A New Mexico judge ruled on Monday that they could release some records of the investigation to the public without clearly displaying the couple’s body after being found in February at their home in Santa Fe in February.
The court ruled that if the couple’s mummy body was captured, it could be released if they were blurred. Records can also be published, including autopsy reports, other videos and images from the couple’s home. These include photos of the couple’s dead dog Zinna, who was found in a crate near the body of Arakawa.
The court ruled that the autopsy report of Hackman’s and Arakawa would not be released.
The Academy Award winner and his wife were found dead at their home on February 26.
Arakawa, 65, died of Hanta Viral Pulmonary Syndrome, and Hackman, 95, died of heart disease a week later, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Part of their mummy bodies were found in their gated Santa Fe community maintenance staff.
Records of the death investigation were still sealed despite Santa Fe County officials saying the couple died of natural causes. A New Mexico judge temporarily blocked any records from the March 17 death investigation at the request of Hackman Estate.
On Monday, Judge Matthew Wilson heard a debate among attorneys representing Santa Fe County, Hackman Estate, the Associated Press and CBS News about whether records are kept permanently.
Kurt Sommer, a Hackman Manor attorney, said the release of the video would force the Huckmans to relive the couple’s death. He said future documentaries about death could result in death, and releasing any record now will infringe on its privacy and make it difficult for the estate to control these images in the future.
“The names, similarities and images of Gene and Betsy Hackman are valuable and need to be protected, which is a clear testament to the press’s desire to put their documents on files to take advantage of their personal profits and benefits,” Sommer said.
Susan Madore, a long-time public relations worker at Hackman, testified that the actor valued his privacy and restricted his availability to the press, as well as his release of image and similarities for commercial use.
Santa Fe County attorney Greg Williams argued that records should be cancelled as required by state law.
He said in the closing debate: “From the law, in fact, the right to privacy does not simply succeed in death, so the estate has no right to claim the right to lose privacy after death.”
Scot Sauder, associate university consultant at the University of New Mexico who runs the Medical Investigator’s Office, believes that while the autopsy photos are public records, they are “incredibly invasive, very disturbing, and very painful and embarrassing for the family and their relatives.”
Wilson ruled that some videos and images could be released, including audio describing the first responder of the body.
But he also ruled that Hackman and Alakava’s family had the privacy rights found in the 14 amendments.
Before the hearing, Arakawa’s mother Yoshie Feaster said in the motion that since her daughter’s death, “important media reports surrounding her death forced me to relive her premature death.”
She asked the court not to release any videos to show Arakawa and Hackman’s death.
“I humbly asked this court to respect my right to peace and sorrow in court and found that I have the constitutional right to avoid seeing my daughter’s home, her body, her husband’s body, and their dog’s body.”
