What the coroner forgot By Chuck Green

Denver Post Columnist Aug. 17 - Dr. John Meyer, the Boulder County coroner whose autopsy report in the JonBenet Ramsey case is the most scrutinized medical record in Colorado history, has a top reputation among coroners in the state. He seems to enjoy a particularly good reputation among his colleagues, and they never speak a critical word of his integrity or his work. But in the wake of the most publicized autopsy of his career, Meyer's work has come under severe criticism by colleagues across the country. And Coloradans ought to be listening, to determine whether Colorado's crime-detecting medical examiners are adequately equipped, trained and disciplined. Meyer, operating in one of the state's wealthiest counties, ought to be one of the best. If his office isn't adequate to do the job, few others ought to be. Most of the state's coroner offices are staffed with less funding, less money and less expertise than Boulder County's. Nationally known coroners have been critical of Meyer's autopsy report in the Ramsey case, saying that Meyer spent only 10 minutes with the little girl's corpse at the scene of the crime and neglected several critical procedures on the autopsy table the following morning. Meyer has a long-standing policy of not publicly commenting on his autopsies in criminal cases. The most damning and detailed criticism of the Ramsey autopsy came last week from Dr. Claus (Peter) Speth, a well-known and controversial pathologist who has conducted about 8,000 autopsies and nearly 1,200 crime-scene investigations. He has been licensed in New York, Connecticut, California and New Jersey and holds certificates in three fields of pathology - anatomical, clinical and forensic. He is now retired but works as a consultant from his office in New Jersey. Among the highlights of his comments on the Ramsey autopsy report: Not having recorded the core temperature of JonBenet's corpse soon after the crime scene was secured by police. Not thoroughly noting the presence or absence of the setting and gelling of blood, a condition of discoloration known as lividity, an important factor in estimating the time of death and the position of the hands, arms and feet of an undisturbed corpse. Not extracting fluid from JonBenet Ramsey's eyeballs, an important procedure that allows a measurement of the vitreous potassium in her eye fluid - another critical factor in estimating the time of her death. Those three pieces of evidence, considered together, "can provide a reliable window of probability" of when death occured, especially if the body is discovered under average conditions and less than 36 hours after death, Speth said. Failure to note any damage - or lack of it - to the tender facial skin around the 6-year-old girl's mouth, or the presence of residual adhesive. JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, has said that when he found the girl's body in a basement storage room, he ripped off a strip of duct tape that had been pressed over her mouth. The lack of notations strongly indicates that no damage was detected by Meyer, raising a doubt about the father's version of events. Inadequate examination of the scalp where JonBenet's skull was bashed in by an instrument variously thought to be a flashlight, or a baseball bat or a golf club. There is no indication in the autopsy report that Meyer cut away the scalp hair to examine and photograph the surface of the scalp over the depressed skull fracture. Using special lighting, a pathologist can detect the characteristics of the weapon causing the fracture. The lack of specificity about the exact location and shape of urine stains found on JonBenet's leggings, details of which could provide evidence of whether the stain occurred while she was standing, sitting or lying down. Failure to record the precise number, locations and pattern of "several" red stains on the girl's panties. Such items indicate a failure by the pathologist to contribute to the crime-scene investigation and to provide meaningful forensic correlations at the autopsy, Speth said. That denies possible evidence to detectives and prosecutors. Other forensic pathologists, most notably former New York City Coroner Michael Baden and Pittsburgh Coroner Cyril Wecht, have made similar observations about Meyer's report of the Ramsey autopsy. If their criticisms are legitimate - and an inquiry of professional peers ought to be commissioned to determine that - it would raise broader questions about Colorado's coroner system. After all, if Meyer's work is celebrated by his Colorado peers, but found inadequate by modern forensic standards, citizens of Boulder and throughout Colorado should know that. Speth himself is involved in a politically charged case in New Jersey, where he is under indictment for tampering with evidence in a suicide. The accusation comes from the office of the state's medical examiner, which Speth had criticized for mishandling autopsies. The 4-year-old case is set for trial next month. Prior to the accusations against him, Speth discovered that a county medical examiner had wrongly concluded that a high school teacher had been clubbed to death. Speth found two bullets in the victim's head, and the medical examiner was dismissed. The case was politically embarrassing to the state's medical examiner's office.