Post by CCADP on Aug 25, 2005 9:59:15 GMT -5
Coroner, prison reports differ on death
Richland County Coroner Stewart Ryckman says his office determined
Mansfield Correctional Institution inmate Martin Koliser died about 5:30
a.m. on May 7, based on medical evidence.
The inmate's temperature, taken around 8:20 a.m., had dropped to 97.6
degrees, after his suicide by hanging, Ryckman said Tuesday.
"This guy didn't have a whole lot of rigor mortis. He didn't have a whole
lot of lividity," he said.
The coroner's office ruled Koliser -- on death row for killing a
Youngstown police officer -- died primarily of asphyxiation from hanging,
and secondarily from self-inflicted cuts to his forearms after an attempt
earlier that night to kill himself using a razor.
There was still fresh blood at the scene, Ryckman said.
"We felt like he had not been dead all that long."
In a contradictory report, the Ohio Department of Corrections relied on
testimony by MANCI employees and inmates.
Nurse Sharlene Blevins, who attempted CPR, said Koliser was cold to the
touch, and his body was stiff and hard to manipulate. Another nurse said
she saw clotted blood on the floor which appeared to have dried out.
A corrections officer who was a paramedic for 15 years said the inmate was
stiff.
Lt. Harold Cope, who had worked in a funeral home and was an EMT for
several years, told investigators he believed rigor mortis had set in
because the inmate's legs were stiff when he was laid out on the floor. He
repeated his opinion that Koliser had been dead five to six or more hours
before he was found. He said the body was not as warm as 98 degrees,
though he declined to commit to it being "cold."
Several other officers said the death row inmate's body appeared stiff.
Inmate Grady Brinkley told the state agency he heard Koliser cut himself
after a guard made rounds at 1:30 a.m.
But coroner's officer employees said neither the MANCI employees nor
inmates were experts on determining time of death.
Someone who has been hanging in a position for a while may end up with
stiff limbs, whether they are dead or alive, Ryckman said.
Coroner's investigator Paul Jones said many factors can affect body
temperature and stiffness after death, including muscularity, weight and
loss of blood.
"There's no way he was dead at 1:30," he said.
Ryckman said the Ohio Department of Corrections never talked to him during
its investigation of what happened or to Ohio Highway Patrol investigator
Kevin Smith, who agreed with many of his conclusions.
"They didn't talk to me. They didn't ask me," Ryckman said.
(source: News Journal)
Richland County Coroner Stewart Ryckman says his office determined
Mansfield Correctional Institution inmate Martin Koliser died about 5:30
a.m. on May 7, based on medical evidence.
The inmate's temperature, taken around 8:20 a.m., had dropped to 97.6
degrees, after his suicide by hanging, Ryckman said Tuesday.
"This guy didn't have a whole lot of rigor mortis. He didn't have a whole
lot of lividity," he said.
The coroner's office ruled Koliser -- on death row for killing a
Youngstown police officer -- died primarily of asphyxiation from hanging,
and secondarily from self-inflicted cuts to his forearms after an attempt
earlier that night to kill himself using a razor.
There was still fresh blood at the scene, Ryckman said.
"We felt like he had not been dead all that long."
In a contradictory report, the Ohio Department of Corrections relied on
testimony by MANCI employees and inmates.
Nurse Sharlene Blevins, who attempted CPR, said Koliser was cold to the
touch, and his body was stiff and hard to manipulate. Another nurse said
she saw clotted blood on the floor which appeared to have dried out.
A corrections officer who was a paramedic for 15 years said the inmate was
stiff.
Lt. Harold Cope, who had worked in a funeral home and was an EMT for
several years, told investigators he believed rigor mortis had set in
because the inmate's legs were stiff when he was laid out on the floor. He
repeated his opinion that Koliser had been dead five to six or more hours
before he was found. He said the body was not as warm as 98 degrees,
though he declined to commit to it being "cold."
Several other officers said the death row inmate's body appeared stiff.
Inmate Grady Brinkley told the state agency he heard Koliser cut himself
after a guard made rounds at 1:30 a.m.
But coroner's officer employees said neither the MANCI employees nor
inmates were experts on determining time of death.
Someone who has been hanging in a position for a while may end up with
stiff limbs, whether they are dead or alive, Ryckman said.
Coroner's investigator Paul Jones said many factors can affect body
temperature and stiffness after death, including muscularity, weight and
loss of blood.
"There's no way he was dead at 1:30," he said.
Ryckman said the Ohio Department of Corrections never talked to him during
its investigation of what happened or to Ohio Highway Patrol investigator
Kevin Smith, who agreed with many of his conclusions.
"They didn't talk to me. They didn't ask me," Ryckman said.
(source: News Journal)