Mary Han: New Mexico: Major development: The Journal reports that famed forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz has opined that the investigation into the death of the prominent civil rights attorney by the medical investigator and the police labelling her death a suicide was "cursory, superficial and incomplete." ...". “Under the circumstances, I firmly believe that this case should be reopened, re-examined and re-evaluated.” (Must Read. HL);

 
COMMENTARY: "Famed pathologist questions Han ruling," by  Joline Gutierrez Krueger, published by 'The Journal' on August 5, 2015.

GIST: Last month, famed forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz, who has made a laudable living off the dead for more than 62 years, offered his thoughts on the investigation into the death of prominent civil rights attorney Mary Han in Albuquerque nearly five years ago. Spitz co-wrote “Medicolegal Investigation of Death,” the bible of forensic pathology, now in its 20th printing. His expertise has been sought in dozens of high-profile cases from the assassination of President Kennedy to the murder trials of O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony. And now, it had been sought by the Han family. His opinion was stunning. “It is evident that the investigation was cursory, superficial and incomplete, both by the medical investigator and the police,” Spitz wrote in a letter dated July 24 to Rosario Vega Lynn, the Han family’s attorney. “Under the circumstances, I firmly believe that this case should be reopened, re-examined and re-evaluated.”Which is what many – including two other medical experts, former Attorney General Gary King and yours truly – have been saying almost since that gut-kicking afternoon when Han was found dead Nov. 18, 2010, in her car parked in the garage at her North Valley townhouse. The state Office of the Medical Investigator deemed her death a suicide by carbon monoxide intoxication, but few who had known the fearless, feisty, 53-year-old Han believed she had taken her own life. There were just too many questions unanswered, too much left undone by the agencies that should have sought those answers. A lawsuit filed by the Han family in November 2012 against the city of Albuquerque and various personnel contends that the Albuquerque Police Department – an agency Han had sued for millions of dollars – failed to conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation into her death and allowed dozens of high-ranking police and city officials to tromp around her home, destroying evidence and leading the OMI astray. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza dismissed the lawsuit in August 2014, ruling that there is “no fundamental right under the Constitution to know the cause of a family member’s death.” Garza also ruled that a dead person’s civil rights cannot be violated, that the family had not shown Han’s civil rights were violated before she died, nor had the civil rights of the family members been violated. And the family, Garza said, had not identified the wrongful act that caused Han’s death. The case remains under appeal, split into two portions now before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and state District Court in Albuquerque.".........So on Monday the Han family filed a petition asking the court to compel the OMI to conduct a “fair, accurate, professional and impartial investigation into Ms. Han’s true cause and manner of death and to provide an accurate death certification.” The petition, filed in the 1st Judicial Court in Santa Fe because the OMI is a state agency, makes a number of allegations against the OMI, including that its field personnel did not communicate with first responders, who had identified Han’s home as a possible crime scene; that it failed to investigate the contents of Han’s laptop found in her car; failed to interview Han’s longtime law partner, Paul Kennedy, who found Han dead; failed to test the clear liquid found in a glass in the car or test the air for carbon monoxide; failed to collect medication found in the home or collect evidence and DNA that might have been found under her fingernails or on her body; and failed to contact an expert on whether Han’s car had a carbon monoxide sensor.........The noble cause of a forensic pathologist is to seek the truth, says the foreword to Spitz’s seminal “Medicolegal Investigation of Death.” That requires the pathologist to “abandon rhetoric, ancient dogma and fictive contentions in favor of finding and presenting fact.” The facts in Han’s death appear to be irretrievably lost, the truth forever out of reach. Surely it’s time the OMI found the guts to say so and change its report."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.abqjournal.com/623309

 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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;