ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota county prosecutor said Tuesday that convictions in six different murder cases were fair despite the involvement of an embattled medical examiner whose work was called into question after a federal judge described his testimony in one high-profile case as “unreliable, misleading and inaccurate.”
Tuesday’s announcement on findings related to seven murder convictions largely concludes a yearslong review of cases handled by Dr. Michael McGee, a former Ramsey County medical examiner. In one of the seven cases, which involved a more recent plea agreement, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the findings are being shared with the defense team and the legal process will continue to play out.
The county hired three medical experts to review McGee’s testimony and reports, and Choi said they primarily identified concerning stylistic word choices but not substantive issues with his conclusions.
In a few cases, criticisms of McGee’s findings were more substantive, but Choi said their review “ultimately determined that while the criticisms were valid, they did not go to the aspects of the case that were key to determining the defendant’s guilt.”
He said the convictions in six cases were “fair and just,” and there was no basis to vacate or modify them.
Phone calls and messages to numbers listed for McGee were not immediately returned.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office began to review McGee’s work across more than three decades after a federal judge threw out a death sentence for a man convicted in the 2003 killing of Dru Sjodin, North Dakota college student.
District Judge Ralph Erickson said evidence showed McGee was “guessing” on the witness stand in the murder trial for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. and that he offered opinions during the trial that were not in his autopsy reports.
Rodriguez was later resentenced to life in prison.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office worked with lawyers at the nonprofit Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence and consulted with the Great North Innocence Project as part of the review, which cost the county $380,000.
The three medical experts, who Choi said had no connection to Minnesota or the cases, described McGee’s language as at times overreaching or misleading. For example, there were instances where McGee attributed a victim’s injuries to assault when they would not have done so because that is a legal term.
Choi said the review highlighted areas where his office can provide additional training to prosecutors on the role of medical experts. He thinks medical examiners and experts should be helpful to a jury but not “lead them to legal conclusions,” he said. “They should not be advocates for one side or the other.”
