News Companies Sue Murdered Cop's Widow
by SandyMaloneTwo publications are suing the widow of a Las Vegas officer who was murdered during the shooting on Oct. 1, 2017.
Las Vegas, NV – The Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal are both suing the widow of a police officer who was killed during the Oct. 1, 2017 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas.
The battle began when the Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal jointly sued to have all of the shooting victims’ autopsy reports released in January of 2018, according to KLAS.
Clark County District Court judge Timothy Williams ordered the Clark County Coroner’s Office to release 58 redacted autopsy reports on Jan. 31, the Press Freedom Tracker reported.
Veronica Hartfield, the widow of Las Vegas Metro Police Officer Charleston Hartfield, who was off-duty when he was fatally shot during the gunman’s shooting spree from the Mandalay Bay resort, sued the publications to keep her husband’s autopsy report from being released, KLAS reported.
Fifty-eight people were murdered, another 851 were injured in Las Vegas during the deadliest mass shooting committed on American soil.
On Feb. 9, a judge ordered the Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal to return copies of the redacted autopsy report, and barred both publications from reporting further on the murdered officers’ autopsy, the Associated Press reported.
Officer Hartfield’s widow argued that the autopsy records were confidential and contained protected health information, according to the Associated Press.
"All she ever wanted to do was say when is enough enough? Relative to the heartache that has to be levied on her whenever she reads an article. Every time they want to do something, do they really need the autopsy report?" said attorney Tony Sgro said, who represented Veronica Hartfield.
Sgro said the publications did not need the information, and argued it went past the limit of the First Amendment, KLAS reported.
But Maggie McLetchie, attorney for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, claimed the judge’s order was unconstitutional and argued that other media outlets had not been banned from using the autopsy report.
In fact, the Huffington Post published summaries of all 58 autopsy reports on Feb. 15, the Press Freedom Tracker reported.
The judge’s order presented a logistical problem for the Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal because, as the autopsy reports had been redacted prior to their release, the publications couldn’t tell which one was Officer Hartfield’s autopsy. As a result, they were effectively banned from publishing any of them.
KLAS reported that the court eventually sided with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Associated Press, and allowed them to publish the fallen hero’s autopsy.
“While we are deeply sympathetic to the decedent’s family’s privacy concerns, the First Amendment does not permit a court to enjoin the press from reporting on a redacted autopsy report already in the public domain,” the Nevada Supreme Court said.
Clark County District Judge Michelle Leavitt dismissed Veronica Hartfield’s lawsuit on May 14 and said the suit couldn’t go forward because the Nevada Supreme Court had already declared the autopsy reports to be public record, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“It would undermine both the free speech rights of the media and the important democratic principles underpinning the Nevada Public Records Act if the media could be sued for successfully suing to get access to records and reporting on public records,” the newspaper’s attorney said.
McLetchie filed a lawsuit against Verona Hartfield seeking $60,000 in legal fees, claiming that the court’s ruling allowed her to hold the widow’s attorney responsible for the publications’ costs.
"Everybody's heart goes out to Mrs. Hartfield and her family. Nobody wants to undermine the pain she is suffering. That doesn't mean though that her lawsuit can go forward, and it's an attorney's obligation to explain to a client, look what you're trying to do is illegal," McLetchie said, according to KLAS.
The case will now go to the Nevada Supreme Court, according to KLAS.
46 Responses
fedupveteran
Jul 24, 2018 This is bullsh*t! This widow needs to find out some names of employees and family members who have died and had autopsies and demand to get copies of them. Then go to the nearest media outlet and get them published along with publishing them on social media. See how they like it! This disgusting but of course right on track for the lame stream media.
Burgers Allday
Jul 22, 2018 @Aaron57: we actually don't yet know how many rounds were fired by the criminal and how many were fired by the good guys. No authorities have broken down the shooting in this manner yet.
Aaron57
Jul 22, 2018 So what you're saying is, because it's possible he was killed by friendly fire, he definitely was. Rather than the altogether more likely scenario that he was hit by rounds from the massive amount of fire coming from the shooter. Ever heard of Occam's Razor?
Burgers Allday
Jul 22, 2018 @Jbo: Now, c'mon. I am sure you remembered what happened with Pat Tillman. At first the authorities did not want to investigate whether it was friendly fire. then they did, and they figured out it was friendly fire, after people put pressure on them to investigate. Let's hope the same thing happens in Officer's Hartfield's case -- then she can potentially get a bigger reward for losing her husband! Are you with me on this?
JBo
Jul 22, 2018 @LeahFNP With Burgers Allday, you have to remember that those who can do...do. Those who can't do...whine about it.
Burgers Allday
Jul 22, 2018 @Leah67: You can't tell why the various photos of him make think think it is highly likely he was carrying? I think you are trying to gaslight me, Leah67, but, if not, can anyone else here explain it to Leah in terms that she can understand?
Burgers Allday
Jul 22, 2018 With a BUG nobody knows if you are carrying or not.
Leah67
Jul 22, 2018 FYI weapons were not allowed in the concert venue so no he was not armed second no one was killed by friendly fire. Not sure why two pictures of Officer Hartfield prove in any way that he was likely armed and to insinuate he was based off of two photos is disrespecful
Burgers Allday
Jul 22, 2018 Shouldn't need to be said, but my goal here is not to convince the other posters here that Officer Hartfield whipped his gun out when the shooting started. Instead, I want readers to realize that there should be accounting by the authorities of who was killed by friendly fire and who was not. I shouldn't need to prove that Hartfield (or any of the other victims) were killed by friendly fire before the authorities investigate that possibility. The public is being deprived of knowledge it has a right to know because there is no info from the authorities about whether the possibility of friendly fire was investigated, and, if so, what the conclusion was. Maybe Hartfield's widow doesn't even recognize that friendly fire is a possibility -- she deserves to know and so do the rest of us. Because the authorities aren't saying, I tend to think it was friendly fire that got him.
b1rd
Jul 22, 2018 I have challenged him many times on his military knowledge and he still comes up as a fraud. He can only regurgitate what can be googled. Why people continue to engage his stupid comments is beyond me.