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Seven homicide cases in Ramsey County are now under review after questions were raised about the testimony of the county’s former medical examiner.

The seven cases are the last of more than 200 where Dr. Michael McGee provided key testimony. His work fell under scrutiny after a 2021 order from a federal appeals judge called into question McGee’s testimony in the 

McGee’s testimony around the cause of death

, calling it “unreliable, misleading and inaccurate” as he threw out the death sentence for the man convicted in Sjodin’s 2003 killing. 

In response, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi hired the New York-based Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence to do an independent review of cases for which McGee performed autopsies between 1985 and 2021, when McGee was medical examiner.

That work, which began in late 2021, has sifted through 215 cases. The cases where McGee’s testimony proved to be key in the outcome were whittled down to the seven, which will now be examined by a team of independent medical examiners.

“Like us, none of them are from Minnesota. None of them know Dr. McGee,” said Kristin Hamann, a former Manhattan prosecutor who heads the Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence.

“They’re highly respected medical examiners from three different parts of the nation that will come in and each of them will review all seven cases, and they will talk about them together and reach a decision,” she said.

At that point, the group will write a final report for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Choi said it is not clear how long the review of the seven cases will take but added that he will abide by the panel’s recommendations.

“Whatever justice requires us to do, and so the recommendation that will come to me, I’m absolutely committed to accepting that without fear or favor,” Choi said. “There’s a whole spectrum of things that the response could be. But whatever it is, it will be done in the name of justice to ensure that we have integrity in our past convictions.”

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is also reviewing a list of 11 cases in which McGee testified. In 2023, the office 

overturned a 1998 murder conviction in Kandiyohi County

 in which McGee provided pivotal testimony.

This kind of review is not common, said Jim Mayer, legal director of the Great North Innocence Project, which has advised Ramsey County on cases they believe should be reviewed. 

“Oftentimes courts will, for good reason, emphasize the concept or principle of finality, the importance of the finality of convictions, of putting things to rest,” said Mayer. “I understand that. But when finality runs headlong into justice, when finality conflicts with the truth, finality should yield and there should be no statute of limitations on the truth.”

Peter Cox

Author

The seven cases are the last of more than 200 where former Dr. Michael McGee provided key testimony. His work fell under scrutiny after a 2021 order from a federal appeals judge called into question McGee’s testimony in the killing of college student Dru Sjodin.

7 Ramsey County homicide cases under review amid scrutiny of former medical examiner

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