Why does The News & Observer need to see Eve Carson's autopsy report? That was the question from several readers last week after they read stories about the paper's lawsuit to obtain the official autopsy report on the slain UNC student body president. Two Durham men have been charged in the killing.

The N&O asked a judge to order release of the report, which had been sealed at the request of the Orange/Chatham district attorney. On Wednesday, D.A. Jim Woodall said he would release the report June 30, by which time police are expected to have completed interrogations. The N&O withdrew the suit, conditional on that resolution.

Which still leaves unanswered the question: Why does the paper -- and the public -- need to know details of a gruesome killing?

"The News and Observer should consider the rights of the decedents, as well as their families left behind. Imagine a mother seeing photos or reports of her murdered child in the pages of your paper. Think of the psychological harm done by that," John Green of Cary wrote in a letter to the editor. "There are some things that simply do not need to be made public. I can live without knowing the details of an autopsy, and I do not believe that open government is compromised by it, either."

N&O newsroom editors say there are two reasons for such disclosure: One, that autopsy details yield critical information that adds to our understanding of a crime; the other that autopsy reports are public records, and exceptions shouldn't be made for high-profile cases.

Senior editor Linda Williams said autopsy reports are routinely released to confirm publicly the cause of death in a crime. She said she knew of only one other case in her career at The N&O in which a report had been withheld (and it was ultimately made public). In the Carson case, she said, there has been a lot of speculation about why the crime was committed and how she died. One persistent rumor is that it was gang-related.

"We don't know what happened," Williams said. "That's why we're asking for the report. Presumably, it would provide answers to just that sort of gross speculation."

She noted that The N&O usually leaves out graphic details of autopsy reports. And the paper has never published photos from an autopsy report -- "I can't conceive of any circumstance where we would," Williams said.

And, she said, "As a matter of principle, we don't want to see any kind of chipping away at the public records law."

I agree with Williams. It may seem insensitive to seek such graphic detail of a death, but it gives the public information about a crime -- and the investigation -- that it needs to know to understand and evaluate. There have been cases in which the autopsy report showed a flawed police investigation.

Autopsy reports in a horrific Raleigh car crash that killed high school students showed that alcohol was a factor, which prompted anti-drinking campaigns at their school. The autopsy reports after the deaths of seven college students in a fire at Ocean Isle last year offered comfort to the families, and the public, that their children died from smoke, not flames.

If release of the report would jeopardize an ongoing investigation, as Woodall claimed, then I think that's a good reason to delay but not block its release. In such a case, the matter should be decided by a judge, not a prosecutor.

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