The fight over who can order on autopsy on the late Dau Mabil's remains continues next week in Hinds County Chancery Court after the Mississippi Department of Public Safety entered the fray yesterday.
Judge Thomas ordered the state to conduct an autopsy on the body but said Bul Mabil could conduct an independent autopsy although he would have to pay for it. The Court held:
If the human remains found are released without autopsy, any potential evidence will be compromised. Similarly, there is indication that the human remains will be cremated upon release. The same will render any forensic investigation impossible. Absent court interference, Plaintiff will be unable to determine the cause of his brother's death. This Court finds that Plaintiffs injuries will be irreparable.
However, Mabil's wife, Karissa Bowley, said not so fast, my friend. She filed a motion to modify the injunction several hours after the hearing. She stated she was served a copy of the complaint at 5 PM the day before the hearing but did not receive notice of the hearing (Pay attention to that last part.). She claimed she would have attended if she had known about the hearing.
Bowley pointed out state law grants her sole control of her husband's remains:Miss. Code. Ann. § 41-37-25 (“No [independent] autopsy shall be held over the objection of the surviving spouse, or if there be no surviving spouse, of any surviving parent, or if there be neither a surviving spouse nor parent, then of any surviving child.”).
Dau's widow denied she intended to cremate his remains as she argued Bul had no standing to bring suit:
Therefore, the unnecessary Order was issued in reliance on misinformation, it "was contrary to Mississippi law requiring the surviving spouse authorize any third-party autopsy," "and it was issued on knowingly false information if Plaintiff’s counsel represented to the Court" "that Karissa or any state defendant received notice of the hearing, as we understand to be the case.""Plaintiff’s attorney has widely published statements about Karissa that sound in tort, but Rule 11 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure upholds public trust in legal proceedings by providing for sanctions against attorneys who mislead judges."
4. Bul Garang Mabil retained counsel on the evening of April 17, 2024 and informed undersigned counsel a hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on April 18, 2024. During undersigned counsel’s meeting with Bul Garang Mabil, he provided undersigned counsel with copies of his Complaint for Emergency Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction and Supplement to Complaint for Emergency Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. See, Doc. #: 2 and 3. When undersigned counsel asked if the Complaint had been served, Bul Marang Mabil answered in the affirmative.... Because undersigned counsel did not file the instant Complaint, undersigned counsel did not know that the clerk had not issued the Summons with the Complaint and/or that the Complaint was served without a Summons or a Notice of Hearing.
Bul asked the Court to allow him to conduct an independent autopsy without waiting for Capitol Police to complete its investigation.
However, another front opened up in the court fight yesterday when the Mississippi Department of Public Safety filed a motion to dismiss Bul's complaint and dissolve the injunction.
DPS points out the plaintiff never served DPS nor the Attorney General as required by law since the motion mistakingly identified the Capitol Police and Mississippi State Crime Lab as defendants. DPS also said neither the agency nor the Capitol Police and State Crime Lab received notice of the emergency hearing.
DPS agreed with Karissa Bowley position that she has the right to her late husband's remains. Thus Bul Mabil has no standing to sue for an independent autopsy of his brother.
DPS also criticized Bul Mabil:
Finally, Plaintiff attempts to direct and/or interfere with the State’s ongoing investigation of Dau Mabil’s death by requesting that an independent autopsy be done immediately. Plaintiff has the right to be informed of developments in the investigation, but does not have a right to control how the investigation is conducted.....
As a part of any investigation of unexpected deaths, the findings of the State Medical Examiner are a crucial element. Plaintiff asserts that he “should not be forced to wait until all law enforcement entities complete their investigations before the independent autopsy ordered by this Court is performed.” [Doc. No. 16, ¶11.]. Plaintiff attempts to direct when and how an autopsy is conducted, and worse, have an independent autopsy conducted in the middle of an active investigation. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner has absolute statutory authority to investigate deaths—like the unexpected death of Dau Mabil—that affect the public interest.....
The agency called the complaint "improper" and said it interfered with the investigation.
A hearing on the DPS motion will be held Tuesday morning before Chancellor Dewayne Thomas.
Special Assistant Attorney General Claire Barker represents the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
Kingfish note: This brings to mind the ending of The Big Thaw on Miami Vice.
23 comments:
How about it’s a possible murder and the state is doing an autopsy. Period.
I believe I owe the wife an apology. The brother seems very unhinged.
the attorneys for the brother are race hustlers looking to turn this death into a recycled version of the emmit till case.
the late charles evers once said "racism will never end in missssippi cause there are too many people making money at it".
this is a classic example.
The brother's behavior is appearing, to me, curiouser, and curiouser.
But Lisa Ross and Carlos Tanner were in the news, so I guess that's a win for them.
Finally, DPS is doing something in the public interest and that makes sense. Kudos to one of their attorneys.
I agree. Good job to DPS attorney. Judge should dismiss brother's filings. He has no standing in this case.
Judges should be able to assume that a lawyer's statement regarding routine filing and service of notice is truthful and not part of the hustle. True for most lawyers, not all.
It wasn’t just Lisa Ross and Carlos. Antar was practically salivating over the hate crime angle. Imo, he also took swipes at Capitol Police right out of the gate and I have my own ideas and theories on Antar’s agenda with them. But then, Antar reached out to Bennie Thompson who then reached out to the Justice Department. So why all of a sudden not another word about all that? Or have I missed something?
this race hustle is going to be the biggest hoax since tawana brawley.
So the excuse for not properly serving the wife was because it was filed pro se, so what's the excuse for not properly serving DPS or the AG? Can't use the pro se excuse now that Ross has filed a notice of appearance.
@3:45 and @4:17
Chuckie want to be interviewed on MSNBC..
At this point, I'm convinced that the brother had something to do with his death and all of this is a massive deflection from that fact. Gotta get those donations flowing in.
What a mess as a wife & family need time to mourn the loss of a husband, son & brother.
@11:29 - Your task for the rest of the evening is to decide which member of the family is NOT mourning. Sort that out and report back.
There are a bunch of white supremacists on this thread. Wait before you conclude. Evidence is out there in videos and photos, and your white supremacy savagery against a black body will be shown to the whole world once again! Folks who comment and enjoy the killing of other people like the ones on this thread are the satan on earth. Your hatred and savagery will be judged harshly in the afterlife. The way the Mississippi Department of Public Safety has taken side with the criminals shows their biased investigative position and they are obstructing justice and preventing the truth from being revealed about Dau’s suspicious disappearance and death. Y’all are just worried because his brother is an intelligent and smart young man and he will hold his brother's killers accountable for the crime they have committed. The criminals will go to jail this time around unlike in Emmett Till’s killing.
Assuming you’re one of the lawyers for the Brother but why do you keep comparing this to Emmitt Till ? Frankly it’s insulting to do that , please explain?
to 8:24..........im with you man. but a race hustler will never be happy no matter what ,unless the results of the autopsy and the investigation fits his or her narrative.
and even then they wil still bitch , moan , cry , and complain , but that what keeps the money and the media attention rolling in.
April 28, 2024 at 7:57 PM, why haven't some of those videos, and photos, made it to social media?
Kingfish, they went to court again. This case is getting stranger and stranger every step.
I was there. Working on post this morning. Had to go to WAPT (pool coverage) to get video yesterday afternoon. Almost a 40 gb file. Takes a while to process and then upload. Hearing was three hours so takes a while to go through notes. That's why it wasn't up last night.
So, if both of them think the other one is involved, one of them is right.
Thanks for the Whodunit?
Great. Thanks so much. Your coverage is excellent.
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