Werner Spitz: World-Renowned Forensic Pathologist
(Room JW Grand Ballroom 7)
07 Jul 18
6:00 PM
-
7:15 PM
Former Wayne County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Werner Spitz has offered his expertise on some of the most high-profile legal investigations of the century. He co-wrote a highly respected book on forensic pathology, and has often found himself in the position of criticizing the official investigations into widely publicized murders and wrongful deaths. In 1969, Dr. Spitz testified on behalf of the parents of Mary Jo Kopechne, who died after Senator Ted Kennedy crashed a car in which she was the passenger. Years later, Spitz was called upon to re-examine the results of the investigation into John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Although Spitz agreed with the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, he said that the autopsy of Kennedy was “botched.” Dr. Spitz went on to testify for the defense in the Casey Anthony trial, arguing that the autopsy of Anthony’s deceased child was “shoddy” and insufficient to pinpoint homicide as the cause of death. He also consulted on investigations into Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, JonBenét Ramsey's death, O.J. Simpson’s civil murder trial, Lana Clarkson's death at the hands of Phil Spector, and Florence Ballard of the Supremes, to name but a few of his many cases.