Gene Hackman’s estate trying to block release of death probe records
Santa Fe, New Mexico – Representatives of actor Gene Hackman’s legacy are seeking to prevent public release of autopsy and investigation reports, especially photos and police body camera videos, linked to the recent death of Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa Some mummy’s body was discovered February in their New Mexico home.
Authorities announced last week Hackman died of heart disease at 95 Complications of Alzheimer’s disease caused the life of his 65-year-old wife a week after the rare rodent disease (Hanta Viral Pulmonary Syndrome).
Hackman’s pacemaker last showed signs of activity on February 18, indicating that he might have died from an abnormal heart rhythm. The couple’s body was not discovered until February 26, when maintenance and security officers appeared at their home in Santa Fe and reminded police, leaving a mystery to law enforcement and medical investigators.
Julia Peters, representative of Hackman and Arakawa’s legacy, urged the state district court in Santa Fe to seal records to protect the case in order to protect families’ right to grief over the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, highlighting the potentially shocking nature of photos and videos in media communications of the media.
The request made Tuesday also describes the couple’s discrete lifestyle in Santa Fe since Hackman retired. The state capital is known as a shelter for celebrities, artists and writers.
The couple “had been a model private life in Santa Fe, New Mexico for more than three decades without showing their way of life.”
Amanda Lavin, legal director of the nonprofit New Mexico Open Government Foundation, said New Mexico’s public record laws blocked public access to sensitive images, including descriptions of deceased people. Under the National Inspection Public Records Act, some medical information is not considered public records either.
Meanwhile, the majority of death investigations and autopsy reports of medical investigators in law enforcement are often regarded as public records by state laws in the spirit of ensuring government transparency and accountability.
“I do think that if the court prohibits the release of all investigation records, including autopsy, it does violate transparency,” Laven said Thursday. “The whole idea that these records are available is to ensure accountability in the way these investigations are.”
“Considering Hanta virus involves Hanta virus, there is also public health concern,” Laven said.
She said it was unusual to prevent preemptive requests to release government records on constitutional grounds.
Hollywood icon Hackman won two Oscars in films such as France Connect, Husserl and Superman, starting in the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Born in Hawaii, Arakawa studied concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California, and met with Hackman while working at a California gym in the mid-1980s.
