Some records from the investigation into the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, can be released to the public as long as they do not clearly show the couple’s bodies after they were discovered in their Santa Fe home in February, a New Mexico judge ruled Monday.
Redacted videos of the couple’s mummified bodies captured on police bodycam recordings could be released if they are blurred, the court ruled. Records, including autopsy reports, other videos and images from the couple’s home, could also be released. That includes photos of the couple’s dead dog, Zinna, who was found in a crate near Arakawa’s body.
But photos from Hackman’s and Arakawa’s autopsy reports will not be released, the court ruled.
The Oscar winner and his wife were found dead in their home on Feb. 26. The official causes of death were announced by the medical investigator during a news conference March 7.
Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and Hackman, 95, died about a week later in mid-February of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Their partially mummified bodies were found at their home by maintenance workers at their gated Santa Fe community.
Although Santa Fe County officials said the couple died of natural causes, records from the death investigation have remained sealed. A New Mexico state judge temporarily blocked the release of any records from the death investigation on March 17 at the request of the Hackman estate.
On Monday, Judge Matthew Wilson heard arguments from lawyers representing Santa Fe County, the Hackman estate, the Associated Press and CBS News on whether to make the hold on the records permanent.
Hackman estate attorney Kurt Sommer said the release of videos would force the Hackman family to relive the couple’s deaths. He said there are probably future documentaries being made about the deaths and releasing any records now would violate their privacy and make it difficult for the estate to control how these images are released in the future.
“Gene and Betsy Hackman’s names, likenesses and images are valuable and need to be protected and that is clearly proven out by virtue of the press wanting to get their hands on the documents to exploit them for their own personal profit and gain,” Sommer said.
Hackman’s longtime publicist Susan Madore testified that the actor valued his privacy and limited his availability for press junkets and the release of his image and likeness for commercial uses.
Greg Williams, an attorney for Santa Fe County, argued that the records should be unsealed as called for by state law.
“It seems to be clear from the law that, in fact, the right of privacy does not simply succeed in death, and therefore the estate does not have the right to bring a claim of loss of privacy after the death has occurred,” he said in closing arguments.
Scot Sauder, deputy university counsel for the University of New Mexico, which oversees the Office of the Medical Investigator, argued that although autopsy photos are public records, they are “incredibly invasive, are very much disturbing and can be quite traumatic and embarrassing to family and their kin.”
Wilson ruled that some videos and images could be released, including audio of first responders describing the bodies.
But he also ruled that Hackman and Arakawa’s family has a right to privacy found in the 14th Amendment.
Before the hearing, Arakawa’s mother, Yoshie Feaster, said in a motion that since her daughter’s death “the significant media coverage surrounding the circumstances of her passing have forced me to relive the experience of her untimely death, repeatedly.”
She asked the court to not release any video that would show Arakawa and Hackman after they died.
“I humbly come before this court to request that this court respect my right to grieve in peace and find that I have constitutional rights to avoid seeing images of my daughter’s home, her dead body, her husband’s dead body, and their dog’s corpse,” she said.
