Maryland’s AG to Review 100 In-Custody Deaths After Chief Medical Examiner’s Testimony at George Floyd Trial Prompts 400 Colleagues to Question His Work
by Jo Ellen Nott
On October 20, 2022, a little over a year after it was convened, the seven-member Audit Design Team released its report with the recommendation to re-review 100 in-custody deaths and autopsies in Maryland. The team was convened after 400 medical experts raised concerns about Dr. David Fowler’s testimony in the George Floyd murder trial.
Fowler, who was Maryland’s chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019, testified that the primary cause of Floyd’s death was a sudden heart rhythm disturbance during police restraint due to underlying heart disease and not a lack of oxygen. The medical experts sent a letter to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh asserting that Fowler’s expert testimony deviated from standard medical practice. They objected to Fowler classifying the manner of Floyd’s death as undetermined rather than “homicide.”
The four hundred doctors who took exception to Fowler’s opinion said in their letter they had significant concerns about his previous pathology practice and management, noting the possibility that Fowler could have purposefully been avoiding classifying in-custody deaths as a homicides and instead classifying them as accidental or undetermined.
The experts asked for an immediate review of all in-custody deaths investigated during the Fowler years by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and AG Frosh agreed. The initial review looked at 1,300 autopsies and narrowed it down to a group of 100 for a more intensive review.
The 100 cases recommended for review by the Audit Design Team will be handled by additional independent forensic pathologists and other experts. The names of the decedents in the 100 cases will not be released, but two well-known cases are believed to be included in the review:
The case of 44-year-old Tyrone West who died after running from Baltimore police during a traffic stop. The medical examiner said West died due to cardiac arrythmia aggravated by dehydration, a heart condition, and extreme heat, not from asphyxia nor trauma from the fight.
The case of 19-year-old Anton Black who died after running from police during a 911 call. During the autopsy, Fowler ruled that Black died because of a sudden cardiac event while struggling with police, not because they pinned him in a prone position while shackled.
As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
