Editorial: Lawmakers move too fast on crime scene photos

The rush to get House Bill 1322, the Meredith Emerson Privacy Act, through the Georgia General Assembly is completely understandable. It's difficult to criticize state Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Atlanta, House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and other lawmakers for quickly bringing their power as elected officials to bear to keep crime scene photos of the lifeless, decapitated body of murdered 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson out of the hands of a reporter working for a pornographic magazine.

► Read a copy of the substitute bill regarding the Meredith Emerson photos

However, now that the Emerson family has received a favorable ruling from a Superior Court judge that temporarily bars the Georgia Bureau of Investigation from releasing photos of the scene in the North Georgia mountains as Emerson's body was found in January 2008, lawmakers should slow down to ensure their worthy zeal doesn't lead to worrisome consequences.

Divorced from the emotion of the moment, there is reason to be concerned that House Bill 1322, as currently written, could do some considerable damage to the public's - and, yes, the media's - access to information regarding how well its law-enforcement personnel are doing their jobs.

Briefly, what House Bill 1322 does is add a new section to state law dealing with coroner's inquests and related matters. Currently, that law exempts autopsy photographs from disclosure under the state's Open Records Act. House Bill 1322 would take that exemption a step further, all but exempting from disclosure "(c)rime scene materials which depict or describe a deceased person in a nude, bruised, bloodied, or broken state with open wounds or in a state of dismemberment or decapitation, including photographs, video recordings, or audio recordings."

The bill would allow disclosure of such material "to the deceased's next of kin or to an individual who has secured a written release from the next of kin," so it's possible, although improbable, that a media outlet or member of the public might get access, if the required written release was obtained.

In the case of closed criminal investigations like the Emerson murder, House Bill 1322 would leave to the discretion of "a superior court" whether crime scene documentation could be released, and wou

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