Modified Fri, Oct 23, 2009 07:30 AM
Student autopsy report edited
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close xCHAPEL HILL -- The state's chief medical examiner has redacted any reference to prior mental illness in the autopsy report of a fraternity president shot by Archdale police in August.
Guilford County Medical Examiner Gordon Arnold had initially listed "depression" as a contributing condition to the suicide threat that led to the shooting death of Court land Smith, 21.
But Chief Medical Examiner John Butts crossed out that word Wednesday, along with the words "alcoholism" and "depression" under Smith's medical history. "No prior history of depression or alcoholism," Butts wrote.
The medical examiner's report still indicates that Smith was intoxicated; the alcohol content of his blood was 0.22 percent, according to a separate toxicology report. That's almost three times North Carolina's 0.08 legal limit.
Butts also redacted a sentence saying that Smith had "commented to friends on [day of death] and before about possible suicidal ideas." An addendum states, "There is no evidence that prior to this he had expressed suicidal thoughts or intent."
Butts was not available for comment Thursday.
Pat Barnes, administrator for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said it's typical for that central office to review reports from county medical examiners, but unusual that Butts would conduct his own second review as in Smith's case.
"Additional information came in to Dr. Butts, and with that additional information, he looked back over the case again," Barnes said. "[The initial] report is filed within days of the death, and more information may be gathered that clarifies what the [original] medical examiner had been told from the outset."
After Dr. Samuel Simmons reviewed and released Arnold's report last week, members of his UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, complained about Arnold's "editorial comments."
"We are dumbfounded," the group wrote in an official statement. "Courtland was cheerful and optimistic. We are not autopsy experts, but we are confused."
On Thursday, DKE issued another statement saying it was pleased with the changes. "[The initial report] did not accurately reflect the behavior of the man we knew prior to the early morning of his tragic death," the statement reads.
"This has just been a sad situation for everybody," said Chris Rice, a DKE alumnus and the group's spokesman. "So many of [Smith's] close friends were in the fraternity."
A few days after classes began this fall, Smith called 911 from his speeding Toyota on Interstate 85 in Guilford County, saying he had a 9 mm handgun and was considering suicide. Archdale police set up a roadblock, stopped him about 5 a.m., and shot him when they thought he was reaching for a gun, according to the medical examiner's report.
Smith had been drinking at a DKE party that night. After another party two weeks later, the university's Greek Judicial Board placed DKE on one year of social probation, which means it can't hold mixers or cocktail parties, and shortened its pledge period from eight to four weeks. DKE ran afoul of the judicial board in part for violating policies prohibiting alcohol at recruiting events.
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