Autopsy Doctor in Immigrant Disaster Let License Lapse

The doctor assigned to do the autopsies on 11 illegal immigrants who suffocated in the back of a tractor-trailer did not pay her annual medical board dues on time and was not technically licensed to do the work -- a fact officials dismiss as benign oversight but which defense lawyers say could have far-reaching effects.

The immigrants were among 19 people who died in a botched smuggling operation last year. At least 14 people from three countries have been charged in connection with the case and are awaiting trial; federal officials hope to use the prosecution to send a tough message to illegal immigrants, “coyotes” and safe-house operators along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But defense attorneys suggested this week that the cases could be in jeopardy if the autopsy evidence -- which, among other things, identifies the victims, explains how they died and labels the deaths homicides -- was deemed tainted. Performing autopsies without a license is prohibited under Texas law.

“This could present quite a significant problem for the government,” said Craig A. Washington Sr., a Houston defense attorney who represents the man accused of driving the tractor-trailer, 33-year-old Tyrone Mapletoft Williams.

Dr. Elizabeth Peacock, a deputy medical examiner in Travis County, Texas, and an experienced forensic specialist, conducted the autopsies. In an interview, she said she never received a postcard reminding her to renew her license. She described the issue as frustrating.

While law enforcement officials try to determine whether the lapse in Peacock’s license will affect the integrity of the prosecution, Michael T. Shelby, the U.S. attorney for the 43 counties that make up the federal government’s southern district of Texas, pledged to forge ahead.

“I am comfortable that the government can proceed with its case versus each defendant, given the present state of the evidence,” Shelby said.

He declined to elaborate or discuss any evidence.

In May 2003, as many as 100 people from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala crowded into the back of a tractor-trailer after sneaking across the border. Headed for Houston, the driver pulled over at a truck stop in Victoria, where he realized that many of the immigrants had died; he abandoned the truck and fled.

Sheriff’s deputies soon discovered 13 people dead in the back of the truck, victims of heat and a lack of oxygen. Four others were discovered dead on the ground nearby, and two more died later in area hospitals.

The bodies were sent from Victoria to Travis County, 130 miles to the north, because the fairly remote area where the deaths occurred was not equipped to handle such a large case. Travis, which includes Austin has contracts with 45 other counties to provide autopsies and other forensic services.

The autopsies by Peacock were among dozens she performed while her license was invalid. Jill Wiggins, spokeswoman for the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, said that Peacock’s license was invalid for 11 weeks but that she renewed it by paying the $334 fee and a $100 fine.

The board is likely to drop the case now that the fees have been paid, Wiggins said. “We don’t usually take any action,” she said. “They don’t suddenly lose their ability to practice medicine when they are delinquent.”

Peacock, 50, has been a licensed medical examiner since 1988 and has worked in Travis County since December 1995. She has performed 4,000 to 5,000 autopsies since arriving there, she said.

Dr. Robert Bayardo, chief medical examiner of Travis County, performed the remaining eight autopsies in the case.

Bayardo said he believed that Peacock’s license would be deemed valid retroactively now that she has paid the fee.

Also, federal law often allows outside experts to comment from the witness stand on work performed by someone else. Some law enforcement officials believe that Bayardo could be called to testify about all 19 autopsies, in case Peacock is unable to testify because of the licensing problem.

“We consider this a nonissue,” Bayardo said.

Others do not -- including Peacock, who sent a letter to the Board of Medical Examiners on Tuesday asking for clarification.

Performing an autopsy in Texas without a license can bring felony charges. But Travis County Dist. Atty. Ronnie Earle said Wednesday night that Peacock’s license lapsed merely because of an oversight.

“It would be unfair to prosecute, it seems to me,” Earle said.

Peacock said that in past years, the state board sent envelopes containing the paperwork for renewing a license. This year, the board began sending postcards telling medical examiners and coroners to renew their licenses on the Internet.

“I don’t know where it went; I don’t know if it got stuck in somebody else’s mail or what,” she said, “but I never received it.”

When the state board called to tell her that her status was “delinquent,” Peacock said, she panicked and hand-carried her check and renewal forms to the board the next day.

With a dose of macabre humor, Peacock pointed out that unlike other doctors, she and her colleagues have no reason to hang their licenses on the coroner’s-office walls -- something that might have reminded her it was time to renew.

“Our clientele doesn’t look at our diplomas,” she said.