Feb 20th, ‘07 - a phone call from Dr. Joshua Perper, the county’s chief medical examiner and the doctor who conducted Smith’s autopsy, interrupted the hearing’s afternoon session to inform the parties that, despite being embalmed over the weekend, Smith’s remains are deteriorating much more rapidly than expected.
Perper noted that Smith’s appearance, particularly in her face, has become discolored and he recommended that any viewing service take place by Saturday at the latest.
Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, who initially planned on taking up to three weeks to determine Smith’s next of kin, said he would now aim to rule on the case by Friday.
“Time is of the essence,” he said. “I’m running out of clock.”
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=65777527-6868-4ae9-89d3-fe44c2b017e8&entry=index
Why would he take 3 weeks to make that decision? Disgusting...dragging it out for his own benefit. As for Perper I think the reason he kept making those calls was to let Seidlin know that he needed to stop playing God and make his decision. I’m sure he probably told him in private but he had to call him out on TV to get the man to hurry up.
I forget the name of the Judge but it is out there somewhere.
Seidlin got orders to wrap it up.