WitchHunt – Family accuses state pathologist of lying
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi authorities are reviewing the case of a black man who was found hanging dead from a tree after relatives claimed the state’s deputy medical examiner can’t be trusted because he falsified information about a British woman’s death while working in Africa in the 1980s.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said it began its investigation Monday after allegations surfaced that Dr. Adel Shaker falsified information in the 1998 death of Julie Ward, a British tourist killed on a visit to Kenya. Shaker was a pathologist in Kenya at the time.
Shaker told The Associated Press on Monday that his boss in Kenya changed his report to make it look like Ward was killed by wild animals instead of being murdered. Shaker said top officials in Kenya were involved in the cover-up and he had not been able to do anything about it because of Kenya’s oppressive regime at the time.
Shaker said he set the record straight during a British inquest in 2004.
Local law enforcement insists that Carter had a history of mental illness and suicide attempts and hanged himself. The coroner agreed. Shaker said Carter died by hanging, but he hasn’t called it suicide because he said that is the “manner of death,” which he said is determined by the coroner.
Shaker, who is black, said the Carter family’s lawyer is “trying to find a scapegoat” for some reason.
“They should not choose me,” he said.
AP
7/11/11
Magnolia Tribune
