Gene Hackman’s estate attempts to block the release of photographs and footage from the investigation into the Oscar winner and his wife’s death, citing a desire to protect the couple’s privacy.
A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, especially photographs and police body-camera video, related to the recent deaths of Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.
Authorities last week announced that Hackman died at age 95 of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease. A rare, rodent-borne disease — hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — took the life of his 65-year-old wife.
The couple’s bodies weren’t discovered until 26 February when maintenance and security workers showed up at the Santa Fe home and alerted police, leaving a mystery for law enforcement and medical investigators to unravel.
Julia Peters, a representative for the estate of Hackman and Arakawa, urged a state district court in Santa Fe to seal records in the cases to protect the family’s right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, emphasizing the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media.
The request also described the couple’s discrete lifestyle in Santa Fe since Hackman’s retirement.
The couple “lived an exemplary private life for over thirty years in Santa Fe, New Mexico and did not showcase their lifestyle,” the petition said.
New Mexico’s open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of people who are deceased, said Amanda Lavin, legal director at the nonprofit New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. Some medical information also is not considered public record under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.
At the same time, the bulk of death investigations by law enforcement and autopsy reports by medical investigators are typically considered public records under state law in the spirit of ensuring government transparency and accountability, she said.
“I do think it does infringe on transparency if the court were to prohibit release of all the investigation records, including the autopsies,” Lavin said Thursday. “The whole idea of those records being available is to ensure accountability in the way those investigations are done.”
“There is also a public health concern given that hantavirus was involved,” Lavin added.
She said the preemptive request to prevent the release of government records on constitutional grounds is unusual.
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