UPDATE, 1:47 PM: A New Mexico judge has ruled that police bodycam footage or photographs of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa‘s dead bodies shall remain out of the public sphere, but the couple’s autopsy reports and images of the couple’s home and animals will be released.
After a hearing this morning in the Santa Fe County courthouse on the matter first brought forth by representatives for the Hackmans’ estate, Judge Matthew Wilson revealed his decision. In many ways, the mixed ruling follows reality as much of the information from the February 27 autopsies was made public in a March 7 press conference by medical officials and the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office.
In his ruling this afternoon, Judge Wilson stipulated no photos or other explicit images from the couple’s respective autopsy will be disclosed.
PREVIOUSLY, 12:21 PM: “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,” said attorney Kurt Sommer for the estate at a hearing today in New Mexico over releasing materials related to the February deaths of the couple. “This estate has a duty to protect Gene and Betsy’s property, including photographs and videos of their dead bodies,” the Sante Fe lawyer asserted.
The immediate release of the full autopsy reports and footage of the bodies and home of the two-time Oscar winner and his wife Betsy Arakawa is at issue in an ongoing hearing Monday in the First Judicial District Court in Sante Fe before Judge Matthew Wilson.
Specifically, the hearing is over whether the temporary restraining order granted by Judge Wilson on March 17 halting public access to autopsy reports by the Office of the Medical Investigator and death investigation reports by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office for the estate and its representative Julia Peters should become an injunction as further matters around the Hackmans are investigated for the family. In addition to lawyers for the estate and one of Hackman’s children, attorneys for Santa Fe County and the University of New Mexico for the Medical Examiner were in Judge Wilson’s courtroom, some in person, some virtually. Present also were lawyers for CBS and the Associated Press, seeking to be parties to the case. From the drop, Judge Wilson granted AP & CBS’ requests to be parties to the matter.
Plagued by advanced Alzheimer’s and heart disease, the 95-year-old Hackman is assumed to have died on or about February 18, according to a February 27 autopsy that New Mexico officials discussed in a March 7 press conference. While the exact date of the death of 65-year-old Arakawa is still undetermined, the classical pianist, who died as a result in part of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a disease primarily spread by rodents’ feces, passed away about a week before her husband. Arakawa was Hackman’s caregiver and the actor likely lived several days after his longtime spouse’s death. A dog of the pet-loving Hackmans was also found dead on the scene, as were some scattered medications.
Some footage of the outside of the Hackmans’ home and property was already made public last week.
“This case was about a celebrity couple who lived very private lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico,” attorney Kurt Sommer told Judge Wilson and others in his opening statement this morning. “They took great pains to stay out of the public life. They lived in a private gated community. They lived very quietly in Santa Fe and unfortunately, they died a very tragic death.”
One argument, not made in court today so far by anyone, is that information about Arakawa’s Hantavirus condition is a public heath priority because of potential spread of the respiratory ailment.
Referring to the media attention that has erupted since the somewhat decomposed bodies of Hackman Arakawa were found on the floor in their home on February 26, Sommer continued: “This case raises issues of right to privacy and potential security issues for the estate. Mr. and Mrs. Hackman had an expectation that the right of publicity during their lifetimes and after their death, they had a right to control their names, their likeness and their image during their life, and the estate has the right to control their names, likeness and images after their deaths.”
Also, noting that police bodycam footage and other video could provide insight and incentive to potential thieves of the Hackmans’ palatial home, Sommer added that “the disclosure of the videos is simply another way of circumventing the control the estate should retain as the Hackmans did during their lifetime.” Adding that the Medical Examiner autopsy reports of the very private couple should be withheld from public consumption too, Sommer said: “the request for the video is nothing more than backdoor exposure to the Hackmans’ lifestyle that could not be attained by the press during their lifetime.
“There’s no damage to the media by waiting until these matters are decided, a significant amount of videos have already been released to the press,” Sommer said Monday. With no criminal concerns over the Hackmans’ deaths, further litigation will likely ensue over the estate, the lawyer insisted over and over. Additionally, the probate court is likely to take at least three months to complete its work in this case, Sommer said.
Gauging where Judge Wilson could go in his decision, Hackman estate lawyer Sommer asked that if a preliminary injunction will not be granted, the material should be redacted before it is released. As well, he sought to have members of the media only be permitted to see the records, video, photographs and otherwise in controlled circumstances.
On the other side, Walker Boyd, in court for Santa Fe County, advocated the autopsy report and police footage be released. The attorney noted it was “very unusual” for a judge to be asked to enter an order “to stop state entities from doing their statutory required jobs” in terms of public access. Stating that in New Mexico, the right of privacy does not carry over once an individual dies, Boyd also doubted the plaintiffs “could win on the merits” of its case. “The estate and intervening family members do “not possess the right of privacy being asserted here,” Boyd said, noting that Probate code is not applicable in this matter and it does not rise to Constitutional concerns.
Having heard from a couple of witnesses, including the long since retired Hackman’s publicist Susan Madore of Guttman Associates, the court is currently on a short break. After closing statements, Judge Wilson is anticipated to make a ruling — whether or not it will be comprehensive is unknown.
Out of the public eye for most of the past 20 years, and celebrated individually at the 97th Academy Awards earlier this month Hackman won Oscars for The French Connection (1971) and Clint Eastwood‘s Unforgiven (1992). While never recognized by the Academy for his iconic Lex Luthor role in 1978’s Superman or as the shifty patriarch in 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums, Hackman was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), I Never Sang for My Father (1970), and Mississippi Burning (1988). His final on-screen appearance was in 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport.
