"The spirit of the ruling is very clear, you have two competing interests, and they are both valid. Morris ruled to allow the public and the media to view 700 grisly crime scene and autopsy photos, under the condition that no copies could be made. After a contentious hearing, Alachua County Judge Stan R. "We did not want our loved ones to be put out there in the scenes where they where found, because he was a butcher, and he was cruel," Larson said from her home in Florida.Īlong with the families of the other victims, Larson fought in court to seal the autopsy and crime scene photos. As part of his ritual, he left his female victims' mutilated corpses in grotesque poses.
#Photo privacy a crime serial
Her daughter, Sonja, was murdered in 1990 by a serial killer known as the Gainesville Ripper.ĭanny Harold Rollings mutilated and killed five Florida college students that summer, leaving behind gruesome crime scenes. It's an issue Ada Larson knows well from painful experience. The question: Where should the line be drawn between the public's right to know and a crime victim's family's right to privacy? (CNN) - Recent court fights over the videotape of a killer whale attack at SeaWorld in Florida and a writer's request for investigative photos of a slain Georgia hiker's body are rekindling a familiar debate. Attorneys say one fix is to allow such material to be viewed but not distributed.Precedents include Dale Earnhardt case, 1990 Gainesville Ripper case.Legal battle is latest to pit public's right to know against victim's privacy rights.Family of SeaWorld trainer tries to keep video of killer whale attack out of public eye.