DeKalb judge bars release of photos of slain hiker to Hustler

By Bill Rankin and Aaron Gould Sheinin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The family of slain hiker Meredith Emerson on Wednesday obtained a judge's order barring release of grisly crime-scene photos depicting the Buford woman's nude and decapitated body.

After a brief hearing, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Dan Coursey said the photos' release to Hustler Magazine or others could cause "irreparable harm" to Emerson's family. The judge also said that his temporary restraining order will  remain in effect at least until he holds another hearing on the matter.

Coursey issued his ruling shortly before the House Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved the "Meredith Emerson Privacy Act," which would prevent the most gruesome crime scene photos from being released through the state's public disclosure law. House Bill 1322 would add an exemption for video and photographs of a crime scene that depict graphic images of sexual organs or the dismemberment of a crime victim. Only a judge would be able to order such information released.

Emerson's family filed suit on Tuesday against the GBI, which possesses the photos, after a writer for Hustler filed an Open Records Act request for them. The GBI already had denied the request, but Hustler and its publisher, Larry Flynt, said they disagreed with that decision and were exploring legal options.

During Wednesday's hearing, Lindsay Haigh, a Duluth lawyer representing the family, said Emerson's killing should not strip her of all dignity as well as her and her family's right to privacy.

"Meredith Emerson was a victim," Haigh said. "Her family was a victim, and they should not be victimized again with the publication of these photos for all the world to see."

GBI Director Vernon Keenan did not oppose the family's request. "The death scene photographs are some of the most graphic and horrible photographs I've ever seen in my 37 years in law enforcement," he said after the hearing. Keenan said he believed it was not the Legislature's intent to allow the release of such photos.

The pornographic magazine's request for photos of Emerson's dismembered body has been roundly condemned by state lawmakers.

"Passage of this legislation will protect the privacy of crime victims in the future from exploitation and from having their images exploited on the Internet," the bill's lead sponsor, Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), said. The bill could reach the House floor next week.

In an affidavit accompanying the family's lawsuit, Susan Emerson, the mother of the slain hiker, said the photos' release "would be an outrageous and intolerable invasion of the privacy of Meredith and her family. The disclosure to anybody of the pictures would cause deep and serious emotional pain, embarrassment, humiliation and sadness for me and the entire family."

Susan Emerson said she has to "live everyday with the tragic death of my daughter" and the thought that the photos could be disclosed and later published "would bring further stress and strife over what is already too much sadness to bear."

Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate, was abducted Jan. 1, 2008, while hiking Blood Mountain trail in North Georgia. Gary Michael Hilton, a military veteran from Florida, beat Emerson to death and cut off her head. He is serving life in prison without parole.

Emerson's former roommate, Julia Karrenbauer, attended Wednesday's hearing and expressed relief Coursey issued the ruling he did. Hustler's request, she said, has left Emerson's family and friends "in complete and total shock and disgust."