Medcalf: Review of ex-Ramsey County medical examiner’s decisions casts larger doubt on justice system oversight

In August 1996, Thomas Rhodes chopped through the cool waters on a late-night boat ride near Spicer, Minnesota, with his wife, Jane Rhodes.

But a tragic ending altered their lives. Rhodes was convicted of first-degree murder after investigators alleged he’d killed his wife and then tossed her overboard. He spent 25 years in prison before his wrongful conviction was vacated last year because of questionable investigative practices by a medical examiner.

In January, Rhodes filed a federal lawsuit against former Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee, who performed the autopsy on his wife and concluded that she’d been killed intentionally and not drowned by accident. Overall, at least “four people have either been released from prison or resentenced to a lower penalty” as a part of a review of more than 200 cases tied to McGee, according to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

At a press conference last week, Choi said the number of homicide cases connected to McGee had been reduced to seven, which will now undergo a more thorough scrutiny by an independent group of medical experts.

“The legitimacy and the integrity of all of our convictions matter in how people trust what happens in the courtroom and prosecutors play a very critical role to ensure that we avoid wrongful convictions but at the same time, when we get information and we get conclusions that says that some type of testimony or some sort of process is unreliable, we have to have the courage to look backwards without fear or favor,” Choi said at the press conference, stressing that his office has not made a final conclusion yet.

While I respect Choi’s effort to examine all of the cases affected by McGee’s work, I also think he fell short in his description of the problem. If any public operation has been influenced by corrupt actors, then the entire process is worthy of suspicion. Choi has focused on the individuals but the entire system now demands proper attention.

And doubt.

There is no reason to believe that only seven of the cases that involved McGee’s work were potentially damaged by his decisions and choices. There is no reason to believe that a medical examiner who held his post for decades operated with proper accountability and guardrails around him. And there is also no reason to believe that McGee, alone, represented the only flaw within Ramsey County’s criminal justice process.

A fair legal proceeding is the only way to reach any measure of closure for those who’ve lost a loved one to a violent crime and it’s also the only path to prevent the exonerations that continue to unfold around the country because people such as McGee had both the internal trust and power to influence multiple cases.

In the Dru Sjodin murder case, a federal judge in the appeal of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., who was convicted of her murder and abduction from a North Dakota mall, said McGee’s testimony about her knife wounds were both “false and inadmissible.” While the questions about McGee have centered on wrongful convictions, his questionable tactics have also caused families to relive their worst nightmares as appeals have been filed in cases that required a second look because of his involvement.

All of this is delicate. A review of McGee’s work also creates possibly more trauma for families that have already endured enough. And it means more pain for those who’ve supported loved ones imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. But it’s necessary.

Because now every legal process that McGee touched in Ramsey County can’t be trusted. And an hourlong press conference won’t restore the credibility that has been lost.

Or the freedoms.

Twenty years ago, Rhodes filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court and questioned McGee’s testimony in his trial.

“Dr. McGee also testified about Jane’s other injuries,” Rhodes’ appeal said. “He stated that the laceration on the side of her mouth was premortem and could have occurred when a boat hit her mouth, stretching it to the point of tearing. … Dr. McGee noted paired injuries to Jane’s upper forearms that he classified as defensive wounds and soft tissue hemorrhage inside the neck region that did not have corresponding external marks.”

In his federal lawsuit, Rhodes alleges that now-deceased Kandiyohi County Attorney Boyd Beccue, a Hennepin County investigator and McGee conspired to present false evidence and testimony to support the state’s case for premeditated murder.

When I searched online for the appeal, I was stunned to see the date at the top of the page: March 20, 2003.

McGee continued to work for Ramsey County as a forensic pathologist until 2021.

Twenty years ago, Ramsey County had the opportunity to probe McGee’s work and prevent the current controversy. Instead, the county continued to support him.

And that’s a much bigger problem than one person’s questionable choices.