PLEA FOR PRIVACY

Hackman’s Mother-in-Law Is Trying to Block Release of Body Cam Footage

Yoshie Feaster said it is her “constitutional right” to peacefully grieve her son-in-law and daughter’s deaths.

Gene Hackman’s mother-in-law doesn’t want police body camera footage from the investigation into the death of the late actor and her daughter Betsy Arakawa being released to the public, TMZ reported. Yoshie Feaster claimed that the public spectacle surrounding the couple’s deaths had already sufficiently disrupted her ability to grieve them in peace. According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, Feaster maintained that her son-in-law and daughter both prioritized their privacy and that the final straw of the media’s sensationalization of their death would be gaining access to photos and videos showing Hackman and Arakawa’s corpses. The couple’s dog was also found dead, and Feaster’s call for privacy extended to the pet, too. She argued that she has a “constitutional right to avoid seeing images of my daughter’s home, her dead body, her husband’s dead body, and their dog’s corpse” Although she wants to block the release of the footage and autopsy photos, CBS and AP News were already granted motions to intervene and are likely to push for media access. Previous body cam footage released only showed the outside of the home and included conversations with the groundskeeper and one of Hackman’s children.