NY medical examiner dismisses doubts about Epstein autopsy

NEW YORK — The medical examiner who ruled Jeffrey Epstein’s death a suicide immediately pushes back against the suggestion by a longtime forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s family that some of the evidence indicates homicide.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson says she stands “firmly” behind her findings in the August autopsy report, which ruled Epstein hanged himself and temporarily quelled much of the speculation surrounding the financier’s death.

Conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death were reignited after Dr. Michael Baden, who was in the room for Epstein’s autopsy and has been called as an expert witness in high-profile cases, spoke about it in an interview Wednesday on the TV program “Fox & Friends.” Baden’s comments suggest Epstein’s family might contest the autopsy results in future legal proceedings.

Epstein was found dead August 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center with a bedsheet around his neck. He’d been held there since his July arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.

— AP