Ev iden c e pr o t o c o l

in v en t o r y ev iden c e
Count y Audit or

Hundreds of envelopes
Labeled by unique ME number

PU LL AU TO PSY REPO RT
ME's Office

I dent ify Decedent

I dent ify Cause of Deat h

f in d in c iden t REPO RT
Police Agency

Unique numbering syst em

Locat e using decent name

r ev iew c a se f il e
Det ect ives

Check st at us of invest igat ion

I dent ify defendant

If case is pr osecut ed

If case is unsolv ed

n o t if ic at io n

in v est ig at e

Dist rict At t orney

Cold Case Unit

Review court file

File not ice wit h t he Court

Review evidence
Send t o TBI as needed

HAMILTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE

EVIDENCE PROTOCOL
RE: MEDICAL EXAMINERS OFFICE




Step One
Inventory the Evidence

One closet-sized room of the Hamilton County Medical Examiners Office houses
eight to ten large filing cabinets. Each drawer holds individual envelopes for every
autopsy performed during a calendar year. Some years stretch to multiple drawers.
Within the envelopes are autopsy photographs and now we have learned small bags
containing individual pieces of evidence that were collected during an autopsy. It
appears the bags of evidence are labeled with a generic description such as bullet
fragment from head.

These envelopes are labeled on the outside by a unique numbering system utilized
by the MEs Office. An example would be ME 86-01. ME would stand for medical
examiner, 86 would note the year of the autopsy (1986) and 1 would stand for the
number of autopsy for that particular year. Autopsy reports are generally classified
by name of victim.

Each autopsy envelope from the years 1986-2002 will have to be individually
examined to determine what evidence exists. Additionally, a box containing bullets
recovered from bodies during the 1970s has also been found. During this step, the
following information will be collected for each envelope that contains evidence:

Example ME 86-01

Autopsy case number
Total number of pieces of evidence
Generic description of each piece of evidence
Are all pieces of evidence individually bagged?


Beginning as soon as possible, Hamilton County Audit Department will perform a
complete inventory of each piece of evidence and report such to the Hamilton
County District Attorney Generals Office and the Evidence Oversight Committee.
The Medical Examiners Office is not a good location for the inventory to occur due
to the very limited space available. Instead, prior to April 18th the evidence will be
transferred to the Newell Tower, 8th floor, where it will be stored in locked space
owned by the county.

Note: A videographer will document the evidence before it leaves the Medical
Examiners Office and as it is relocated. Once it arrives at Newell Tower, the actual
inventory process will be recorded by stationery video equipment pre-installed in
the room where the inventory will occur.

As inventory data is collected by the Hamilton County Audit Department it will be
entered into the DAs SmartSheet account. SmartSheet is an online software service
application used for collaboration and work management. Each of the committee
members will be given sign-in information to the site, which will allow you to track
the inventory progress at your convenience, 24/7.


Step Two
Identify Decedent and Cause of Death

Once the evidence for an individual autopsy is inventoried by the Hamilton County
Audit Department, the ME Identification Number will need to be entered into a
computer at the Medical Examiners Office to retrieve the corresponding autopsy
report. During this step, the following information will be collected:

Decedent Name
Date of Death
Cause of Death
Law Enforcement Agency


The Medical Examiners Office will be given 30 days from the time the evidence of a
case is inventoried to pull the corresponding autopsy report.

Medical Examiners staff will be able to electronically upload a .pdf file of the
autopsy report to the DAs SmartSheet. site.


Step Three
Locate corresponding incident report

This step and the next may be the most time consuming of the entire process. As
previously indicated, the Medical Examiners Office has its own unique numbering
system generally based on the year and individual chronology of the autopsy.
Similarly, each respective law enforcement agency has its own unique numbering
system that is generally driven by a complaint number (86-000001) with 86
representing the year and 1 being the first complaint of the year. Using the
decedents name collected in Step Two, a search of the appropriate law enforcement
agencys database will need to be conducted to retrieve the corresponding incident
report. As with autopsy reports, incident reports relate to victims, not defendants.

Step Four
Pull investigative file and check status of investigation

After retrieving the incident report, the agencys investigative case file will need to
be located and reviewed. During this step the following information will be
collected:

Is the homicide case open or closed?
If closed, what is the defendants name?


For homicide cases that are open, there will be no defendant to identify. In cases
that are solved, the defendants name will be added to the original inventory list.
After the information in Step Three is collected all information will be forwarded to
the District Attorney Generals Office and the Evidence Oversight Committee.

Each week, the respective law enforcement agencies should pick up all cases that
have been inventoried and matched to defendant names. The evidence should then
immediately be checked into the agencys property room.

The law enforcement agency will be given 30 days to pull the corresponding
incident report, the investigative file and then use the DAs SmartSheet website to
report the status of the investigation to the DAs Office and the Evidence Oversight
Committee.


Step Five
Notification

Once provided with the inventory information and evidence, the District Attorney
Generals Office will then match the defendant to his or her court case. The District
Attorney Generals Office will then determine the following:

Sessions or Criminal Court Case Number
Indicted Charges
Disposition (Dismissal, Jury Trial, Bench Trial or Guilty Plea)
Terms of Sentence
Defense Counsel of Record at time of disposition
In which Court Division was case disposed?
Weight/value of unprocessed evidence


As the District Attorney Generals Office performs Step Five, the office will file notice
with the appropriate court division that unprocessed evidence in a case has been
discovered and identify to the Court all information that has been learned. The

District Attorney Generals Office should also make efforts to notify counsel of
record and each respective defendant. A copy of the court filings will also be
provided to the Evidence Oversight Committee online through the DAs SmartSheet
website.

Evidence for unsolved cases will need to be evaluated by the District Attorney
Generals Cold Case Unit and as necessary, delivered to the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation for analysis.

When determining the weight/value of any unprocessed evidence, the District
Attorneys Office will strictly adhere to Rule 3.8 of the Tennessee Supreme Court
Rules, particularly subsections (g) and (h).

Subsection (g) requires a prosecutor who knows of new, credible and material
evidence to examine the evidence and investigate whether the defendant is in fact
innocent.

Subsection (h) requires a prosecutor who knows of clear and convincing evidence
that a defendant was convicted of an offense (s)he did not commit to remedy the
conviction.


Conclusion

After all five steps of a prosecuted case have been completed the District Attorney
General will provide Committee Members with a synopsis of the evidence used to
convict the defendant and will advise the District Attorney as to whether the
unprocessed evidence should be tested.