Autopsy records

A federal appeals court ruled for the first time that the right to privacy over death images is protected under the U.S. Constitution.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Monday that allows legal guardians of murdered children to request that autopsy reports and medical records concerning the murder be permanently sealed from public inspection.

The battle over the release of former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Scott Schoeneweis’ wife’s death records must continue in a lower court, an Arizona appeals court said this week.

Schoeneweis’ wife Gabrielle was found dead on May 20 after overdosing on cocaine and lidocaine. The pitcher asked the court not to release her death records, but Commissioner Barbara Hamner denied his request on July 9.

A California appellate court has ruled that coroner and autopsy records can be considered investigatory files when used by a local agency for law enforcement purposes. The decision came last month in a case involving a reporter who sought such records as she prepared a book on a murder trial.

In a significant public records victory for two state newspapers, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that autopsy records should be available to the public.

Reversing a lower court decision, the high court found that autopsy reports are indeed official records or papers subject to disclosure, though trial courts still have judicial discretion over the material in some cases.

The public will be able to view crime scene photos taken at the Florida mobile home where the "D.C. Madam" killed herself in May, a judge ruled Friday, but the pictures can't be published.

The (Raleigh) News & Observer has backed off its motion for access to slain University of North Carolina student Eve Carson’s autopsy report, now that the prosecution expects to release it in a few weeks anyway.