Autopsies of 100 Marylanders who died in police custody under review after former medical examiner testified in George Floyd case

BALTIMORE -- Following an audit of 1,300 autopsies from in-custody deaths during Dr. David Fowler's tenure as chief medical examiner, an independent team is recommending about 100 cases involving physical restraint for further review.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced on Tuesday that the panel is asking an independent group of forensic pathologists to see if they agree with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's "determinations of cause and manner of death."

The panel wants to know whether those pathologists "believe the OCME's determinations were based on adequate investigations and whether changes are needed to improve the OCME's practices," Frosh said.

The panel of forensic pathologists, known as the Audit Design Team, was convened in April 2021 to figure out how autopsies from Fowler's tenure should be reviewed after the former chief medical examiner testified Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin did not kill George Floyd when he kneed on Floyd's neck.

Chauvin was convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

"The panel will not have the legal authority to reverse the decision of the medical examiner," Frosh said of the new audit. "They may say, 'We disagree. We think it was a homicide and that would be illuminating and perhaps lead to legal action by somebody somewhere but not necessarily.'"

Fowler served as Maryland's chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019.

Frosh told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren in a one-on-one interview Wednesday that he does not know how long the process will take but hopes it is "months and not years." 

He declined to reveal which cases are being reviewed. 

"We needed to come up with a review that was unbiased—unbiased based on race or affinity for law enforcement," Frosh told Hellgren. "They're all cases where the person was in custody and being restrained by law enforcement officers and subsequently died in custody and beyond that, I can't say who it is."

The audit will have to answer a series of questions, according to a report released Wednesday: "Were these cases adequately investigated?" "Were the OCME's operations and procedures, as described in the case files, consistent with best practices?" "What role did restraint play in each death? Would the decedent have lived but for the application of restraint?" "What determination should the OCME have reached in each case concerning cause and manner of death?" "If the OCME's determination of cause or manner of death differed from that of the reviewers, what do the reviewers make of that discrepancy?"

Reviewers will be given case files to make their own initial opinion about each case. The pathologists will then meet to reach a "consensus or majority opinion on both cause and manner of death," according to the report.

Frosh's office will recruit the forensic pathologists required to look at the cases.

Tawanda Jones has been fighting for justice for her brother Tyrone West since he died in Baltimore police custody almost a decade ago.

She has blamed the police for restraining him. No officers were charged. 

Dr. Fowler ruled West died in part of heart problems. 

"Every chance I could, I was in front of the medical examiner's office protesting and demanding answers," Jones told Hellgren Wednesday. "They never listened. I hope someone's finally listening." 

She said she was ready to "kick my TV off the wall" watching Fowler testify for Chauvin's defense last year.

Jones paid for two forensic reviews of her brother's cause of death and had his body exhumed.  She said pathologists disagreed with Fowler's findings. 

"The most important thing is accountability," she said. 

She vowed not to give up her fight for the truth.

"I want people to know Tyrone West's life mattered," Jones told WJZ. 

The family of Anton Black, the Eastern Shore teenager who died in police custody in 2018, also criticized Fowler's ruling that a heart condition—and not police restraining him—caused his death.

Without revealing whether Black or West are among the cases getting a fresh look, Frosh had a message for the families concerned about how their cases were handled.

"I hope that the ultimate results will give them solace either that their loved one was treated appropriately by the office of the medical examiner or validate their concern that he or she wasn't," he said. 

WJZ was unable to reach Fowler for comment. The medical examiner's office told us they had no statement on the matter.