Longtime State Medical Examiner Out
By Howard Ballou
howard@wlbt.net
WLBT News has learned embattled pathologist Steven Hayne will no longer be doing medical examinations for the state of Mississippi.
We are told Dr. Hayne performed his last autopsy early Monday morning and received notice of his termination, via fax, at his Brandon office at noon. Mississippi has not had an official state medical examiner for more than a decade, but Hayne has been the go-to guy.
While not properly board certified, Dr. Hayne has conducted the bulk of all criminal autopsies in the state, earning hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars each year.
Recently, his work has come under fire from organizations like the Innocence Project, which investigates cases of people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Earlier this year, Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks were cleared in two separate child murders they were wrongfully convicted of in the 1990s. Hayne conducted the autopsies in both cases.
The Innocence Project asked the State Board of Medical Licensure to revoke Hayne's license. They accused him of providing false and misleading autopsy reports and testimony in criminal prosecutions.
Public defender Matt Eichelberger says he's been waiting four years for Hayne to be fired.
"He is someone who I believe is a cancer on our criminal justice system," Eichelberger said. "He does shoddy work. He does far too many autopsies. And he will, often times, give the weights of organs that aren't there and do other things to tip you off that maybe he is not competent or maybe he's overworked."
WLBT went to Hayne's office in Brandon, Pathology Consultations, Inc., for comment, but staffers told us he was not in. Hayne did not return our calls for comment.
No one at the Department of Public Safety is talking either, referring our questions to public affairs person Angie Underwood. She said all our questions would be answered Tuesday at a 1:30 p.m. press conference at DPS headquarters.
The biggest unanswered questions now are who will be authorized to do state autopsies and when.
For Eichelberger, it can't be soon enough.
"I hope that the Department of Public Safety will hire a qualified medical examiner," he said. "Someone who is board-certified by the National Association of Medical Examiners, someone who is certified by the American Board of Pathology, someone that we can all believe in and trust."
Sources tell WLBT that Dr. Hayne has 90 days to get all of his autopsy reports in order and submitted to the Department of Public Safety.
