Dau Mabil may be gone but he is not forgotten as his widow and brother square off in court yet again. Bul Mabil, Dau's brother, wants to commission forensic pathologist Dr. Matthias Okoye to perform an independent autopsy of Dau's remains. Karissa Bowley, Dau's wife, contested the selection, stating Dr. Okoye has a "clear history of incompetence."
Mabil disappeared on March 25 when he went for a walk in Belhaven. He was the subject of a massive search by law enforcement and numerous volunteers. The 34 year-old African immigrant was a favorite at Sal & Mookies where he was a manager. He was married to Karissa Bowley. Lawrence County deputies recovered Dau Mabil's body in the Pearl River on April 13. The body was transferred to the Capitol Police. State Medical Examiners Dr. ARianne Robison and Dr. Paul Uribe conducted the autopsy. The report states Mabil died of drowning: The State Medical Examiner said Mabil died of drowning but the manner of death could not be determined due to the advanced decomposition of his body. There are no trauma to the head or larynx. There were no open wounds. Cased closed, right? Wrong. Dau's brother, Bul, skirmished with Dau's wife, Karissa Bowley, in Hinds County Chancery Court over whether he could commission an independent autopsy. Earlier post. Chancellor Dewayne Thomas ruled only Ms. Bowley had the power to authorize an independent autopsy. She said she would allow Bul to order the second autopsy per the Court's conditions. Judge Thomas spelled out the qualifications for the independent autopsy:The independent autopsy shall be conducted only by a pathologist who is at least as qualified as is generally required of pathologists conducting autopsies for the State of Mississippi; the pathologist must be an M.D. or D.O. who is certified in anatomic pathology by the American Board of Pathology and must be competent to meet the qualifications as set forth in Mississippi Code Annotated §41-61-65. All costs of the independent autopsy shall be born by Bul Garang Mabil.
A dispute arose between the Dau's widow and brother over who would conduct the independent autopsy. Bul commissioned Dr. Matthias Okaye for the task. However, Ms. Bowley objected, sending the case right back to court.
Bul filed an emergency motion to enforce the court's order on July 1. The motion states Dr. Okoye is a medical doctor and an attorney. He is certified in anatomic pathology by the American Board of Pathology "as required by the Court."
The motion claims:
12. On Friday, June 28, 2024, JD Sanford emailed undersigned counsel and stated: "my client is not agreeable to Dr. Okoye ... " See, Exhibit 9, Email from John David Sanford to undersigned counsel. It appears that Karissa Bowley, who voluntarily consented to an independent autopsy "at the direction and expense of Bui Garang Mabil," is attempting to veto the selection of Dr. Matthias Okoye.
Bul argues his sister-in-law has not authority to veto the selection of a medical examiner as long as he meets the qualifications spelled out in Judge Thomas's order.
Karissa Bowley replied to Bul's motion on July 10. Ms. Bowley said said the Court order stated the medical examiner must be "competent" as she alleged Dr. Okoye was incompetent. Ms. Bowley charged:
A pathologist must face a malicious prosecution claim after his autopsy prompted a wrongful charge of child abuse, Nebraska's highest court ruled. Carla McKinney ran a day care out of her home for 21 years. She began caring for a 6-week-old boy in 2007. Two months later, however, the child died in her care. McKinney explained to police that she fed the baby and put him down for a nap, but he stopped breathing. Matthias I. Okoye was the pathologist who conducted the autopsy. He said that the child died by a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation. When police confronted McKinney with these findings, she explained that her hand slipped when laying the baby down on a pillow, possibly causing the child to hit his head on the floor. McKinney was charged with felony child abuse resulting in death, but the charges were dropped. According to McKinney's pathologist witnesses, the child died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Cleared of the charges, McKinney sued Okoye and Nebraska Forensic Medical Services PC for malicious prosecution. Dr. Janice Ophoven, one of McKinney's pathologist witnesses, called Okoye's autopsy one of the worst she had seen in 30 years on the job. She said that the child's mouth looked "like every baby mouth" and that Okoye slicing into a fresh brain to take samples for analysis was a "giant no-no." The second pathologist witness for McKinney, Dr. Robert Bux, said there was "no evidence to support blunt force trauma to the head."
The final adjudication of McKinney's lawsuit is not known.
Ms. Bowley suggested Bul use one of five forensic pathologists she recommended. Bul's lawyer offered the names of two additional forensic pathologists. She approved their selection only to be told Bul did not authorize his lawyer to offer up the two forensic pathologists.
Dau's widow claims Bul is disagreeing with the hiring of forensic pathologists proposed by his own lawyer. She states they are competent while Dr. Okoye has demonstrated a "clear history of incompetence." Ms. Bowley asked the Court to hold a hearing and order Bul to select a "competent forensic pathologist." Her "goodwill and sincerity" were met with "a slap in the face" by Bul even though the Court ruled she has the power to approve the independent autopsy.
Bul's attorney, Lisa Ross, disagreed as she contended the order merely specified the criteria for a forensic pathologist and did not give Ms. Bowley any "veto" power.
24 comments:
I hope Dr Oyoke doesn't perform my autopsy-
Absent some criminal proceeding the widow will still have rights to her husbands body no matter the hustler's effort to buy an advocate with a pathologist's license to "find" evidence of murder. Every 3rd year law student knows if you have the money there is an "expert" for hire who will
say whatever you want. If they insist on this guy and won't accept anyone else he is obviously a quack for hire.
Complete and hateful driven BS but the brother because he could not blame in on his wife. The truth hurts but autopsy speaks for itself. Move on and seek counseling!
I thought this will the death just like the Emmit Till death-
I distinctly remember hearing this.
Atty Lisa Ross claimed this was an "Emmitt Till style lynching". She owes the public that evidence.
Or she deserves to be sanctioned by the MS Bar (I have it on good authority Adam Kilgore reads this blog..looking at you, sir).
11:01
I agree. I'm a free speech advocate, but there should be repercussions for an attorney, considered to be an officer of the court, making inflammatory statements like this to the media, which are then widely disseminated to the public at large without any evidence or a good faith basis for doing so.
Where are you Mississippi Bar?
hello to the widow ms bowley.........please, for the sake of the people of this state who welcomed you late husband here, go too the ms st bar association and file a bar complaint against atty lisa ross.
I'm so confused about this whole situation.
@11:22 Don't be silly. Everyone knows that the Bar exists to protect its members from non-attorneys.
This pathologist would unarguably conclude whatever Bul paid him to conclude.
The word 'competent' is included in the judge's initial ruling. He sounds about as competent as Haynes, the guy Mississippi used for years.
10:14 What the hell are you talking about? The Till death was decidedly conclusive as to manner and cause of death. But, oh, wait...you remember hearing something.
Out of all the many qualified forensic pathologists they could select this family member must have this questionable doctor and no one else. Stinks to high heaven of a predetermined fix. Our courts are too full of this kind of B.S. Time to move on.
Well, if there are issues with this expert's credibility. I think the brother's side is trying very hard to accuse foul play, when no foul play has been located. The brother, and others have been all over Facebook, and other social media throwing out accusations, the worst being the Facebook post that the brother wrote accusing the widow's father explicitly. Maybe there wasn't foul play, and these guys are trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. Just analyzing the brother's case, I think they are trying to throw spaghetti at the wall, that this was a civil rights issue, but nothing sticks. And then they are making statements that are not proven in court, and not providing proof of these salacious allegations. I just hope the truth comes out... Rapidly.
I have not followed this case closely. I do recall that the brother of the deceased young man believes that the wife was in some way responsible? Is there any credible evidence to back this up?
@mrs.eastover
Circumstantial evidence has mostly been cited, including that the couole was having marital issues. One item cited on here more than once is that the wife mentioned in a post that Jackson was home to the Pearl River, which seemed off and out of context. However, this post was in response to a request by HALO, a national search and rescue group not familiar with the area, prior to their planned search. For review of the source material, you may either go to Karissa Bowley’s public Facebook share of Barbara Perrine Dykman -HALO’s post April 3, or of Barbara’s public Facebook post the same day.
I remember when the 'Lost Boys' thing was being discussed on Public Radio. This was back when people still listened to Public Radio, so it was a long time ago.
Translators were relaying the stories told by the lost boys, about their harrowing journey across the desert or wherever. I was wondering who could be so gullible as to believe them. The stories ranged from silly to improbable.
I see that little has changed.
Hope the judge asks one very simple question to brother and his attorney: if a list of approved examiners was given, why didn't you pick from that list? Why did you pick one who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska?
The Lost Boys story is largely a media/NGO manufactured myth. They were transported to a refugee camp in Kenya run ny the UNHCR. Many, but not all, were selected to be relocated to the US. Very few ever returned to South Sudan following the civil war. Their culture is extremely patriarchal, hence the brother's apoplexy at not immediately getting what he wants. Sudanese are not particularly known for accepting anything outside their narrow worldview.
tl;dr Dau fell in the river and drowned. Brother can't accept the truth. Ms. Bowley should probably cremate the body and put all this behind her.
The generalized comments about the South Sudanese are untrue and unkind. Those who have worked with the refugee populations see firsthand the traumas suffered by these resourceful and respectful people who have assimilated well into the United States. Vilifying an entire population instead of individuals says more about the heart of the posters.
Put that poor man in the ground already!!!
@10:31 If, by assimilating, you mean slandering an innocent family's name in a craven attempt to cash in on his death; then, yes, they do seem quite assimilated.
BTW, your cognitive dissonance is showing. The myth of the Noble Lost Boys the media fed you vs the reality of race grifters trying to hit the lottery. Can't say I blame the brother for trying. Dau is absolved of being an abusive alcoholic. The Lost Boys myth is preserved. And there's possibly a wrongful death payday at the end of it all.
@12:26 again, you show your ignorance. Evaluating all of the South Sudanese based on one person proves my point. And look up cognitive dissonance. You don’t understand what it means.
I understand exactly what cognitive dissonance means. It sounds like you don't see it in yourself. From the sound of your replies, it's probably because your paycheck, in some way, depends on not seeing it. According to your logic, the brother and his ilk are the exception and not the rule. That somehow in an internecine Sudanese civil war, we only got the "good" ones. And all the "bad" ones are still in Sudan. Which is exactly the sort of magical thinking which will wreck this country. Just like it has theirs. How? Simply expand it out to all the refugees from war torn countries we've foolishly allowed in. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, etc. The dirt here isn't magical. So they come here and find a ready made "victim" culture to plug into.
tl;dr. We have enough problems. We don't need any extra ones.
“Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes.” According to your premise, I have very clearly defined stereotypically liberal viewpoints, so no cognitive dissonance there. (Unless you’re wrong, of course). My paycheck? Good guess, but no. I’m not worried about your cognitive dissonance, however; you are finding everything exactly as you pre-judge it. Feel free to continue commenting. I am moving on.
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