Will Coroner's Alleged Hoax Help Convicts?

April 23, 2004 -- On June 1, 2002, a security guard found Memphis coroner O.C. Smith outside his office, wrapped in barbed wire, and strapped to a live bomb.

The security guard summoned police, and when officers arrived Smith told them that an attacker had strapped the bomb to him and warned him it would explode if he moved.

The police bomb squad was able to free Smith, but the apparent assault rocked the city of Memphis, and stumped authorities. At one point, investigators even turned to America's Most Wanted to seek help finding the person responsible.

The prime suspect at the time was a mysterious religious zealot who had been sending angry letters with death threats against Smith to various offices across the city, including the district attorney's office, a public defender and a local newspaper.

But now investigators say the attack was a hoax, and the culprit is Smith himself. Seventeen different law enforcement agencies worked together and eventually found that statements Smith, the top medical examiner for Shelby County, gave to police were inconsistent with evidence at the scene.

Emotional Toll of Work?

There has been no explanation as to why the esteemed coroner would do something so bizarre, but the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case says he'll reveal a motive for Smith's crimes at trial. Meanwhile, some experts speculate that the 51-year-old medical examiner is paying an emotional toll for his morbid occupation.

"Perhaps the stress of coping with all of these gruesome crimes over the years, these awful circumstances is really too much to bear, too much to balance," said Dr N.G. Berrill, executive director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science.

But now the case is much bigger than Smith, and has thrown the Memphis court system into turmoil. It has raised an interesting issue: If the coroner is somehow mentally "off," can the expert testimony he gave in dozens of trials be trusted?

Experts aren't sure. "Thirty to forty percent of people on death row in Tennessee come from Shelby County where Smith is the medical examiner, and he's testified in many of those cases," said Barry Sheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal clinic that handles cases where DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence. "Every case where Dr. Smith testified should be reviewed."

Execution Put on Hold

Already one inmate, Phillip Workman, has had his execution put on hold, just hours before he was scheduled to die. Smith had given crucial testimony against Workman at a recent clemency hearing. Workman was convicted of killing a police officer in 1981.

"Mr. Workman was making preparations to die," said Kelley Henry, Workman's attorney. "He'd had what he thought was going to be his last visit with his daughter. He was preparing his cell, washing it down, getting ready to pack up his things."

Though Smith insists he is innocent, he has resigned as medical examiner while preparing for trial. He is charged with making false reports to federal agents and illegal possession of a bomb.

The Shelby County District Attorney's office maintains that the shocking allegations against the coroner won't hurt any of their criminal convictions.

"We may face a few motions from some of our defense lawyers in a couple of cases, but I don't think it's going to have any significant effect," said District Attorney General Bill Gibbons.

In fact, the day after Smith was indicted, he was allowed to testify for the prosecution in another murder case.

But some find the Memphis coroner is no longer so convincing

"His reliability is going to come under intense scrutiny," said Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton. "Once you're labeled a liar, you're a liar, liar, liar."