GREENVILLE -- A state medical examiner clarified Wednesday that it was investigators reviewing an inmate's death, not prison officials, who denied access to key evidence needed to conduct the autopsy.
Johnny Lee Lewis, 55, was determined to have committed suicide in his cell May 5 by placing a plastic bag over his head and securing it with a belt around his neck. The inmate had a history of mental illness.
In an autopsy report released earlier this week, Dr. Karen L. Kelly wrote: "In this case, the facility declined to make the bag and belt available for examination and correlation."
After The News & Observer included an article about Lewis' death in Wednesday's issue, Keith Acree, spokesman for the state Department of Correction, objected to the description of prison officials not providing the bag and belt to the medical examiner. Acree said those items were provided the day Lewis died to deputies from the Greene County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the death in cooperation with the State Bureau of Investigation.
After a conversation with Acree, the medical examiner said in an interview Wednesday that she will issue a new report that does not say the prison denied her access to the belt and bag.
