It’s a decision that provoked controversy and a lot of conversation; when a Seattle cold case police officer released 35 photos from Kurt Cobain’s death investigation, he created somewhat of a firestorm. And the troubles haven’t ended; now a conspiracy theorist is suing the Seattle Police Department.
The news comes very close to the 20th anniversary of the death of the influential grunge rocker; Cobain is believed to have committed suicide on April 5th, 1994. He was found dead three days later, inside his apartment. The decision to release the photos came out of a general hope that it would put an end to the conspiracy theories that have abounded in the years following Cobain’s death, and prove that the circumstances that were reported are true. The officer found no reason to believe that the death wasn’t a suicide, but he wanted to put the rumors to rest.
Now, a person who believes Cobain was murdered has filed a lawsuit against the police station, saying they have been uncooperative in providing him information about the investigation into the musician’s death. The lawsuit slams the department for not releasing the photos at the time of the original investigation and says that department has been “characteristically uncooperative, dilatory and non-compliant with his requests for records and information.” Richard Lee is an investigative journalist acting as his own attorney.
Lee may end up winning the battle. Washington state law requires government agencies either release public records, or pay a fee that could range between 5 dollars to 100 dollars a day, per document. Public records laws are severe, and other agencies have been forced to pay back payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-compliance.
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