New Orleans Attorney Lawyer

In recent weeks, a man who brutally raped and murdered two girls in the early 1990’s, have been arrested. The first child died during the year 1990 and the second in the year 1992, both in Noxubee County.

Two innocent men were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 15 years - was sentenced to death - while the real killers remained free. DNA evidence collected, but not tested at the time of the first test phase deleted Kennedy Brewer and eventually led to the identification of the real Killer, Justin Albert Johnson, who confessed to the murder in the second (in DNA evidence that case was not available) Compensation - The second innocent man, Levon Brooks.

These events have attracted attention, and rightly so, about the quality of the autopsy in Mississippi. If criminal prosecution authorities is not misled, poor findings of the first autopsy, they kept could contribute to the search for the killer, and the second, the child may still be alive today. One has to wonder, as many others have misled because investigations are incomplete or inaccurate.

As a former commissioner of public safety, I propose to fund the changes of the state medical examiner, the Office for the unacceptable gaps in our system.

He is currently how the system works: When a person dies under “suspicious circumstances”, official correspondence with the law enforcement agencies of cases is whether the police, the deputy sheriff or officers patrol the highway, called Judges. Coroners of Counties. Everyone must have a High School diploma or equivalent, 21 years old, a graduate elector, and once elected, and should be tailored to an investigation into the death of school. None of the 82 current Landkreis coroners is a generalist license. The judge will decide whether an autopsy is needed. From countries around 2150 deaths per year requires autopsy.

In 1974, the state of Medical Examiners Office was of the legislative authority in support for death investigations and pathology examinations. The position requires a license with a doctor on board certification in forensic pathology. In 1990, a mortuary was built in the Mississippi Crime Laboratory at home to the office.

Under current law, the commissioner in charge of public security of the state of Medical Examiners. But since 1994, the Commissioners chose not to occupy the position, or not have been able, for an ideal candidate partly because wages are substantially lower than those of public and private sector positions.

Coroners determined that performs the autopsy and is not confined only to the progress of medical examiners. But without the possibility of the state of Medical Examiners, the coroners have no other choice but to familiarize themselves with private pathologists. The counties of existing transmission rate of $ 550 per post-mortem investigation. In the vast majority of cases, only one pathologist is available for autopsies, Dr. Steven Hayne Brandon.

Here’s what happens in cases specified by hand: In both situations, the doctor was Hayne of the Noxubee County Coroner implementation of autopsies and in his studies, the markers of the victim. Hayne consulted Dr. Michael West, a dental practitioner forensics, which states that the marks, in both cases, ‘bite’. Dr Hayne confirms this observation. In any case, West coordinate the “bite marks” in the upper teeth by the innocent guess.

Thanks to these findings, the expert support criminal prosecution authorities of the theory that in both cases, a friend of the mother was the perpetrator, the investigation phase is complete, and the prosecutor continues counterfeit men. The true cause of death was a suspect in both cases, in the vicinity had lived, and had a history of sexual assaults on women and girls. The totally misleading “expert” bite mark evidence was rampant in the two studies, and the lives of two innocent men have been wasted in prison.

Until we have a system that offers specific countries and coordinates the independent investigation, the public has no confidence in the results of the autopsies and assassinations in any criminal prosecution. In this era of litigation, accurate and independent investigations reduce unnecessary disputes about forensic results.

Here’s what can be done in its March 17th editorial, The Clarion-Ledger called for filling the position of the State Medical Examiners. This is an excellent first step, but equally important is the full funding of the Office, so that a full team of forensic pathologists can be hired to monitor or all autopsies. Medical assistance of State fully occupied office allows the listener early detection of a series of crimes, terrorist activities, the creation of new forms of the “route” of drugs and other serious problems public health.

Of the amount of $ 550 per autopsy departments, the expenditure of about US $ 1.2 million per year for autopsies. Autopsies conducted every year 2150 non-traumatic 100 autopsies are performed at University Medical Center, 350 autopsies were performed in New Orleans (deaths in districts where New Orleans is more easily accessible), and the rest , 1700 autopsies, are protected by Dr Hayne.

Under the National Association of Medical Examiners standards, a pathologist should not be more than 325 autopsies a year, and 250 would be optimal. A workload of 1700 cases per year in the next five to six times the recommended rates - four autopsies to be taken on each day of the year, a rate of Hercules, especially with regard to all the needs writting reports, records, and the deadline for judicial proceedings.

When the annual amount of $ 1.2 million in the region of money to be sent to the state medical examiner in the office, and in conjunction with the existing budget for the office, there were sufficient resources to ensure full implementation additional qualified forensic pathologist