.21.01
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Editor's note: The 5th District Court of Appeal heard arguments May 22 in the Independent Florida Alligator's bid to overturn the state's autopsy-photo law.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Five free-press groups asked an appeals court this week to dismiss a state law limiting access to autopsy photos that was passed after race car driver Dale Earnhardt died during a crash in the Daytona 500.
The brief filed Nov. 19 with the 5th District Court of Appeal supports the University of Florida student newspaper’s attempt at having the law struck down.
“Florida used to have the strongest public-records law in the country,” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director for the Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Lately, your legislators seem to be chipping away at that whenever they get the opportunity.”
Also represented in the brief are the Society for Professional Journalists, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, the First Amendment Foundation and the Student Press Law Center.
The law prohibits autopsy photos from being made public unless a judge has ruled they can be unsealed. Breaking the law is a third-degree felony with a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The Florida Legislature passed the law in March, weeks after Earnhardt’s death. The measure was prompted by the Orlando Sentinel’s attempt to see Earnhardt’s autopsy photos as part of its ongoing investigation of NASCAR’s safety measures.
Before the bill passed, the Sentinel and Earnhardt’s family reached an agreement allowing an independent expert to study the photos and write a report on Earnhardt’s cause of death.
The university newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, tried to have the law declared unconstitutional. But Circuit Judge Joseph Will upheld the law’s constitutionality and denied the newspaper access to Earnhardt’s autopsy photos.
The Alligator appealed, arguing that the Legislature violated due process by creating a retroactive exemption to the state’s open-records law for autopsy photos.
In addition, the newspaper argued the exemption is too broad and that Will erred by granting a temporary injunction prohibiting the autopsy photos from being made public.
The Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida filed a separate motion in August asking a court to throw out the law on constitutional grounds.
Previous
Student newspaper to appeal Earnhardt-photo ruling
Attorney plans to argue that Florida Legislature violated due process by creating a retroactive exemption to state’s open-records law for autopsy photos.
08.08.01
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