The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

by Radley Balko

  “I’m just fried,”: Dean Solov, “State Medical Examiner Calls It Quits,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Aug. 29, 1986.

  “with medical examiners”: Ibid. See Sid Salter, “Medical Examiner Bennett Leaving State for Iowa Job,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Aug. 31, 1986.

  jumping ship: Solov, “State Medical Examiner Calls It Quits.”

  “continue to function”: Grace Simmons, “Roberts Sees No Immediate Problem with Absence of Pathologist,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Oct. 27, 1986.

  “I’m really just heartsick.”: Dean Solov, “State Medical Examiner Due to Quit Post,” Clarion-Ledger, June 27, 1986.

  in the case of State v. Stinson: State v. Stinson, 397 N.W. 2d 136 (Wisconsin Ct. of Appeals 1986).

  “degree of scientific certainty”: Ibid.

  “hypothesis of innocence”: Ibid.

  exonerated by DNA testing: Dinesh Ramde and Todd Richmond, “Man Freed 23 Years After Wrongful Conviction,” Associated Press, Jan. 30, 2009.

  bite marks in a criminal trial: William James Maloney, “The Salem Witch Trials: First Use of Bite Mark Evidence in Court,” New York State Dental Association News 27, no. 1 (Feb. 2014): 1–2; George Lincoln Burr, Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648–1706 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914), 215–228, excerpting Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World; John Demos, “Underlying Themes in the Witchcraft of the Seventeenth Century,” American Historical Review 75, no. 5. (June 1970): 1323.

  court upheld the conviction: People v. Marx, 54 Cal. App. 3d 101 (1975).

  bite mark identification testimony: D. Michael Risinger, “Navigating Expert Reliability: Are Criminal Standards of Certainty Being Left on the Dock?” Albany Law Review 64, no. 1(2000): 138.

  a separate case: People v. Slone, 76 California Ct. of Appeals 3d, 611 (1978).

  validating the field didn’t exist: M. Chris Fabricant and William Tucker Carrington, “The Shifted Paradigm: Forensic Science’s Overdue Evolution from Magic to Law,” Virginia Review of Criminal Law 4, no. 1 (2016): 41–42.

  admissible forensic discipline: State v. Garrison, 585 P.2d 563 (Ariz. 1978).

  no longer even necessary: State v. Armstrong, 179 W. Va. 435 (W.Va. 1988).

  judicial echo chamber: Fabricant and Carrington, “The Shifted Paradigm.”

  “it doesn’t seem to matter”: Michael Saks, interview by Radley Balko.

  single dissenting opinion: Robert A. De La Cruz, “Forensic Dentistry and the Law: Is Bite Mark Evidence Here to Stay?” American Criminal Law Review 24 (1987): 983.

  jurisdictions had accepted it: Gerald L. Vale, “A Historical Perspective: ‘History of Bitemark Evidence,’” in Bitemark Evidence, edited by Robert B. J. Dorion (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2005), 23.

  were nearly executed: Chris Fabricant, interview by Radley Balko; Amanda L. Myers, “Men Wrongly Convicted or Arrested on Bite Evidence,” Yahoo! News, June 16, 2013; Amanda L. Myers, “Once Key in Some Cases, Bite Mark Evidence Now Derided as Unreliable,” Denver Post June 17, 2013.

  “do the load I’ve been doing,”: Solov, “State Medical Examiner Due to Quit Post”; “State’s Medical Examiner to Quit,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, June 27, 1986.

  CHAPTER 6: RISE OF A FIEFDOM

  “the folly of the Vietnam War.”: Campbell Robertson, “Questions Left for Mississippi Over Doctor’s Autopsies,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 2013.

  other experts said was dubious: Radley Balko, “CSI Mississippi,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2007.

  “a smart guy who would play ball”: Hayne has consistently denied that he would “play ball” for prosecutors. See, for example, Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 2011 WL 198128, No. 3:09-CV-218-KS-LRA (S.D. Miss. April 27, 2012), 150–151. When asked if he’ll testify to whatever prosecutors need him to say, he responded, “That’s absolutely false.… I’ve had prosecutors tell me that I was going to testify one way and I told them to go to hell.… I don’t go out to curry the favor of anybody when I write an autopsy.”

  “combination in an expert witness”: Parke Morris, interview by Radley Balko.

  “I liked their attitude.”: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 21.

  Rhode Island: Steven Timothy Hayne, curriculum vitae.

  “I wanted an Ivy League degree.”: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 21.

  just east of Jackson: Ibid., 81.

  American Board of Pathology soon after: Hayne, curriculum vitae.

  at 1,857 autopsies: “Number of Autopsies Performed by Dr. Hayne,” document, Hayne v. Innocence Project.

  regardless of any other factors: Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards, National Association of Medical Examiners, Oct. 2006, 10.

  he performed 375 autopsies: Deposition of Steven Hayne, Christopher Lewis v. Dr. Nathaniel Brown et al., No. 99-0476 (Sunflower Cnty. Circuit Ct. Aug. 23, 2001), 65; see also letter from Ken Winter to L. Carl Hagwood, Nov. 30, 2001.

  did private autopsies and consulting: Hayne, curriculum vitae.

  “I choose to work.”: Trial transcript, State of Mississippi v. Yolanda Williams (Washington Cnty. Circuit Ct. April 15, 2005), 375; trial transcript, Devin Bennett v. State of Mississippi, No. 12,699 (Rankin Cnty. Circuit Ct., Feb. 18, 2003), 1285.

  “my record stands for itself.”: Devin Bennett v. State of Mississippi, 1286–1287.

  he topped two thousand autopsies: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 141–142.

  “barbecues and stuff.”: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 135.

  help them win convictions: See letter from Duane Dillon, president, Mississippi Sheriffs’ Association, to Steve Simpson, April 14, 2008, calling Hayne “an invaluable tool for law enforcement”; letter from James H. Powell III to Governor Haley Barbour, Aug. 12, 2008, saying that if “Hayne’s work was shoddy or unprofessional I would have complained to someone long ago.”

  “useful to law enforcement”: Robertson, “Questions Left for Mississippi Over Doctor’s Autopsies.”

  what a great witness he had been: Letter from Dillon to Simpson; letter from Powell to Barbour; letter from Dee Bates to Haley Barbour, Aug. 12, 2008 (claiming that in her district, Hayne’s conclusions were “never challenged” by defense attorneys); letter from Forrest Allgood to Haley Barbour, Aug. 13, 2008 (claiming Hayne was not a “‘shameless shill’” and Hayne “has told me [Allgood] on many occasions that he would not be able to testify to a matter, or given me information that was unfavorable to the prosecution”).

  “claims of wrongful convictions.”: Letter from W. Dewayne Richardson to Governor Haley Barbour, Sept. 3, 2008.

  “several court appearances in one day.”: Letter from Mark Duncan to Governor Haley Barbour, Aug. 12, 2008.

  “without Dr. Hayne performing our autopsies.”: Letter from Bilbo Mitchell to Governor Haley Barbour, Aug. 12, 2008.

  for transporting bodies: Mississippi coroner, interview by David Fechheimer, Feb. 26, 2012.

  sending Hayne autopsy referrals: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 90–91.

  Rankin County coroner in 1981: “Roberts Elected County Coroner,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Aug. 19, 1981.

  paraphrasing Roberts: Douglas Demmons, “New Coroner Says Job Is Underrated,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Aug. 26, 1991.

  “hauling bodies all over the state”: L. W. “Bump” Calloway, interview by David Fechheimer, Feb. 25, 2012; Mississippi coroner, interview by David Fechheimer, Feb. 26, 2012.

  transport of bodies: Adam Lynch, “Shipping Off Bodies,” Jackson (MS) Free Press, March 18, 2005.

  his impressive résumé: “Rankin County Pathologist Named Interim Mississippi Medical Examiner,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), June 24, 1987.

  nationally recognized certifying organization: See Mississippi Medical Examiner Act of 1986, �
� 41-61-55.

  at least on an interim basis: “Rankin County Pathologist Named Interim Mississippi Medical Examiner.”

  Mississippi’s third state medical examiner: Ibid.

  board-certified state medical examiner: Grace Simmons, “Interim Medical Examiner Resigns,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), March 4, 1988.

  administration of justice: J. F. Booth and B. J. Halderman, “A Policy Analysis of the State Medical Examiner Program,” Mississippi Legislature Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, Aug. 11, 1988.

  didn’t seem to care: Beverly Pettigrew, “Voters Aren’t Demanding Money for Death Investigation System,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Feb. 14, 1989.

  “needs to have their brain checked”: Ibid.

  “there was no other game.”: Mississippi coroner, interview by David Fechheimer, Feb. 26, 2012.

  “since Hayne didn’t hold any office”: Douglas Posey, interview by Radley Balko.

  “what the coroners and prosecutors wanted”: Jim Ingram, interview by Radley Balko.

  as did many of the state’s coroners: Simmons, “Interim Medical Examiner Resigns.”

  “was never an issue.”: Deposition of Steven Hayne, Christopher M. Lewis v. Dr. Nathaniel Brown et al., No. 99-0476 (Sunflower Cnty. Circuit Ct. Aug. 23, 2001), 29.

  for more money: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project (April 26, 2012), 123.

  “endangers public safety.”: Louisa Dixon, “Death Investigations Lax,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), March 30, 2008.

  wanted to be doing them: Beverly Pettigrew and Sydney Cearnal, “Many Coroners Struggle Without State Medical Examiner,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Feb. 13, 1989.

  “because that was his first love.”: Simmons, “Interim Medical Examiner Resigns”; Grace Simmons, “Assistant Medical Examiner Can’t Work Outside Office,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Jan. 25, 1988.

  by prosecuting elderly Klansmen: See, for example, United States v. James Ford Seale, 600 F.3d. 473 (5th Cir. 2010).

  CHAPTER 7: THE WEST PHENOMENON

  “what we’re trying to do”: Sharon Wertz, “Taking a Bite Out of Crime,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Oct. 9, 1983.

  bite mark specialists for confirmation: Janet Braswell, “Experts Examine Rape Evidence,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Feb. 16, 1983; Betty Mallett, “Dentist Testimony Links Bite Mark to Don Horn,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Dec. 2, 1983; Harvey Rice and Roscoe Nance, “USM Senior and NFL Hopeful Surrenders; Charged with Rape,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Feb. 18, 1983; “Victim Compared Rapist to Horn,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Dec. 1, 1983.

  was suspended from the school: Rice and Nance, “USM Senior and NFL Hopeful Surrenders.”

  wielded a box cutter: Betty Mallet and Janet Braswell, “Horn Found Innocent,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Dec. 4, 1983.

  at her brother’s wedding: Ibid.

  photographs of the upper marks: Mallet, “Dentist Testimony Links Bite Marks to Don Horn.”

  inconsistent with Horn’s teeth: Betty Mallet, “Experts in Horn Case Conflict,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Dec. 3, 1983.

  testify about the bite: Mallet and Braswell, “Horn Found Innocent.”

  and continued to do so: See “Seen & Heard,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Nov. 29, 1982; “Local Prosecutors Attend Conference Held in Jackson,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Dec. 3, 1982.

  Forensic Sciences conference: Sharon Wertz, “Taking a Bite Out of Crime,” Hattiesburg American, Oct. 9, 1983.

  “it will be very useful”: Mallet and Bramwell, “Horn Found Innocent.”

  ninety miles southeast of Jackson: Dr. Michael West, curriculum vitae, March 30, 2006; deposition of Michael West, Steven Hayne v. the Innocence Project, 2011 WL 198128, No 3:09-CV-218-KS-LRA (S.D. Miss. March 13, 2012), 24.

  when it comes to expert testimony: Mark Hansen, “Out of the Blue,” American Bar Association Journal, Feb. 1, 1996; Andrew Murr, “A Dentist Takes the Stand,” Newsweek, Aug. 19, 2001.

  in common sense and folksy humility: Hansen, “Out of the Blue”; Murr, “A Dentist Takes the Stand.”

  “I’ve just got to get the pope to read it.”: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 166.

  “Colonel Callaway would assign it to me”: Ibid., 13–15, 20, 149, 165.

  from a New Orleans airport: Ibid., 46–47; Janet Braswell, “Local Dentists Tell of Work to Identify Kenner Plane Crash Victims,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Sept. 21, 1982.

  to cowrite numerous articles: See M. West, R. Barsley, J. Frair, and M. Seal, “The Use of Human Skin in the Fabrication of a Bite Mark Template: Two Case Reports,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 35, no. 6 (1990): 1477–1488; Michael West and Robert Barsley, “Ultraviolet Forensic Imaging,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 65, no. 5 (May 1992); West, curriculum vitae; Robert E. Barsley, Michael H. West, and John A. Fair, “Forensic Photography: Ultraviolet Imaging of Wounds on Skin,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 11, no. 4 (1990): 300–308; Russell E. Schneider, Mary Ann Cimrmancic, Michael H. West, Robert E. Barsley, and Steve Hayne, “Narrow Band Imaging and Fluorescence and Its Role in Wound Pattern Documentation,” Journal of Biological Photography 64, no. 3 (1996): 67–75.

  $50 to do the biting: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 89–90.

  “an hour after it was inflicted”: Ibid., 84.

  duplicated by other researchers: Ibid., 79–82; Dr. Michael Bowers, interview by Radley Balko.

  with a police officer’s gun: West and Barsley, “Ultraviolet Forensic Imaging”; West, curriculum vitae.

  over and over again: Barsley, West, and Fair, “Forensic Photography.”

  Dental Disaster Squad: West, curriculum vitae.

  American Board of Forensic Odontology: Ibid.; deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 33.

  “coroner pro tem” for Forrest County, Mississippi: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 48; West, curriculum vitae.

  “as an individual in forensics”: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 52–56.

  an assistant coroner: West, curriculum vitae; Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 59.

  “hotbed of scientific research”: Janet Braswell, “City Gets New View on Crime,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Sept. 6, 1988.

  killed by a lone gunman: Janet Bramwell, “Area Researchers: President Killed by Lone Assassin,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, Nov. 22, 1988.

  all over the world: Transcript of Record, State of Mississippi v. Ken C. Strickland, No. 8315 (Leake Cnty. Circuit Ct. Jan. 22, 1992), 7.

  “Among the Mentally Retarded”: West, curriculum vitae, referencing “A New Method for Trace Metal Verification,” submitted for publication to the Journal of the California Division of the International Association for Identification; “A Study of Surface Topography of Footwear and Automobile Pedals,” presented at the 43rd Annual Convention of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 22, 1991; “Confirmation of the Single Bullet Theory,” presented at the Midwest Symposium on Assassination Politics, Chicago, Illinois, April 3, 1993; “Protecting Children: The Hidden Danger of Scalding,” Mississippi VOICES, Mississippi Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, Volume 11, No. 2, March–April 1996 and in Sheriff’s Star, First Quarter 1996; “Peanut Butter Aspiration Deaths Among the Mentally Retarded,” presented at the 43rd Annual Convention of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Feb. 22, 1991.

  nighttime autopsy sessions: Deposition of Dr. Steven Hayne, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 2011 WL 198128, No. 3:09-CV-218-KS-LRA (S.D. Miss. April 26, 2012), 315.

  he put the figure at 16,000: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 144.

  analysis, and photo enhancement: Murr, “A Dentist Takes the Stand”; Hansen, “Out of the Blue”; Eddie Lee Howard v. State of Mississippi, 853 So.2d 781 (Miss. 2003) (McRae, J., dissenting).

  struck by a ruler: West, curriculum vitae.


  in arson investigations: Ibid.; Radley Balko, “Leigh Stubbs, Mississippi Woman, Serving 44-Year Sentence Despite Discredited Testimony,” Huffington Post, Aug. 9, 2011; Flynn McRoberts and Steve Mills, “From the Start, a Faulty Science: Testimony on Bite Marks Prone to Error,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 19, 2004.

  serial killer Ted Bundy: “Rolling’s Confession to Shreveport Murders Before His Death,” Associated Press, Oct. 28, 2006; Jeff Schweers, “Gainesville Student Murders: 25 Years Later,” Gainesville Sun, Aug. 22, 2015.

  “little ol’ dentist from Hattiesburg,”: Jerry Mitchell, “Forensic Dentist Defends Work He’s Done in Autopsies,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Feb. 28, 2009.

  the panel of a silk tent: Eddie Lee Howard v. State of Mississippi, 487.

  “the West Phenomenon”: Hansen, “Out of the Blue.”

  a freelance investigator: Tom Lyons, “Florida Killer’s Work Gruesome, But Not Sloppy, Specialist Says,” Gainesville Sun, Sept. 9, 1990.

  New York dentist Lowell Levine: McRoberts and Mills, “From the Start, a Faulty Science”; see George R. Dekle Sr., The Investigation, Prosecution and Execution of Ted Bundy (New York: Praeger, 2011).

  experience in crime scene investigations: Lyons, “Florida Killer’s Work Gruesome”; Emily J. Minor, “Thousands Back at UF; Police ID Another Suspect,” Palm Beach Post, Sept. 5, 1990.

  “you’ll be shocked and amazed.”: Lyons, “Florida Killer’s Work Gruesome.”

  “whatever suspicions the police have.’”: Hansen, “Out of the Blue.”

  his thirteen years investigating murders: Jean Dubail and Barbara Walsh, “Detectives Haven’t Lost Confidence,” South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), Nov. 25, 1990.

  such as Vanity Fair: West, curriculum vitae.

  Gainesville residents arm themselves: “‘Donahue’ Survives Sabotage in Gainesville,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), Sept. 8, 1990; Jeff Brazil, “The Show Does Not Have to Go On, Gainesville Says,” Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 8, 1990.

  “My favorite: Playboy.”: Deposition of Michael West, Hayne v. Innocence Project, 106.