PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: (Editorial): One of the common slogans used by death
investigators is "we speak for the dead." That makes sense. The dead
can't speak for themselves. But in New Mexico the opposite appears to be
true. The state Office of The Medical Investigator appears to be
keeping Mary Hans death cloaked under a veil of secrecy. The
official's mouths are shut tight. As reporter Joline Gutierrez Krueger
indicates in this story, Mary Han's death was written off as a suicide -
without a sufficient police investigation - from the outset, in spite
of some glaring red flags. "It will be five years next month since Han’s death" Gutierrez Krueger writes. "She was found
dead Nov. 18, 2010, in the driver’s seat of her BMW in the garage of her
North Valley townhouse. Her death attracted almost every top APD
official, dozens of them
allowed to traipse in and out of Han’s home. But not a single APD
investigator was brought in to conduct an examination of the scene.
An autopsy report by the OMI listed Han’s death as a suicide by
carbon monoxide intoxication at a saturation level of a whopping 84.8
percent. Such a high level should have raised a host of red flags,
especially
given that the garage was not airtight and the BMW should have had a
sensor that turned off the car before dangerous air levels were reached.
Han’s family also says she had been in good spirits the night before
she died, talking to her sister about her plans to visit a daughter for
Thanksgiving and preparing a gym bag for an early morning workout. Since
then, the family members have sought answers and an apology." Another
slogan I have often heard from death investigators is that there job
is also to bring 'closure' to the family of the deceased, particularly
in circumstances, as in the Han case, where there are questions about
how their loved one died. However, the New Mexico medical investigators
are brutally and insensitively denying this family closure by forcing
them to go to court - a costly, aggravating process that could last for
years, as Gutierrez Krueger points out. Instead, the authorities should
be cooperating with the family, opening their files to them, doing
further investigation if necessary, and putting the family's doubts
to rest about the cause of Mary Hans's death, so they can finally have
the closure they deserve.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "Mary Han's family still fighting suicide finding," by reporter Joline Gutierrez Krueger, published by the Albuquerque Journal on October 17, 2015.
GIST: "This week in a Santa Fe courtroom, two opposing attorneys and a judge began navigating their way through the legal weeds of a case involving a third lawyer, whose death nearly five years ago remains tangled in controversy. The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing was to determine whether the family of prominent Albuquerque civil rights attorney Mary Han even had a right to seek that path, this one through a petition asking state District Judge David Thomson to issue an order – called a writ of mandamus – compelling the state Office of the Medical Investigator to change the manner of Han’s death from suicide to undetermined. The short answer is, yes, the family does have that right, at least for now. After denying the OMI’s motion to dismiss the family’s petition, Thomson scheduled a full-day hearing for Dec. 7 in which both parties will continue to make their cases with witnesses and evidence. But even before Thomson rose from the bench, Paul Melendres, attorney for the OMI, signaled that he will appeal the judge’s decision.Melendres also chided the Han family for simply not accepting the OMI report as is. “OMI did an investigation,” he snapped. “They (Mary Han’s relatives) just don’t like the outcome of the investigation.” But Han attorney Rosario Vega Lynn countered that OMI had not conducted a thorough and independent investigation and had simply accepted the Albuquerque Police Department’s botched handling of the death as proof enough of suicide.......... It will be five years next month since Han’s death. She was found dead Nov. 18, 2010, in the driver’s seat of her BMW in the garage of her North Valley townhouse. Her death attracted almost every top APD official, dozens of them allowed to traipse in and out of Han’s home. But not a single APD investigator was brought in to conduct an examination of the scene. An autopsy report by the OMI listed Han’s death as a suicide by carbon monoxide intoxication at a saturation level of a whopping 84.8 percent. Such a high level should have raised a host of red flags, especially given that the garage was not airtight and the BMW should have had a sensor that turned off the car before dangerous air levels were reached. Han’s family also says she had been in good spirits the night before she died, talking to her sister about her plans to visit a daughter for Thanksgiving and preparing a gym bag for an early morning workout. Since then, the family members have sought answers and an apology. They filed a lawsuit against the city of Albuquerque in November 2012, but it was dismissed in August 2014 after U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza ruled that there is “no fundamental right under the Constitution to know the cause of a family member’s death.” The case remains under appeal and is set to be heard by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November. Several medical experts have sided with the family, including Georgia Chief Medical Examiner Kris Sperry; Dr. David Williams, a board-certified emergency room physician with the Heart Hospital of New Mexico; and Dr. Werner Spitz, a famed forensic pathologist who co-wrote what is considered the bible of forensic pathology. In August 2013, a report from former Attorney General Gary King called the APD investigation “terribly mishandled” and urged the OMI to change the manner of Han’s death from suicide to undetermined.
On Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Ari Biernoff told the court that current Attorney General Hector Balderas takes no position on the Han case. And so the Han family fights on, not just for her but for others similarly ensnared by the legal weeds and blocked by the imperviousness of bureaucracies. “Instead of offering condolences and apologizing, it’s always been a battle in the courts,” Vega Lynn said. “It’s always ‘You have to make us do that.’ ” So make them.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.abqjournal.com/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "Mary Han's family still fighting suicide finding," by reporter Joline Gutierrez Krueger, published by the Albuquerque Journal on October 17, 2015.
GIST: "This week in a Santa Fe courtroom, two opposing attorneys and a judge began navigating their way through the legal weeds of a case involving a third lawyer, whose death nearly five years ago remains tangled in controversy. The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing was to determine whether the family of prominent Albuquerque civil rights attorney Mary Han even had a right to seek that path, this one through a petition asking state District Judge David Thomson to issue an order – called a writ of mandamus – compelling the state Office of the Medical Investigator to change the manner of Han’s death from suicide to undetermined. The short answer is, yes, the family does have that right, at least for now. After denying the OMI’s motion to dismiss the family’s petition, Thomson scheduled a full-day hearing for Dec. 7 in which both parties will continue to make their cases with witnesses and evidence. But even before Thomson rose from the bench, Paul Melendres, attorney for the OMI, signaled that he will appeal the judge’s decision.Melendres also chided the Han family for simply not accepting the OMI report as is. “OMI did an investigation,” he snapped. “They (Mary Han’s relatives) just don’t like the outcome of the investigation.” But Han attorney Rosario Vega Lynn countered that OMI had not conducted a thorough and independent investigation and had simply accepted the Albuquerque Police Department’s botched handling of the death as proof enough of suicide.......... It will be five years next month since Han’s death. She was found dead Nov. 18, 2010, in the driver’s seat of her BMW in the garage of her North Valley townhouse. Her death attracted almost every top APD official, dozens of them allowed to traipse in and out of Han’s home. But not a single APD investigator was brought in to conduct an examination of the scene. An autopsy report by the OMI listed Han’s death as a suicide by carbon monoxide intoxication at a saturation level of a whopping 84.8 percent. Such a high level should have raised a host of red flags, especially given that the garage was not airtight and the BMW should have had a sensor that turned off the car before dangerous air levels were reached. Han’s family also says she had been in good spirits the night before she died, talking to her sister about her plans to visit a daughter for Thanksgiving and preparing a gym bag for an early morning workout. Since then, the family members have sought answers and an apology. They filed a lawsuit against the city of Albuquerque in November 2012, but it was dismissed in August 2014 after U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza ruled that there is “no fundamental right under the Constitution to know the cause of a family member’s death.” The case remains under appeal and is set to be heard by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November. Several medical experts have sided with the family, including Georgia Chief Medical Examiner Kris Sperry; Dr. David Williams, a board-certified emergency room physician with the Heart Hospital of New Mexico; and Dr. Werner Spitz, a famed forensic pathologist who co-wrote what is considered the bible of forensic pathology. In August 2013, a report from former Attorney General Gary King called the APD investigation “terribly mishandled” and urged the OMI to change the manner of Han’s death from suicide to undetermined.
On Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Ari Biernoff told the court that current Attorney General Hector Balderas takes no position on the Han case. And so the Han family fights on, not just for her but for others similarly ensnared by the legal weeds and blocked by the imperviousness of bureaucracies. “Instead of offering condolences and apologizing, it’s always been a battle in the courts,” Vega Lynn said. “It’s always ‘You have to make us do that.’ ” So make them.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.abqjournal.com/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
