Justices to weigh releasing Vincent Foster death photos

Associated Press

Published December 3, 2003 FOST03

LOS ANGELES -- Five government investigations concluded that the death of a White House attorney in 1993 was a suicide. But a southern California man suspects murder and is demanding to see 10 of the police photos.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether to release them. The potentially precedent-setting case pits the public's right to know against the privacy of Vincent Foster's family, which opposes the request.

The case is more than a battle over sensational evidence in the death of a high-level Clinton administration official. It represents the first time the court has agreed to rule directly on the privacy interests of the surviving family in a Freedom of Information Act case.

The outcome could increase the government's ability to withhold information from the public and the media, said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics and law professor at the University of Minnesota who filed a brief in support of Allan Favish, a Santa Clarita insurance lawyer.

Foster, 48, was found dead of a gunshot to the head in a park in Virginia, outside the nation's capital. A longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, he was handling several personal legal matters for them. His widow, Lisa, has said he was severely depressed and afraid that seeking treatment could jeopardize his career.

Independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr and other investigators concluded that Foster shot himself; conspiracy theories that he was murdered in a White House conspiracy abound.

I found this to be interesting. What do you think?

If you're going to commit suicide, you'd rarely consider doing it in a park...

You'd pick someplace private, where there'd be little chance of an interruption...and you wouldn't have plane tickets and packed bags....

Ten to one says he thinks he was meeting a reporter in the park, and then got iced, when the 'reporter' turned out to be a government hit man....

The family has a more than generous life insurance "extra" benefit I'm sure, as compensation, as well as possible threats to the family's well-being should they renig on the deal....

Originally posted by Gazrok
If you're going to commit suicide, you'd rarely consider doing it in a park...

You'd pick someplace private, where there'd be little chance of an interruption...and you wouldn't have plane tickets and packed bags....

Ten to one says he thinks he was meeting a reporter in the park, and then got iced, when the 'reporter' turned out to be a government hit man....

I couldnt agree more with you on that one

I agree with Gazrok. I just don't buy the suicide theory.
Would it matter at this point if the photos show evidence of murder? A lot of time has passed since this happened. And if the Clintons were involved does anybody think they would actually be prosecuted?

In a park, on a day after it rained, with mud all around...with no mud on his shoes, and no footprints around his body...no gun in sight...no blood or brain tissue around his body....Secret Service reports of finding his body in his car, along side a .38 revolver....his pager memory cleared.....his office ransacked several hours before his body was even identified......

Yeah. I can see how it was a simple suicide.
Hand on the trigger
It's simple to see this gun wasn't placed in his hand after he died.

I think I'm all out of sarcasm.........damn.
This has got to be investigated. How about we hire OJ to track down the real killers?