Comments on: Mississippi Lawyer Calls for Review of Hayne Autopsy

By: Heartless Libertarian

Heartless Libertarian — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:38:59 +0000

I wonder if the lack of a state medical examiner to appeal to would create any sort of Due Process violations, either under the Mississippi constitution or statutes, or Federal ones.

By: Joel Rosenberg

Joel Rosenberg — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:54:58 +0000

While IANAL, and all, that sounds like a pretty clear due process violation. The state law provides for review by state ME as a check on incompetent medical examination; absent the state funding one, it’s supposed to be the state’s problem, not the appellant’s.

Yes, I know — there’s an element of “just how much justice can you afford”? But — again, I’m an amateur at this — the right to due process isn’t something that the courts of the state of Mississippi have an exclusive right to look at.

By: colson

colson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:20:26 +0000

What other lawyers think about Mississippi:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/03/03/a-conversation-with-david-boies-and-his-newest-weapon/

It’s an interesting read with a couple of good quotes about the law in ol’ Miss. It is not all about Mississippi though so you may want to do a search through the text to jump to the money quotes.

By: Bronwyn

Bronwyn — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:25:06 +0000

There’s so much wrong here. Let’s set aside the obvious wrongness of a mother abandoning her child in a swamp and look at some other wrongness -

Hayne said Tuesday he only vaguely remembers the case
Well of course he has only a vague recollection. The poor man works his fingers to the bone *kof kof*! How could anyone so dedicated, who personally performs 1500 autopsies a year, be expected to remember anything?

Grisham-Stewart said she continues to choose Hayne because she’s been comfortable with his findings and testimony.
Of course she is. Why wouldn’t she be? I recall coroners in MS don’t need any special qualifications – the milk man can be the coroner – what are Grisham-Stewart’s qualifications, do we know?

…said Sam Howell, administrator of the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Uh huh. Fascinating. An empty, unfunded office has an administrator. Does this empty, unfunded office also have the privilege of a receptionist and secretary?

/snark