Legal guidance needed on murder investigation

[kcwayne]

I have reviewed the state police (Michigan) report that discussed the evidence and circumstances of my brother's death which was determined (by a single state trooper from what I can tell) to be a suicide.

I have grave concerns about the report, which I find to be illiterate, illogical, and seriously flawed. Although suicide is one plausible conclusion to make from the stated evidence, it seems equally possible that my brother could have been murdered.

I want to have the state of Michigan open an investigation into this case, as I cannot accept the findings of the trooper's sloppy, inconsisent, and confusing report.

I would very much appreciate anyone's advice on how I should best proceed with this quest.

[Bunny]

1. Formally request that it be re-opened.

Ask the Michigan State Police to reinvestigate. Go to the DA in the county where your brother died and ask for reinvestigation. If you get turned down, contact your state legislators and congressperson/senator in DC. Good luck and I am sorry for your loss.

[kcwayne]

2. Thanks

Are you saying I should contact the Michigan State Police and the DA at the same time, or contact the State Police, and if I don't get anywhere, go to the DA?

[Bunny]

4. I'd go to the SP first, wait till you're turned down,

(if you're turned down), then approach the DA, then your congress people. Follow the channels, you're less likely to piss off the authorities if you follow the chain of command.

I've heard that the families (of murder victims) who make the most noise are the ones who get the results. Unfortunately that's probably true. Don't be afraid to contact your local journalists as well, print may be more successful than broadcast.

Start a website with the pertinent details of the case, and a way for people to contact the authorities to express support of you. In a sick way, the more you can publicize the case, the more likely you are to get the results you want. This is especially true if there are compelling aspects to the story that really add to the "mystery".

I don't know your financial stats, but perhaps hiring an independent forensic pathologist to review the coroner's findings could add to the credibility of your case.

I wish you luck. Try not to get discouraged.

[happyslug]

3. Only Doctors can determine cause of death.

In most states (I am unfamilar with Michigan law) any decisions as to Cause of death has to be performed by a DOCTOR not a police officer. Get a copy of the death certificate that should be signed by a DOCTOR who determined the cause of death.

In my home state of PA, when someone dies under unusual terms (i.e. Homodice, Suicide, accident, to young etc) an autopsy MUST be performed. I suspect that is true of Michigan, so check with the County Coroner (may be called a "medical examiner") to see what he determined to be the cause of death. Ask for an inquest if you have to.

[kcwayne]

5. A medical examiner was involved

The medical examiner looked at my brother for 7 minutes, and concluded that the cause of death was a gunshot to the head. No autopsy was performed.

My problem lies in the area of evidence at the scene.

My brother was found dead in his car which was parked in the driveway to his home.

The trooper refers to him in the report as a hermit that was dirty, unshaven, long haired, and unemployed/impoverished, yet somehow always paid his bills on time.

The state police did not contact us for 5 months to notify us of his death. (He was reclusive and had not contacted anyone in the family for a couple of years). They disposed of his property and cremated him within 2 months of finding him dead.

All the doors to his house were open, as well as the door to his camper. This was in early February in the upper penninsula while it had been snowing.

There was broken glass from the driver's side window on the ground.

There were two spent cartidges in the gun.

There was no suicide note.

The trooper claims he shot himself in the left temple (he was right handed), the gun struck the window breaking the glass out, the gun then fell in his lap, and his right hand came to rest on top of the gun. I don't know anything about guns, but I am an engineer, and I am having trouble with the probabilities of this scenario.

No ballistics were done, and the report does not claim to have found any of the discharged bullets.

The medical examiner put the time of death roughly two days before he was found.

There was fresh snow on the ground and there were no tracks found near the car where my brother was found, other than those of the officer and the individual that found him. While there is no evidence that anyone did approach his car, there is also no evidence of him getting into the car. I have not seen the photos of the scene taken by the trooper as yet, so this is very confusing.

The trooper attributed statements to my mother which were denegrating to my brother which she did not make, and were not true. I am not sure if this was sloppiness of his memory or intentional. His report made numerous comments about my brother that reinforced his conclusion that my brother was a desparate loner with psychological issues that simply took his life. It struck me as strange that he would make such assessments given that he presumably had no knowledge of my brother beforehand.

My brother had been screwed on a land purchase, and his landlord made mention of the fact that he was visibly upset about it.

So my problem is that the trooper did a very poor job of collecting evidence, and put no weight on the curious items (tracks and open doors), obvious conflicts (the land deal gone bad, no visible means of support) .

I don't have much hope I can glean much from what is on hand. I will probably have to hire a private investigator to get to the bottom of the tangible facts, but I don't believe the investigator could uncover malfeasance done by the trooper (if such occurred). To get to the bottom of that, I presume I would need some sort of internal affairs investigation.

I think it is possible that he threatened the guy that screwed him on the land deal, or perhaps was selling drugs or doing something else illegal to make money. He had no criminal record, but he did have anger management problems, and if he was involved with criminals to make a living, there seems to be ample opportunity for something other than suicide to have been the cause of his demise.

[amazona]

9. oh my God!

What a horrible story. I am so sorry for what happened to your brother and how it must impact you.

Let me reiterate what I said in my previous post -- police reports are always illiterate scrawls. Do NOT automatically assume that the police are involved in killing or concealing your brother's murder. It may be just as likely that they are in a hurry to close a case and get onto the next case.

I would not worry so much about trooper malfeasance. Police officers are not lawyers, and they can screw up their reports very efficiently without any motive at all except a desire to get back to the donuts. If your investigator becomes convinced that police corruption is an issue, then you may indeed have a problem. But there is no use attributing to malice what can just as well be attributed to incompetence.

[kcwayne]

13. I agree

that incompetence by the officer is the most likely scenario. But I also feel like I have to consider the possibility that series of errors made by the officer were deliberate.

Laziness may explain why it took 5 months for the officer to check employment records to find next of kin. But it crosses my mind that the evidence destruction (cremation, snow melt, dispersal of the glass fragments from the window, and destruction of all of his personal property) were part of a plan to conceal.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. He did what all policemen do in this situation...

he closed the case.
No one wants an open homicide case. They do not look good on stats. Closed cases make bosses and politicians happy.

I hate to be blunt, but you are screwed blue on this one. With no body to exhume, and a minimal post mortum, and I would bet a very poorly processed crime scene, if it was processed at all that is there is no avenue to proceed.

Internal affairs would not touch this one, unless there is some suspicion that your brother and the trooper were invovled in illegal activity of some kind, or the trooper was associated with the guy who screwed him on the land deal.

I am very sorry for your loss, and the shitty circumstances.

[bleedingheart]

6. You will have to find an attorney to open the case

and I want to warn you that it will be hard to do so unless there is a lot of clear evidence (which I don't doubt you may have)...

The reason it will be hard is because your brother will have to be exhumed if the autopsy was a 7 minute job... and exhumations are terribly expensive and it will be charged to the local municipality...

My cousin is a detective and he explained that the expenses of these types of cases can undermine an investigation...which is unfortunate.

[kcwayne]

7. That is the rub...

There is nothing to exhume, they cremated him long before contacting us.

I think that the State will tell us, "the only evidence we have on file is the gun, and the photos taken at the scene", since that is all that is discussed in the report.

If there has been foul play, I have to get Perry Mason to find the killer and get him to confess on the stand. The police seem to have done an inexcusably poor job on this. So poor, that we are actually left wondering if they were involved in his demise.

[amazona]

8. this is very difficult

You are going to find that you have amazingly few rights in this matter. All police reports are sloppy, flawed, and inconsistent to some degree, but if you are unhappy with their decision, you may need to hire a private detective with experience in criminal investigations. Unfortunately, there are not many -- most are experienced only in civil and divorce investigations.

[dsc]

11. What a horrid story!

The only thing I can think of is to follow the money. You mention his ability to pay bills despite his not having visable means of support. His bank records, credit card statements, and the like should tell you both where he got his money and what he spent it on. Given a medical finding of suicide you are going to need very convincing evidence to get anywhere and the money is the only place I can see you getting it. I wish you luck.

[bloom]

12. I don't want to give you false hope

but it does seem like if they had the gun and if they didn't smudge it up - it would be possible to tell if the fingerprints were his or not.... just a thought.

It does sound very suspicous to me.

Even if it is too late to fully investigate - it seems like checking the gun would not be difficult.