When Nancy Benoit was murdered at the hands of her husband Chris last year, Hustler magazine decided to pay tribute to the late wrestler’s late wife - by publishing lingerie & semi-nude photos she had posed for in the early ’80s.

Well, Nancy’s family didn’t take too kindly to Larry Flynt profiting from the painful publicity of their daughter’s death. So they sued the publication of perverts’ choice for putting out the photos in their March 2008 issue.  However, a judge has ruled that publishing photos of the late Mrs. Benoit in the buff may be tasteless, but it’s not illegal.

The ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION reports that Judge Thomas Thrash has dismissed the lawsuit filed by Nancy’s mother, Maureen Toffoloni, that publishing the photos violated her dead daughter’s privacy.

Photographer Mark Samansky had taken the photos of Nancy in the summer of 1983. Toffoloni’s suit argued that Nancy “never gave permission for the photos to be used for a ‘pornographic’ magazine whose content includes ‘graphic and sexual photographs of nude women.’”

However, the judge ruled that Flynt’s mag was in their First Amendment rights to put out the pics - and were even somehow doing it for the public good:

Thrash, however, sided with Hustler in citing the freedom of the press and calling Nancy Benoit’s death “a legitimate matter of public interest and concern”.

“The fact that the Court personally views publication of the photographs to be offensive and distasteful is not determinative,” Thrash wrote.

Despite this setback, Nancy’s family isn’t finished with legal matters just yet. They’re considering filing a wrongful-death suit against the WWE over Chris killing Nancy and their son Daniel.  Well, it worked for Fred Goldman.