W
Ward Burton
Guest
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The state Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider whether the law restricting access to autopsy photos is constitutional, letting stand a decision stemming from Dale Earnhardt's death.
The publisher of the Independent Florida Alligator was seeking to have the law overturned, but the Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, declined to take up the case. The court did not comment on its decision.
The law generally bars public access to autopsy materials.
Campus Communications asked the high court a year ago to review a decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. The appellate court had upheld the law and said the unauthorized viewing of autopsy photos is a violation of privacy.
The law was passed in 2001 following Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500. Newspapers sought access to the photos as questions arose over how the star driver died in a crash and whether better safety equipment might have saved him.
Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, obtained an injunction barring medical examiners from making the photos public, then asked the Florida Legislature to pass a bill sealing autopsy photos, which it did in March 2001.
News organizations had argued that inspecting the photos, but not publishing them, would not intrude on the privacy of the Earnhardt family.
The publisher of the Independent Florida Alligator was seeking to have the law overturned, but the Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, declined to take up the case. The court did not comment on its decision.
The law generally bars public access to autopsy materials.
Campus Communications asked the high court a year ago to review a decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. The appellate court had upheld the law and said the unauthorized viewing of autopsy photos is a violation of privacy.
The law was passed in 2001 following Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500. Newspapers sought access to the photos as questions arose over how the star driver died in a crash and whether better safety equipment might have saved him.
Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, obtained an injunction barring medical examiners from making the photos public, then asked the Florida Legislature to pass a bill sealing autopsy photos, which it did in March 2001.
News organizations had argued that inspecting the photos, but not publishing them, would not intrude on the privacy of the Earnhardt family.
