Number	21291
Subject	Medical Examiners
Source	KPHO-TV (Phoenix)
State	AZ
Year	2003
Publication Date	November 20th, 2003
Summary	An exclusive i-team investigation shows how inconsistencies, mistakes and staffing problems are raising serious questions at the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Offices. This is a new forensic science center where coroners perform autopsies on people who have died on unnatural causes in this county. Investigators and legal experts rely on the information provided by this office, but the information is not always correct. Interviewees on this tape say that leads to having innocent people on trial for crimes that do not exist. In one case, the Sheriff's office began using an amended autopsy to defend a mysterious jail death. The Chief Medical Examiner changed his opinion about the jail death two years after the original autopsy, without any new information. Some Medical Examiners are doing many more autopsies per year than what is recommended.
Category	Contest Entry
Pages	None
Keywords	TAPE;Chief Medical Examiner;Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office;autopsy;inconsistency;forensic;forensic science;legal;legal expert;coroner;investigator;trial;crime;jail death;kill;killing;shooting;shot;inconsistent autopsy.
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Related Video	VHS tape runs 5:14
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