Lawyers raise questions after medical examiner declares Epstein committed suicide

By Jessica Goldstein 

17 August 2019

On Friday, New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, released the official conclusion of the autopsy of multimillionaire financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The fixture in top Wall Street and political circles, who has been linked to such prominent figures as Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the UK’s Prince Andrew, was found dead in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on the morning of August 10 under mysterious and yet to be explained circumstances.

The death in federal custody of a man charged with running a sex ring involving underage girls, who was facing a trial that might have exposed criminal activities by members of the business and political elite, has understandably and legitimately aroused suspicions, especially in light of multiple violations of prison protocols that have been revealed since Epstein’s demise.

Yet the corporate media, led by the New York Times, has denounced all questioning of the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death as baseless “conspiracy theories.”

The bare statement released by the medical examiner’s office was limited to the assertion that “after careful review of all investigative information, including complete autopsy findings,” the cause of death was determined to be suicide by hanging. No facts or details were provided in the brief statement to back up this finding.

Epstein’s defense lawyers said they did not accept the ruling and planned to conduct their own investigation. They have claimed that their client showed no signs of suicidal tendencies, had been in good spirits and had spent many hours helping prepare his legal defense.

“We are not satisfied with the conclusions of the medical examiner,” said the lawyers. “We will have a more complete response in the coming days.”

New revelations over the past few days have added to suspicions of foul play in connection with the death of Epstein, who was without question the most prominent inmate in the US federal prison system. This might have placed increased pressure on Dr. Sampson to issue her ruling. She had delayed making public any determination of the cause of death for several days following the completion of the autopsy, claiming she required further information from the police and other officials.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the autopsy showed Epstein had multiple broken neck bones, including the small hyoid bone that is located behind the Adam’s apple. The hyoid can break during hanging but is far more likely to be broken as a result of strangulation.

Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht told USA Today that “Fractures of the hyoid bone are almost always associated with strangulation... [b]ecause the hand gets high up underneath the chin of the victim.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/17/epst-a17.html