County officials back bill restricting access to photos of deceased

Two top Cape Girardeau County officials are pushing a bill that would restrict access to photographs and videos from crime scenes and autopsies that depict dead people.

House Bill 1127 was read for the first time in the House of Representatives last month and, if passed, would bar the public from obtaining photographs and videos from crime scenes that "depict or describe a deceased person in a state of dismemberment, decapitation, or similar mutilation including, without limitation, where the deceased person's genitalia are exposed."

Under Missouri's current Open Meetings and Records Law, photos and videos from crime scenes are available to the public once a case is closed. The bill would make such items available only to victims' families. Victims' next of kin and, in certain cases, circuit judges can release the photos and videos at their own discretion.

The bill also calls for the Department of Public Safety to make rules regarding "credentialed journalists" viewing any footage.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan and coroner John Clifton went to Jefferson City last week to testify before the House of Representatives' Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee regarding the bill and were met with positive reception from committee members, Clifton said.

"There was no opposition," he said. "We gave our views on why we should not give up these photos."

Clifton is the president of the Missouri Coroners Association, while Jordan is president of the Missouri Sheriffs' Association. Drew Juden, director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, also testified before the committee.

The bill is based on a Georgia law that was enacted two years ago.

Georgia quickly passed a similar bill in 2010 after a Hustler magazine reporter filed an open records request to obtain photos taken during Meredeth Emerson's autopsy and at the crime scene shortly after her death.

On Jan. 1, 2008, Emerson, 24, was hiking with her dog on Blood Mountain in northern Georgia when Gary Hilton attempted to steal her debit card. When Emerson resisted, Hilton kidnapped her, held her for three days and decapitated her. Hilton confessed to the crime and is serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison.

In February 2010, Hustler filed a request for Emerson's autopsy photos for a story it was going to publish. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation denied the request, calling it "indecent."

Lawmakers quickly drafted a bill that would prevent photos of the deceased from being open to the public once a case is closed. The bill was first read on March 8, 2010, and went into effect May 20, 2010.

Clifton said he does not foresee anything like Emerson's case occurring in Southeast Missouri, but a bill should be in place to prevent any potential requests.

"It is not a problem in our area at this time," Clifton said. "People in our area are very responsible journalists and that wouldn't happen, but there could always be a wild-card journalist that could come in and request photos like that."

Jean Maneke, the Missouri Press Association's attorney, said she has never heard of a case where autopsy photos were obtained and disseminated in Missouri. While she understands the reasoning, Maneke said she is skeptical of the proposed bill.

"I am always opposed to anything that closes something that would be a public record," said Maneke, who was present for the hearing regarding the bill last week.

She also took exception to the term "credentialed journalist" and asked the bill's sponsor, Scott Largent, to reconsider the wording of that section of the bill.

Rep. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said the bill adequately balances Missourians' First Amendment rights and the privacy of victims' families.

"This is probably a good compromise in that it does not prohibit anybody's right to view the photos," Wallingford said.

psullivan@semissourian.com

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