SEATTLE — A judge is set to hear arguments Friday over whether to proceed with a trial that could lead to the release of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death-scene photos and records.
A man who runs a Seattle public access TV show is suing the city and the Seattle Police Department for release of the material under the state Public Records Act, The Seattle Times newspaper reported.
Richard Lee believes the information will confirm his theory that Cobain was murdered in 1994 and didn’t die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The city is arguing that they should stay sealed for the sake of the family’s privacy. Cobain’s widow and daughter have written to the court about the physical and psychological impact release of the graphic photos would have on their lives.
“I have had to cope with many personal issues because of my father’s death. Coping with even the possibility that those photographs could be made public is very difficult,” Frances Bean Cobain wrote. “Further sensationalizing it through the release of these pictures would cause us indescribable pain.”
She writes that she already faces harassment from fans “obsessed” with her father and fears that could get worse.
One fan broke into her California home and waited three days for her to return from vacation, because he “believed my father’s soul had entered my body,” she wrote in her declaration.
According to their statements, neither woman has seen the photos of Cobain’s body.
In 1995, Courtney Love Cobain successfully obtained court permission to keep Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, and another note used for handwriting analysis, out of the public eye.
On Friday, Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle will hear oral arguments about whether Lee’s lawsuit seeking the photos and other evidence from the scene should go to trial.
