Miami Herald sues over autopsies, toxicology reports in Jose Fernandez crash
The Miami Herald filed a lawsuit Friday against the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner for refusing to release documents in connection with Marlins Pitcher Jose Fernandez’s fatal boating accident.
The Herald, citing the state’s open records laws, contends that the medical examiner is bound by law to release the results of the toxicology and autopsy reports for Fernandez and two others who died in the Sept. 25 crash.
Medical Examiner Emma Lew has “a duty to permit the inspection, examination and copy of the reports’’ since they were done by a tax-supported agency in the course of government business, according to the lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County.
However, county officials denied the Herald’s request, asserting that the records are exempt from disclosure because they are part of “an active criminal investigation.”
Law enforcement agencies routinely use the exemption during ongoing cases where there are potential suspects to be arrested or prosecuted. The law defines an active criminal investigation as one where there is a “reasonable, good-faith anticipation of securing an arrest or prosecution in the foreseeable future.’’
Fernandez, 24, died when his 2016, 32-foot SeaVee named “Kaught Looking” slammed into the Government Cut north jetty before dawn. Two others on the boat with him, Emilio Jesus Macias, 27, and Eduardo Rivero, 25, also were killed.
In light of the fact that all three on board the vessel died, there can be no criminal charges brought in the case, and thus the documents should be released, the Herald asserts.
“Three young men died in this tragic accident. It is our role to explore the cause or causes of this tragedy, whether it is the fault of an unsafe jetty, a malfunctioning vessel, an operator who might have been impaired, or some combination of factors,” said Aminda Marqués Gonzalez, executive editor and vice president of the Miami Herald.
The crash investigation is being handled by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, which asked prosecutors to draft a search warrant after the crash in order to examine the boat’s GPS and two engines.
The Herald’s attorneys also cite a search warrant, released by the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office Wednesday, as evidence that the charges FWC is purportedly investigating — boating homicide while intoxicated and vessel homicide — can’t possibly be brought since everyone on board was killed.
The lawsuit also contends that FWC has limited power to make arrests, investigate crimes and enforce laws outside of the state’s wildlife and marine management areas.
The FWC is a state agency that handles wildlife and habitat management and patrols state park lands and waterways. The law enforcement officers who work for the agency have the power to make arrests for violations of state laws in state parks, coastal and aquatic managed areas and greenways and trails.
The lawsuit, however, points out that FWC officers can make arrests only if a crime occurs in their presence or in specified areas. The agency does not have the authority to investigate the crash, the suit contends, because it does not involve laws related to game or marine life.
“No crime was committed in the presence of an FWC officer, and, because no one on the boat survived the collision, there is no one to arrest for having committed a crime in one of the specified areas,” the lawsuit says.
The Herald has requested an immediate hearing on the request.
This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Miami Herald sues over autopsies, toxicology reports in Jose Fernandez crash."