Earnhardt Autopsy Photo Update: Attorneys for the widow of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt filed a brief Thursday with the Florida Supreme Court contesting an appeal filed by a student newspaper for access to the driver’s autopsy photos. A law passed a month after Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500 restricts public access to autopsy photos. The Independent Florida Alligator, a student newspaper at the University of Florida, wants the Family Protection Act ruled unconstitutional so its editors can gain access to the photos. Earnhardt’s attorneys argued in the brief that the law is constitutional and was upheld first by Volusia County-based Circuit Judge Joseph Will and then by the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. They also said Teresa Earnhardt and her family are entitled to privacy. The attorneys referred to gory autopsy photos of NASCAR drivers Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr posted on the Internet just days before the new law went into effect. Citing testimony from Volusia Medical Examiner Thomas Beaver before Will, Tallahassee attorney E. Thom Rumberger wrote in his brief, “The autopsy photographs were used solely as a crosscheck in transcribing the report, and thereafter had no practical continuing utility.”(Daytona Beach News Journal)(11-15-2002)
