Tenn investigating suspended medical examiner 4 stolen drugs from deceased.

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Chris Echegaray THE TENNESSEAN March 19 2010

Tennessee agents are investigating whether the state's suspended medical examiner stole drugs from bodies.
The probe comes after Dr. Bruce Levy's Mississippi arrest on felony marijuana charges.
Davidson County will review upcoming criminal cases in which Levy performed autopsies, looking for discrepancies.
It's unclear how many he's handled recently, Davidson County District Attorney Torry Johnson said Thursday, because Levy's employees frequently did the hands-on work while their boss handled administration.

Johnson said the way marijuana found in Levy's Ridgeland, Miss., hotel room was packaged made investigators suspect it came from one of Levy's cases.
Levy, 49, could be charged if the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation uncovers missing evidence, but it's too early to tell.
"The audit is to check if some evidence is unaccounted for,'' Johnson said. "We've got to make sure. The audit will be done sooner rather than later. It's unfortunate for Dr. Levy and his family. I found him to be highly competent, highly professional."
Levy, state and Metro Nashville medical examiner since his appointment in 1998, was on the stand for important cases, including testifying for Tennessee in favor of lethal injections for death row inmates. His arrest casts doubt on his testimony, federal public defender Stephen Kissinger said.
"When people engage in illegal activity, no matter whether you think if (use of marijuana) is a bad law or good law, it upsets people who enforce those laws," Kissinger said.

The medical examiner was arrested Tuesday after Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents said they uncovered a courier service package of marijuana bound for Levy, who was in town to testify in a court case. That package plus what they later found in his hotel room totaled an ounce and a half, and Levy was charged with felony marijuana possession.
TBI plans to investigate.

Levy's Nashville attorney, David Raybin, said he met with his client Thursday, and the charge wouldn't have been a felony had the same bust happened in Tennessee. He said Levy had no comment.
Levy's two forensics companies held contracts with Tennessee, Mississippi and Metro Nashville, and all immediately suspended those. On Thursday the Tennessee Department of Health named Dr. Teresa Campbell, director of the division of forensic pathology at East Tennessee State University, acting state medical examiner.

TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said agents will investigate the medical examiner's system of logging evidence. Police don't typically involve themselves in natural deaths or catalog items found on those bodies.
"A body can have car keys, drugs, a weapon," Helm said. "We are looking at how evidence is tracked and disposed of. We're looking at the protocol."
Other counties involved

In his role as state medical examiner, Levy performed autopsies for several counties outside Nashville. Officials in some said they didn't expect the changeover to have a dramatic effect on criminal cases or autopsies.
"There may be some problems, but I think the organization was working OK and he had enough help," said District Attorney Tommy Thompson, who oversees prosecutions in five Middle Tennessee counties, including Wilson.
"I was worried to death back in the latter part of Harlan, and we got through that," Thompson said, referring to Levy's predecessor, former state medical examiner Charles Harlan, whose medical license was revoked for misconduct.
Department of Health spokeswoman Andrea Turner said there are no previous records of complaints or discipline involving Levy.
 
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