Coroner rules inmate’s death a homicide

By Mason Harrison
Contributing Writer

More than seven months after a brutal physical altercation left Orleans Parish Prison inmate Willie Lee dead after suffering cardiac arrest, Orleans Parish coroner, Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, has ruled Lee’s death a homicide. Lee’s death was another high-profile incident for embattled sheriff, Marlin Gusman, coming off of a reelection bid where inmate safety at the parish prison was at the centerpiece of political attacks against him. Rouse’s findings also halt widely circulated rumors that Lee was abused by prison guards.

“I am not surprised by this decision,” says Margie Lee Hulitt, Lee’s mother. “I know my child and I figured that this was the case all along.” Observers have long faulted the sheriff’s office for violent conditions at OPP. “My son is dead; he’s gone. What am I supposed to do? We are now hoping that he will receive justice.” Hulitt filed a wrongful death suit against the sheriff’s office alleging abuse by prison officials.

The coroner’s determination, however, does not find fault in Lee’s homicide. In a statement, Rouse notes “homicide in the medical sense is different from homicide in the criminal or legal sense. Homicide in the medical sense does not imply criminal intent or legal blame. Murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, self-defense are all legal terms that are matters for courts, not a coroner, to decide.”

Rouse’s office clears Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputies of any suspicion that their actions contributed to Lee’s death. “I have no evidence that sheriff’s deputies caused any injuries,” Rouse says. Gusman has been largely mum about the probe into Lee’s death and offered no public statements November 17 about the coroner’s homicide findings or the lack of evidence of prison abuses.

Earlier this year, the sheriff’s office came under increasing scrutiny as continued reports of alleged prison abuses, poor living conditions, and safety issues became a constant feature of local news reports. Lee’s death refocused the microscope on Gusman’s handling of the prison and guard behavior. But the new findings are not an indication that any criminal action will be taken in the wake of Lee’s death.

“My decision today,” said Rouse, “does not confer guilt or innocence but offers the medical opinion that [Lee’s death was] caused by the intentional action of others, which is the medical definition of homicide.” It is now up to prosecutors to examine the case and to assess whether to file charges.

This article originally published in the November 24, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.