Lawmakers Back Earnhardts

A bill sought by Dale Earnhardt's widow that would exempt autopsy photographs and videos from Florida's public-records law was filed Wednesday with the support of Gov. Jeb Bush.

"The possibility of graphic and sensitive photos being leaked and exploited is a major public policy concern," said state Senate Majority Leader Jim King, who filed the bill.

He was flanked at a news conference by co-sponsor Sen. Bill Posey, Bush and two House members who have filed a similar measure.

"One may ask where you draw the line on a public-records exemption," King said. "I can tell you that line has got to be drawn beyond photographs as graphic as these."

King's bill would make it a third-degree felony for someone to release the records with a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Bush said his office has received more than 14,000 e-mails and hundreds of telephone calls from Earnhardt fans in recent days protesting a request by the Orlando Sentinel to obtain the autopsy photos.

"This is timely legislation," said Bush, who talked with Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, Monday about the bill. "I told her I felt we could craft legislation that protected the traditions of this state in terms of public information when the public interest is at stake, but also be sensitive to the right of privacy as well."

The Senate bill would not affect written autopsy records, King said. Teresa Earnhardt wrote to King on Tuesday asking that a bill be filed.

"I do not believe that any bereaved family should be forced to allow access to photographs of deceased loved-ones, particularly since complete information is available through written autopsy records," she said in her letter.

But Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee, said the restrictions would be a mistake.

"A report can be slanted," Petersen said. "A medical examiner can be under political and public pressure. A photograph cannot be. This is not about Dale Earnhardt, it's about public oversight and creating an exception to the Constitution."

David Bralow, an attorney for the Orlando Sentinel, said he was concerned that it would become a crime to provide what should be a public record.

"It's straight-out unconstitutional," Bralow said. "What the exemption does is address one problem and take off the table all records. There ought to be a narrowly tailored remedy for the problem."

King said anyone wanting to see the photos could still do so by getting permission from a judge, but Petersen said that avenue would be arduous and expensive.

Earnhardt was killed in a crash Feb. 18 at the Daytona 500. Teresa Earnhardt sued Volusia County four days later to stop release of the edical examiner's photos. The next day, an Orlando Sentinel reporter made a public-records request for the pictures.

A Volusia County circuit judge Wednesday agreed to delay a hearing on the photo requests until March 19. The legislation is scheduled to be heard on the House floor the same week.

Sentinel Editor Tim Franklin has said repeatedly that the newspaper has no intention of publishing the photos but wants to view them so that a head-trauma expert can make an independent determination of the cause of death. The Sentinel reported in a series last month that three NASCAR drivers who died last year suffered fractures at the base of the skull.

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