"Defendants' outrageous and inexcusable mishandling of the deceased's body amounts to a reprehensible violation of human dignity and common decency," the lawsuit states, adding that "their appalling misconduct is nothing short of grave robbery and mutilation." Dotson's family, while seeking information about what happened to his heart, discovered that other families had similar experiences, Faraino said."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The situation involving Singleton's body is mentioned in court documents filed by Dotson's family last week. In the documents, the inmate's daughter, Charlene Drake, writes that a funeral home told her that her father's body was brought to it "with no internal organs" after his death while incarcerated in 2021. She wrote that the funeral director told her that "normally the organs are in a bag placed back in the body after an autopsy, but Charles had been brought to the funeral home with no internal organs."
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STORY: "Alabama prisoners' bodies returned to families with hearts, other organs missing, lawsuit claims," published by CBS News, on January 11, 2023.
GIST: "The bodies of two men who died while incarcerated in Alabama's prison system were missing their hearts or other organs when returned to their families, a federal lawsuit alleges.
The family of Brandon Clay Dotson, who died in a state prison in November, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Alabama Department of Corrections and others saying his body was decomposing and his heart was missing when his remains were returned to his family.
In a court filing in the case last week, the daughter of Charles Edward Singleton, another deceased inmate, said her father's body was missing all of his internal organs when it was returned in 2021.
Lauren Faraino, an attorney representing Dotson's family, said via email Wednesday that the experience of multiple families shows this is "absolutely part of a pattern."
The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment late Wednesday afternoon to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Dotson, 43, was found dead on Nov. 16 at Ventress Correctional Facility. His family, suspecting foul play was involved in his death, hired a pathologist to do a second autopsy and discovered his heart was missing, according to the lawsuit. His family filed a lawsuit seeking to find out why his heart was removed and to have it returned to them.
"Defendants' outrageous and inexcusable mishandling of the deceased's body amounts to a reprehensible violation of human dignity and common decency," the lawsuit states, adding that "their appalling misconduct is nothing short of grave robbery and mutilation."
Dotson's family, while seeking information about what happened to his heart, discovered that other families had similar experiences, Faraino said.
The situation involving Singleton's body is mentioned in court documents filed by Dotson's family last week. In the documents, the inmate's daughter, Charlene Drake, writes that a funeral home told her that her father's body was brought to it "with no internal organs" after his death while incarcerated in 2021.
She wrote that the funeral director told her that "normally the organs are in a bag placed back in the body after an autopsy, but Charles had been brought to the funeral home with no internal organs." The court filing was first reported by WBMA.
A federal judge held a hearing in the Dotson case last week. Al.com reported that the hearing provided no answers about the location of the heart.
The lawsuit filed by Dotson's family contended that the heart might have been retained during a state autopsy with the intention of giving it to the medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for research purposes.
Attorneys for the university said that was "bald speculation" and wrote in a court filing that the university did not perform the autopsy and never received any of Dotson's organs."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prisoners-bodies-returned-to-families-missing-organs-lawsuit-alleges/| PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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; |
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
