Mississippi has not had a state medical examiner for the past 15 years. To fill that hole, the state has relied mainly on Dr. Steven Hayne, a decision that has often proved unwise.
In 2007, the state Supreme Court tossed out Hayne's testimony in the case of Tyler Edmonds, then 13, accused of killing his sister's husband. The good doctor testified that he could tell from his autopsy that two hands, from two different people, pulled the gun's trigger.
In 2008, Hayne's testimony was again called into question when DNA evidence proved that Kennedy Brewer had not raped and murdered his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in 1992. The DNA evidence pointed to another man, who not only confessed to the crime Brewer was accused of committing, but also to another, nearly identical crime in 1990. Levon Brooks spent 18 years behind bars for the 1990 crime; Brewer, 16 years, including six on death row.
Hayne has performed an enormous number of autopsies: up to 1,800 a year by his own admission, a number that should top out at no more than 250, according to the National Association of Medical Examiners. Hayne also is not board certified.
Under pressure from groups like the Innocence Project, which was responsible for the Brewer and Brooks exonerations, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety removed Hayne from the state's list of approved medical examiners in August 2008. But instead of investigating Hayne, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood responded by finding a way around his removal, allowing county coroners to sidestep the state's decision by using an old law to redistrict parts of the state to rehire Hayne.
As a district attorney, Hood, like most of the state's DAs, used Hayne's services to back prosecutions. And recently, Hood once again rushed to get Hayne's back. Last week, the state House unanimously passed H.B. 1456, a bill that will require state medical examiners to be certified by the American Board of Pathology and to be on the list of approved medical examiners of the DPS. In an e-mail to coroners and others, Hood urged them to contact their state representatives and senators to oppose the bill, calling it "potentially harmful."
Lawyers spend their careers in pursuit of being right, often at the expense of the truth. The truth when it comes to Hayne is that he has been responsible for putting a lot of people behind bars and on death row. And the truth is that many have called several of Hayne's expert opinions into question.
Mississippi and her top cop, Hood, owe more than a passing glance at those accusations. "Good enough" is an extraordinarily low bar when it comes to making life and death decisions. Hood should know better than to keep Mississippi stuck in that morass.
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