Saget’s family will be able to keep the records out of the public eye for now thanks to a 2001 state law — and the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
A Florida judge's ruling Wednesday on records related to the investigation into Bob Saget's death will keep sensitive information, including videos and photographs of his body, in the hands of the late actor's loved ones.
Saget's family has a 21-year-old Florida law -- and late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt -- to thank for allowing them to keep the record private.
The court ruled in favor of Saget's wife, Kelly Rizzo, and three daughters that Saget's family would be "irreparable harm" if the records were now released to the public. Ninth Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu said in his ruling that "the plaintiff has a clear legal right or interest in the preserved records as Mr. Saget's surviving spouse and children."
The rules for issuance of autopsy reports and related documents differ from state to state. In Florida, the exemption applies to photos, videos and recordings from a death investigation, as well as photos and videos that may have been included in an autopsy report.
“That information is exempt from our public records laws. It is not subject to public disclosure. The medical examiner is prohibited from releasing it to anyone other than family,” said Virginia Hamrick, a staff attorney for the First Amendment Foundation , a Tallahassee-based watchdog group that keeps track of information related to state public records laws.
Rizzo and her daughters filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Orange County Sheriff John Mina and the District Nine Medical Examiner's office. Both agencies are investigating after "Full House" star Saget, 65, was found dead in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, on January 9.
The lawsuit was filed in response to media outlets filing public records requests for specific documents related to the investigation, including photos, video and audio recordings, as well as describing the suit as "statutory protected autopsy information". was referenced.
Saget's family argued in their lawsuit that "no legitimate public interest would be served by releasing or disseminating the record to the public." His trial came to light after it was revealed that Saget had died of a head injury. The family said in a statement that officers concluded that he accidentally hit something on the back of his head and fell asleep after noticing that there was no drugs or alcohol involved.
Wednesday's decision prompted the chairman of the Florida Medical Examiners Commission and chief medical examiner for the District of Central Florida, Dr. Stephen Nelson was shocked. Nelson said that although photos and videos are exempt under Florida law, an autopsy report is not.
"The only records that won't be exempt would be autopsy reports, toxicology reports and things like that. ... I wonder if the judge can overrule state law," Nelson said. "Everything we pay with taxpayer dollars is a public record, except for the things for which public record is exempt: photographs, video and audio recordings."
Earnhardt Crash created new law
Prior to 2001, everything related to death investigations in Florida was public record. But state lawmakers passed legislation granting exemptions that year after Earnhardt's death at the insistence of his family and NASCAR. Earnhardt died just days after the Orlando Sentinel published an investigative series on the need for safe head and neck protection equipment for race car drivers.
The newspaper wanted experts to review the evidence at the autopsy to see whether safety equipment could have prevented Earnhardt's death. However, after the tearful testimony of Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, who pleaded with legislators for the privacy of her family, the then Govt. Jeb Bush and leaders of the Legislature, who had friendly relations with NASCAR, passed a law to seal autopsy photo and video records.
The death records relating to Earnhardt and Saget aren't the only ones that have been subject to court challenges. In the 1990s, Florida judges restricted access to autopsy photographs of the victims of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace and serial killer Danny Rowling.