Several records from investigation into the deaths of Jean Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, can be made public unless the couple’s bodies are clearly shown after they were found at their Santa Fe home in February.
An edited video of the couple’s mummified bodies, filmed on a recording of a police bodycam, could be released if they were blurry, the court ruled. Records that include autopsy reports, other videos of the couple’s homes and images may also be released. It includes a photo of Jinna, the dead dog of a couple, found in a wooden frame near Arakawa’s body.
However, the court ruled that the photographs of Hackman’s and Arakawa’s autopsy reports would not be published.
The Oscar winner and his wife were found dead at their home on February 26th. The official cause of death was announced by medical researchers at a press conference on March 7th.
Arakawa, 65, died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and Hackman, 95, died about a week after heart disease due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Their partially mummified bodies were found at home by maintenance workers in the gated Santa Fe community.
Santa Fe County officials said the couple died of natural causes, but records of their death investigation remained sealed. A New Mexico judge temporarily blocked the release of records from the March 17th death investigation at the request of the Hackman Estate.
On Monday, Judge Matthew Wilson heard debate from lawyers representing Santa Fe County, Hackman Estate, The Associated Press and CBS News.
Hackman Estate’s lawyer Kurt Sommer said the release of the video will allow the Hackman family to relive the couple’s deaths. He said that a future documentary has been produced about the deaths, which will violate privacy by publishing records, making it difficult for the property to control how these images will be released in the future.
“The names, likenesses and images of Jean and Betsy Hackman are valuable and need to be protected. That’s clearly proven thanks to reports that they want to get the documents to exploit them for their own personal benefits and benefits,” Somer said.
Susan Madore, a longtime Hackman spokesman, testified that the actor cherished his privacy and limited the availability of press junkets and the release of his image and commercial likeness.
Santa Fe County Attorney Greg Williams argued that records should be sealed as required by state law.
“In fact, the right to privacy is not merely successful in death, and therefore it appears that the real estate has no right to bring about claims of loss of privacy after death occurs,” he said, closing the discussion.
Scott Sauder, assistant university lawyer at the University of New Mexico who oversees the medical investigator’s office, claimed that the autopsy photos are public records but “it’s incredibly invasive, extremely unsettling, and can be extremely traumatic and embarrassing to the family and their relatives.”
Wilson ruled that several videos and images could be released, including the audio of the first responder describing the body.
However, he also ruled that Hackman and Arakawa’s families have the right to privacy as seen in the 14th Amendment.
Before the hearing, Arakawa’s mother, Yoshi Fairter, said since her daughter’s death, “the important media coverage of the circumstances of her death forced me to relive her untimely experience of death.”
She asked the court not to publish a video showing Arakawa and Hackman after they died.
“I humbly come to this court and demand that this court respect the right to grieve in peace and discover that I have a constitutional right to avoid looking at images of my daughter’s house, my body, my husband’s body and my dog’s body,” she said.
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