An Arizona judge's unprecedented decision means that relatives of Ted Williams may finally be about to find out whether the baseball great really wanted his remains to be preserved in liquid nitrogen.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Thomas Dunevant III ruled that two of Williams' nephews "are entitled to have access" to the "document of gift" by which the remains were donated to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation cryonics facility. It is the first time that Alcor has been ordered to identify a patient publicly.

Alcor said it would produce the document within two weeks unless its lawyers decide to appeal. The nephews' lawyer is skeptical.

"From all we've learned through this whole ordeal, it is my guess that they don't have" a document of gift, John A. Heer told the Arizona Republic.

Williams' daughter Bobby-Jo Ferrell and the nephews filed suit in March for access to the document. Ferrell dropped out of the case in July after the Williams estate sued her for violating an earlier settlement agreement.

The access issue boiled down to interpreting Arizona's Anatomical Gift Act, under which the possessor of a document of gift shall allow an "interested person" to examine or copy the document after the donor's death.

Alcor argued that "interested person" should be limited to those allowed to donate remains, who do not include nephews and nieces. But in a minute order, Dunevant said the nephews'

For an archive of court documents in "The Freezing of Ted Williams," click here.

9/6/04

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