Friday, March 25, 2016

Curtis Lovelace: Illinois: Second trial for former football star set to begin on July 25th hinges on a pivotal question: Is Curtis Lovelace responsible for his wife's untimely death - or, as the defence contends, did no crime occur because she died of natural causes from health problems caused by chronic alcoholism and bulimia. "Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist with a national reputation, testified that it is his opinion Cory Lovelace died from suffocation with a pillow. But Dr. Shaku Teas, a forensic pathologist from the Chicago area who initially was contacted in March 2014 by police during the reinvestigation, said it's her opinion no crime occurred. "There is no (criminal) case here," Dr. Teas said, indicating that she would have found that Cory Lovelace died from chronic alcoholism."


STORY:  "More questions than answers," by reporter Jim Dey, published by the News-Gazette on March 24, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: Curtis Lovelace...is escorted by sheriff's deputies in January to a courtroom for jury selection in his first-degree murder trial at the Adams County Courthouse in Quincy, Ill. Lovelace returned to court Friday, March 18, 2016, where a new trial date of July 25, 2016, was set for the former Quincy prosecutor who is facing a second murder trial in his wife's 2006 Valentine's Day death.  
GIST: "Round II of Quincy's Trial of the Century is scheduled to begin July 25, when former University of Illinois football star Curt Lovelace faces a second trial for the alleged 2006 murder of his wife, Cory Lovelace. Lovelace's first trial, which lasted two weeks, ended in a mistrial Feb. 5 after jurors were unable to reach a verdict. The mystery surrounding the death of 38-year-old Cory Lovelace is dual in nature. While prosecutors try to prove that Curt Lovelace is responsible for his wife's untimely death, the defense contends that no crime occurred. They assert that Cory Lovelace died of natural causes from health problems caused by chronic alcoholism and bulimia. Rich Herr, a local businessman and former Illini football teammate of Curt Lovelace, is among those who contend that Cory Lovelace died of natural causes. He said that he had long been concerned about her health. "We all knew how sick she was. We weren't shocked that she died, but we weren't surprised either," he said. Herr, who described himself and Lovelace — both linemen on Illini teams from the late '80s and early '90s — as friends "since forever," could be accused of bias. But UI law Professor Steve Beckett characterized the case as shot through with reasonable doubt, so much so that he's scheduled an April 29 symposium on the case at the UI College of Law. "It's a really interesting case," said Beckett, one that features "competing death experts" but also compelling fact witnesses. Key witnesses include three of the four Lovelace children, who told authorities they saw and spoke with their mother not long before her body was found upstairs in bed on the morning of Feb. 14, 2006 — Valentine's Day. They were 10, 9 and 8 at the time. A fourth was too young to be interviewed. Their testimony is critical because the prosecution is relying on medical testimony that Cory Lovelace was suffocated by her husband about 12 hours before her body was found. If the children's testimony is correct, the prosecution has no case. While his future hangs in the balance, Lovelace remains in custody at the Hancock County jail, where he's been held since his arrest on Aug. 27, 2014. He was indicted by an Adams County grand jury the same day following a reinvestigation of the case by a recently promoted patrol officer, Detective Adam Gibson.......... Although both sides will present their own medical experts to testify, there will never be any definitive finding as to Cory Lovelace's cause of death. At her mother's request, her body was cremated.The original autopsy, conducted by Dr. Jessica Bowman, found no specific cause of death, ruling it undetermined. She also reported that Cory Lovelace had a significantly enlarged liver, roughly twice the normal size. The condition of the body when observed by police is a matter of significant dispute. Employees of the coroner's office reported seeing significant rigor mortis, suggesting she had been dead for a number of hours. But one police officer reported the body felt warm to the touch. St. Louis Dr. Janet Turner, who reviewed medical records during the reinvestigation, said the rigor mortis she observed, which included the deceased's hands in a frozen position above her chest, proved Cory Lovelace died, probably from suffocation, 12 hours before her body was found. "I suppose a pillow was used to suffocate her," Dr. Turner said. But a defense witness, Dr. George Nichols, said he found "no proof the woman was murdered." He down-played the rigor mortis question because he said it "does not occur at a fixed time," varying from person to person. He also said it's impossible to reach any conclusion beyond that because the tests necessary to do so weren't conducted at the autopsy and the body is no longer available. Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist with a national reputation, testified that it is his opinion Cory Lovelace died from suffocation with a pillow. But Dr. Shaku Teas, a forensic pathologist from the Chicago area who initially was contacted in March 2014 by police during the reinvestigation, said it's her opinion no crime occurred. "There is no (criminal) case here," Dr. Teas said, indicating that she would have found that Cory Lovelace died from chronic alcoholism. Given those conflicting assessments, the children's testimony that they saw their mother that morning — if believed — turns the case. That's why the CBS News Show "48 Hours" titled its segment on the Lovelace case "What Did the Children See?" Beckett said, in his view, what the Lovelace children told police is dispositive. "Would you remember the last time you saw your mom or dad before they died?" he asked. "All three kids immediately told authorities their mom was alive before they went to school."

The entire story can be found at: 

http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/2016-03-24/jim-dey-more-questions-answers.html

See CBS 48 Hours documentary on this case: "What did the children see," at the link below." "Detective Gibson kept investigating the old case secretly, out of the public eye. He consulted the original pathologist, Dr. Jessica Bowman, who had ruled the death "undetermined." Bowman told Gibson she would no longer participate in the case, but sent him for another opinion to another pathologist she knew in Chicago, Dr. Shaku Teas. "She said basically that she saw nothing suspicious about the death," Det. Gibson said of Dr. Tea's ruling. "So why wasn't that the end of it for you? I mean, you have Dr. Bowman who says undetermined, you have now Dr. Shaku Teas, who is accredited and is telling you, 'look it's undetermined, I don't see a problem with it,'" Maher asked the detective. "Because I didn't believe that the information that Dr. Teas had given was credible to what I already knew," he replied. So Det. Gibson sought yet another opinion. Enter Dr. Jane Turner, an assistant medical examiner in St. Louis."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cory-lovelace-mystery-what-did-the-children-see/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.