Paper feels heat from fans over autopsy photo request

Mike Schneider

Wednesday, March 7, 2001 | 9:30 a.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orlando Sentinel's request for the autopsy photos of Dale Earnhardt has brought a torrent of angry calls and e-mail from race fans and prompted an effort by lawmakers to prevent the release of such pictures in future cases.

Over the past two days, Sentinel editor Tim Franklin has taken about 3,000 of the almost 7,000 e-mails and calls.

"Some of the e-mails have been quite ugly, but I understand it's an emotional issue," Franklin said. "While we feel sorry for the Earnhardt family and what they're going through, there's a big issue here about NASCAR safety and we're simply trying to provide more information about how Dale Earnhardt died."

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 ran a series last month that showed three NASCAR drivers who died last year suffered fractures at the base of the skull.

"He's the fourth driver in nine months to die," Franklin said. "This isn't a fight that we seek or asked for, but we believe that there are big issues at stake here as far as NASCAR safety. There's also a big principle at stake, access to state records."

Fans also have sent more than 12,000 e-mails to Gov. Jeb Bush and state lawmakers, asking them to intervene. Three Republican lawmakers are drafting legislation that would prohibit the release of any autopsy photographs. Such photos would be treated as private medical records.

Several news organizations support the Sentinel's efforts to view the photos, the Sentinel said in a statement released Tuesday. The groups include the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Miami Herald, the Tampa Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and WFLA-TV in Tampa.

"What's getting lost in this debate is whether government has a right to withhold records that are clearly public," said Ray Marcano, president of the Society of Professional Journalists. "And the answer is simple: Government does not and should not even try."

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

Judge Joseph Will issued a temporary injunction against the photos' release, saying they have no "bona fide newsworthiness" and could cause the family "additional anguish and grief." A hearing is set for Thursday.

NASCAR fan Cheryl Mundy of Mocksville, N.C., wrote a letter to Bush warning him that "there a lot more NASCAR fans in the Southeast than there are Republicans." Mundy also said that she and several hundred other people plan to start a boycott of Sentinel advertisers.

"When Dale Earnhardt fans spread their wings in Florida, they ain't seen nothing yet," said Mrs. Mundy, 51, who runs a contracting business.

Lynn Cummings, an Orlando lawyer, has canceled her subscription to the Sentinel, in part because of the decision to seek the photos over the objections of Earnhardt's widow.