The newspaper said it did not plan to publish the photos, but wanted an independent expert to review them. Teresa Earnhardt sued to keep the photos sealed and reached a settlement with the newspaper last week. Earnhardt died last month in a crash in the Daytona 500. Under the agreement, an independent medical expert will look at the photos and then submit a report to the newspaper and the Earnhardt family on the cause of death and an explanation of certain head injuries. The photos then will be permanently sealed as requested by Teresa Earnhardt.
Autopsy photos are public records under Florida law.
Sen. Rod Smith, D-Gainesville, a former state attorney, argued that tabloids have the same access as other newspapers to public records and might not show as much restraint in publishing the gruesome details of celebrity deaths. A judge allowed the gruesome photos of Rolling's five victims to be viewed by the public under strict supervision at a courthouse over the privacy concerns of the victims' families. Also Wednesday, the president of a Web site that is seeking access to Earnhardt's autopsy photos requested all audio recordings from the autopsy. But Dave Byron, a Volusia County spokesman, said it would be impossible to make a copy of the audio report that the staff made during the autopsy because the audio system used is digital and goes straight into a computer. Uribe, who was unavailable for comment, already has a transcript of the tape and could schedule an appointment to listen to the recording at the medical examiner's office, Byron said.