Report: S.J. County D.A.’s Office criticized sheriff in 2011 case
The San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office knew nearly five years ago of a case supporting one of many allegations that forensic pathologists made earlier this month about Sheriff-Coroner Steve Moore, according to a letter obtained recently by a staunch critic of both the sheriff and the district attorney.
The letter, written by then Deputy District Attorney Sherri Adams and addressed to Moore, criticizes the sheriff’s alleged practice of sometimes not allowing the pathologists to personally visit death scenes. That is consistent with one of the recent complaints, though not a prominent one, made earlier this month by Drs. Bennet Omalu and Susan Parson.
Adams cites one 2011 homicide case in which the lack of a pathologist on the scene made it more difficult to determine the time of death, which may have complicated the case against the killer. He was convicted anyway.
A pathologist was not sent to the scene in that case, Adams wrote, despite a request from a police detective. This fact later became fodder for defense attorneys in court, and troubled the jury.
"I hope that in writing this letter it brings to your attention how the failure to have the forensic pathologist come to the scene can have an affect (sic) on the prosecution of some cases,” Adams wrote to the sheriff in January 2013. “I can appreciate how difficult it would be to require a forensic pathologist to go to each and every homicide scene . ... However, the established standards of forensic science and medicine should not be a matter of dispute when the lead detective recognizes the need for the expertise of forensic pathologists at the scene.”
Prosecutors say Adams’ letter was merely advisory and that there was nothing further to investigate. It is not standard practice for pathologists to automatically visit death scenes. And in fact, Omalu did attend a homicide scene just two weeks before the killing that Adams referenced in her letter.
“This letter is a pretty straightforward request that in the future, when it’s necessary and when it’s possible, that the pathologist who is willing to come out be allowed to come out,” said Robert Himelblau, senior deputy district attorney.
But Frank Gayaldo, the longtime critic who was once terminated from the Sheriff’s Office and made Adams’ letter public this week, says it should have triggered an investigation in 2013.
"The fact is that the public has been kept in the dark,” Gayaldo said. “Even the DA knew that there is a significant problem in the coroner’s office. That’s just wrong.”
In his own statement Thursday, Moore said his office has, in fact, dispatched pathologists to “multiple crime scenes” once there is a request by the investigating agency. This allows detectives to process evidence in a “pristine state” before a pathologist arrives.