Earnhardt autopsy pics furore leads to new law

The law came as a result of the protest over the Orlando Sentinel's attempt to view the photos of the seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion, who was killed on the last lap of the February 18 Daytona 500.

Teresa Earnhardt was at Bush's side as the brother of United States President George W. Bush signed the bill into law.

The measure, passed unanimously in the Senate earlier on Thursday, makes it a felony to release the records improperly, with a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a US$5,000 fine.

"A tribute to the speed of Dale Earnhardt," the governor said, thanking the legislature for handling the bill in such a swift manner.

The new law is certain to be tested in the courts because such photos had previously been open as part of Florida's 'Sunshine Law', the most liberal public-records rule in the country. The law will not affect the Sentinel's effort to see the pictures, which was handled in mediation. A court-appointed expert has reviewed them and will issue a report that will go to Earnhardt's widow and the newspaper.

Last month, Earnhardt's widow won a court order to keep the autopsy photos private. A day later, the Sentinel went to court and, citing the open-records law, asked that the newspaper's medical expert be allowed to see the shots. The newspaper said it had no intention of publishing the photos; it wanted to examine the pictures for its reporting on NASCAR safety.

Angry racing fans contacted Bush, legislative leaders and the Sentinel with thousands of e-mails, letters and telephone calls, protesting media efforts to see the photos. The Sentinel and other news organizations plan to challenge the law as unconstitutional.

"This is a sad day for Florida residents," said Ray Marcano, president of the Society of Professional Journalists and assistant managing editor for production at the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. "Florida has taken a giant leap backward by weakening what had been the nation's best open-records law."

Earnhardt's family lawyer, Thom Rumberger, disputed the media's fears over the new law.

"A reading of this bill clearly, clearly specifies that anybody who has a just cause and needs to see those records can get them," Rumberger said. "But now, you can't just walk in there and say, `I want the records.'"

Similar legislation is awaiting the governor's signature in Georgia and is under consideration in North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana.

"We have said from the beginning that if one news organization is granted access to these private and painful images of my husband, others will request access and, sooner or later, they would be published on the Internet and elsewhere," Mrs Earnhardt said at the bill signing.