Reason's Radley on the Radio

Radley Balko | October 9, 2007

I'll be discussing my article about Dr. Steven Hayne on statewide Mississippi radio tomorrow at about 8am ET.

The producer tells me there's a chance that Dr. Hayne will also be on to defend himself.

Should be fun. You can listen live here.

Meanwhile, here's YouTube goodness of last night's local Jackson news report on Dr. Hayne.

Comments

|10.9.07 @ 8:21PM|#

Take the first "be" out of the second sentence.

I am shocked! A corrupt county worker? How odd.

It is good to see you getting the credit for your work, keeping kicking ass (in a media way)!

|10.9.07 @ 8:36PM|#

Radley

Has Hayne ever produced any evidence which has exonerated the accused?

Given a caseload of ~15,000 over a decade, it would be very strange if there were no investigation in which he was involved that there was a person falsely accused.

Balloon Maker|10.9.07 @ 9:08PM|#

My first exposure to Radley was about 2 years ago when he was blasting MADD on a Baltimore radio show. I've been a huge fan ever since. (I remember googling "Bradley Ralko" "Bradley Balko" "Balky Blacko")

Keep up the work, brother

|10.9.07 @ 9:19PM|#

Radley, a few questions to ask the good doctor:

1) Dr Hayne claims to have had help. When did he start working with additional staff? What training do they receive?

2) What is the peak number of cases he has handled ina week?

Since the rate at which people die suspiciously is essentially a Poisson distribution (random independent events) the number of cases should vary pretty widely. I think the average number of autopsies works out to about 25 per week. The standard distribution of that population is 5. In the course of his career, he should have had a few weeks that varied as far as 3 standard deviations from the mean. Thus, we should expect that there were a few weeks with as many as 40 cases piling up.

3) How often has he declined to do an autopsy because he was too busy? Again, no matter how dedicated, as over-scheduled as he claims to be, he must have had a few instances where more was dmenaded of him than there were hours in the week to accomplish.

4) How does he determine how much time to spend on an autopsy?

5) (Follow up to 4) How does he ensure that he does not miss something unexpected? For example a man is found in the water - he checks the lungs and finds out that there is foamy water in it (an indication that he drowned), does he check the rest of the body for wounds?

6) What systems does he have in place to ensure that data does not get mixed up on days when he handles multiple autopsies?

7) Has he ever contacted anyone else to get a second opinion or help with a baffling case?

|10.9.07 @ 9:30PM|#

tarran, Some of your questions are answered in Radley's longer piece from the most recent print issue--posted online Monday.

|10.9.07 @ 9:32PM|#

Great work as always Radley, but damn, you need to get another photo out there for media use.

|10.9.07 @ 9:40PM|#

d, I read the article, but don't recall seeing those questions answered. If they were, great.

|10.9.07 @ 10:11PM|#

mtc | October 9, 2007, 9:32pm | #
Great work as always Radley, but damn, you need to get another photo out there for media use.
mtc,
Are you a chick? Because if your are, I defer to your judgment. Otherwise I'd say never let the media have any other photo ever. That pic is awesome!

D. Greene|10.9.07 @ 10:31PM|#

This story is picking up some steam, and now that it's actually making it to the radio and the teevee, the good people of Mississippi can finally find out about it.

GILMORE|10.9.07 @ 10:33PM|#

That photo is the Radlinator

a leeetle scary, jes

But for real, Radley, be careful. Missisipi Burning aint no joke. Folks down 'air don kin to fasttalkin troublemakin yankees with idears. It could be a setup. At least dont get screwed for libel or anything. You piss off cops all the time. I'd probably wear a wig.

|10.9.07 @ 10:36PM|#

Go get him, Radley. You're one of a very small number of people who demonstrate that journalism can still be a noble profession.

whoknows|10.9.07 @ 11:26PM|#

Radley is hot.

|10.10.07 @ 5:02AM|#

肺癌 肝癌 胃癌

Jennifer|10.10.07 @ 8:57AM|#

Keep that fire lit under his ass, Radley! I'd say Mississippi's long overdue for an old-fashioned tarrin' and featherin'.

|10.10.07 @ 9:59AM|#

aizheng... What?

Did anybody hear the radio bit? I missed it by an hour :(

The tv spot had me cheering. Rock on, Radley!

I'm with mtc on the photo. Radley's hot and that photo doesn't do him justice.

/hopes his girlfriend doesn't mind me saying so
//just sharing a lady's perspective

|10.10.07 @ 10:26AM|#

I think aizheng's link is a contest. Everyone clicks on it and the first person whose hard drive crashes wins a prize. But first, you have to call Hangzhou and give them a couple credit cards numbers.

Bronwyn - given the (often adolescent) mooning over Kerry Howley on these pages, I'd say you're entitled to voice your opinion on Radley.