Here’s a rather strange ruling that short-stops criminal investigators looking into the manner (homicide, accidental or natural?) of an adult females’s death while in police custody. I’m assuming the legal theory on excluding a medical examiner’s report is that it is a form of ‘self-incriminating’ evidence as it includes statements from first responders to the death scene. One wonders how coroners and ME’s are supposed to perform their duties towards a decedent’s family if these documents are now considered inadmissible? The judge in this case tilted his ruling in favor of other parties. On the other end of the spectrum, police statements about crime scenes and suspect behaviors are consistently allowed into evidence as a form of reliable testimony. Apparently the Fifth Amendment can be invoked when they talk about each others actions.
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 