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David Fowler during the murder trial of Derek Chauvin in Minnesota
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Pool Video Via Court Tv / Ny Times / imago images / ZUMA Wire
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and Governor Larry Hogan have announced that they will review all reports of deaths in police custody made by former coroner David Fowler during his tenure between 2002 and 2019. The announcement came on Friday after prosecutors received an open letter from over 400 US medical professionals questioning the work of the retired pathologist according to his testimony in the trial of the death of African American George Floyd.
In the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Fowler testified that he attributed the death of George Floyd during the police operation in May 2020 to a sudden arrhythmia due to a heart disease and that the cause of death was rather unclear. In doing so, he contradicted several experts who had previously stated that Floyd died of oxygen deprivation because of the way he was being held by police. Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds, was ultimately found guilty on all charges.
Fowler told the Baltimore Sun he was unaware of any review and was defending his agency's work.
He pointed out that he was not solely responsible for autopsy reports.
He did not want to comment on his statements in the murder trial against Chauvin.
A spokesman for the responsible Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) said the agency is committed to transparency and will fully cooperate with an investigation.
A lawsuit is currently pending against Fowler and other officials in the case of 19-year-old Anton Black, who died in police custody in Maryland in 2018.
Fowler had also ruled in this case that Black's death was not due to the actions of the police who held him to the ground for six minutes before his death.
ngo / AP