Alabama To Review 100 Autopsies Performed by Discredited Medical Examiner

A mother in Alabama was released after nine months in prison when several forensic pathologists said Alabama medical examiner Dr. Corinne Stern misdiagnosed an infant's cause of death. The state's chief medical examiner now plans to re-open 100 prior homicide cases in which Stern performed the autopsy. 

The judge said in 30 years of law practice he had never seen an expert make a mistake so bad. He praised District Attorney Chris McCool for listening to a defense expert who raised the first red flags about the flawed autopsy.

"What has happened in this courtroom today is absolutely unprecedented," said Moore.

Police found out about the baby when a couple who had been lined up to adopt the child called authorities. Lee told police what happened, but Stern's autopsy concluded the baby was suffocated.

The body had bruises on the forehead and mouth, she wrote, indicating the use of force.

Once Lee's defense questioned the autopsy, McCool got other experts to review the case. Evidence during the hearing showed six different forensics experts found the baby died of pneumonia caused by an infection and was stillborn. What Stern thought were bruises were actually signs of decomposition.

Stern is now working as the medical examiner for Webb County, Texas. 

Troubling as Stern's mistake is, the DA, judge, and chief medical examiner in Alabama deserve a ton of credit for recognizing the problem, addressing it head-on instead of covering it up, and taking measures to see what other damage Stern may have done during her time in Alabama.

Mississippi, are you listening?

Comments

[brotherben]

Mr. Balko, there have been some stories the last month or two in "The Dothan Eagle" with sentences handed down for attempted murder charges. In Dothan, a getaway driver in a robbery gone bad was sentenced to several decades in prison. She sat in the car while her accomplice had a gunfight with the police. In Ozark, a man wrestled away a cop's gun and shot at him several times. He was given a short stretch in the county jail. The big difference I see here in sentencing is race based.

[J sub D]

I feel better after reading a Balko post! I will circle this day on my calendar. In red.

It is certainly nice to hear that not everybody in the criminal justice system holds professional competence, personal integrity and justice in contempt.

[Franklin Harris]

Once again, those of us in Alabama can look down on Mississippi.

[ChicagoTom]

I feel better after reading a Balko post! I will circle this day on my calendar. In red.

It is certainly nice to hear that not everybody in the criminal justice system holds professional competence, personal integrity and justice in contempt.

Hear Hear!

[rhofulster]

I'm going to learn a little bit about this McCool fellow. Perhaps throw a couple hundred bucks to his reelection campaign.

[Mississippi]

Huh? I don't know what you're . . . hey, is that a bite mark? West, get over here with them special glasses.

[perilisk]

"Once again, those of us in Alabama can look down on Mississippi."

Isn't that pretty much always the case?

[James Ard]

Could it be these real public servants have had a dose of Balko?

[ed]

Why does Radley hate the South?

[brotherben]

Dr. Stern's Texas medical license says she has actively practiced medicine in Texas for 8 years in the previous 12. She was hired in 06' in Laredo. She did her residency in Hawaii till 98' and she worked in Alabama. Something doesn't add up here. Or she is a superwoman.

[ed]

She did her residency in Hawaii

Yeah? So what? I earned my online diploma in the Cayman Islands. It's friggin hot there. And the humidity! Or so I hear. Anybody need a root canal? I'm running a special this week.

[John Thacker]

Circuit Court Judge James Moore is also the same guy who smacked down Jack Thompson and refused him the right to practice law in the state of Alabama.

[crimethink]

Evidence during the hearing showed six different forensics experts found the baby died of pneumonia caused by an infection and was stillborn.

The baby got pneumonia in the womb? How is that possible?

[robc]

Mississippi, are you listening?

What has 4 eyes and cannot hear?

Wait a sec....

[JP]

I love it (no sarcasm intended) when prosecutors are willing to entertain the idea that they or their investigators might be mistaken, instead of the all-too-common knee-jerk reaction of "so-and-so is guilty"; "we've done nothing unprofessional"; "the judge/jury was out of bounds"; "someone needs to speak for the victim"; etc.

[Tonio]

Bravo!

Realize that Radley's reporting hasn't covered this, but I feel that his reporting has helped build momentum for questioning this sort of sloppy forensics.

[robc]

I love it when prosecutors actually think their job is about justice and not about winning cases.

[SugarFree]

crimethink,

Bacterial pneumonia can ascend into the womb through the vagina. Freaky.

Link (It may not work because if it's proxied to the university)

[Frankin Harris]

Circuit Court Judge James Moore is also the same guy who smacked down Jack Thompson and refused him the right to practice law in the state of Alabama.

Thus saving me a lot of headaches when Thompson was trying to weasel his way into a more recent trial that my newspaper was covering. I told our reporter not to return his calls.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I love it (no sarcasm intended) when prosecutors are willing to entertain the idea that they or their investigators might be mistaken, instead of the all-too-common knee-jerk reaction of "so-and-so is guilty"; "we've done nothing unprofessional"; "the judge/jury was out of bounds"; "someone needs to speak for the victim"; etc.

+1x10^9

[Medic]

Crime think- Not hard. If the infant asspirated amno sac fluid it can VERY easily get a nasty infection.