Halyna Hutchins‘ husband and young son have been re-victimized, this time by the Santa Fe County Sheriff, who released video of her as she lay dying after being shot.
Matthew Hutchins‘ lawyer, Brian Panish, fired off a blistering email to Sheriff Adan Mendoza, saying he trampled on their dignity and privacy by releasing the video and other evidence in the case.
TMZ.com
Panish says Mendoza promised to let Matthew review all the material before its release, but he double-crossed the family by releasing all the evidence without giving Matthew a chance to look first.
Panish says in his email, obtained by TMZ, “Your office trampled on the constitutional rights of Hutchins.” Indeed, there’s a constitutional right in New Mexico for victims to be treated with fairness and dignity, and Panish says those rights were squarely violated.
Maybe even worse, Panish notes the footage of Matthew’s wife, who lay bleeding as medics frantically tended to her, will cause irreparable harm to both him and their 9-year-old son Andros. Panish writes, “We fear, for example, that this shocking footage of Andros’ mother dying may be material used by bullies to emotionally abuse him in the future.”
And what’s especially maddening … Panish says the Sheriff didn’t have to release this evidence … it was discretionary.
TMZ.com
He ends with this … “We demand that your office respect Matthew, Halyna and Andros Hutchins’ constitutional rights of dignity, privacy, respect and fairness going forward. We also demand that your office take down the video footage of Halyna Hutchins dying on the church floor,” adding, “While the damage of publishing that video is irreparable, taking down the video will end your office’s complicity in causing future harm.”