Cobains fight release of death scene snaps

KURT Cobain's widow and daughter are urging a Seattle judge not to release death scene photos and records that a US journalist claims will prove the Nirvana frontman was murdered.
INDEPENDENT journalist and conspiracy theorist Richard Lee is suing the City of Seattle and its police department with the goal of getting the photos from the scene of Cobain's death.
Lee believes the photos will prove the 90s music star didn't die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994, according to The Seattle Times. Judge Theresa Doyle is set to hear arguments on Friday over whether to proceed with a trial. The City of Seattle argues the material should stay sealed for the sake of the family's privacy. To help the case Cobain's widow Courtney Love and their daughter have written to the court about the physical and psychological impact that the release would have on their lives. "I have had to cope with many personal issues because of my father's death. Coping with even the possibility that those photographs could be made public is very difficult," 22-year-old Frances Bean Cobain wrote. "Further sensationalizing it through the release of these pictures would cause us indescribable pain." She wrote that she already faces harassment from fans "obsessed" with her father and fears that could get worse. One fan broke into her California home and waited three days for her to return from vacation because he "believed my father's soul had entered my body", Frances Bean Cobain wrote in her declaration. According to their statements, neither woman has seen the photos of Cobain's body. Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994. The King county Medical Examiner's Office concluded that a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head was the cause of death. It was also noted that he had a lethal dose of heroin in his system at the time. In 1995, Love got court permission to keep Cobain's suicide note, and another note used for handwriting analysis, out of the public eye. Seattle police did release two previously unseen images from the death scene last year. One showed a box containing drug paraphernalia, a spoon and what look like needles on the floor next to half a cigarette and sunglasses. The other showed the paraphernalia box closed, next to cash, a cigarette pack and a wallet that appeared to show Cobain's identification.