Starting at the top, the highest law in the land, the American constitutional system includes a notion known as the Separation of Powers. Three Branches of government – each one having powers to rein in the other, keeping everything in balance. In the stalking case and death of Morgan Ingram what did it take in Garfield County for her right to due process to be stripped away, and her tormentors – the stalker(s), the peeping tom(s), the intruders, and the jewelry thieves to all go free – sadly for us all, not very much at all.
A meeting was held behind closed doors, which should always be a tip-off that some right is about to be stripped from someone. Steve and I knew about this meeting only because we knew the legal team that had set it up. They had high hopes that this meeting would bring the start of justice for Morgan.
It would have been nice if Steve and I had been made aware of the meeting through the promise of the Colorado Constitution to treat Victims with fairness, respect and dignity. But we were not, the premise sounds good, but in Garfield County the notion is to be avoided at all costs, even by the representative of Victims Rights. Trust me I stood and endured her wrath, at an earlier time, as I tried to introduce a medical fact into the investigation.
As we were not present at the meeting to decide the fate for our daughter and the criminals who attacked her, I do not know exactly what was said. I was given a synopsis of how it ended though.
As the County Coroner has never spoken with us or granted a meeting I seriously doubt he was even there. Perhaps one of the Deputy Coroners whom I am told are not real Deputy Coroners due to the way they choose to conduct official state business, including following Colorado Revised Statutes for Deputy Coroners, was at the meeting, but I do not know one way or the other. I do know that they know how to ignore conflict of interest laws and unabashedly promote the Mortuary they all work for. Checks and Balances? For the President, Congress, The Senate, and the Supreme Court – definitely. For Coroners in Garfield County – not so much.
I am told the FBI was represented, and I do not know if someone was there to protect Morgan’s or our interests. The contracted Forensic Pathologist was there, in person or over the telephone, I am not sure, but his voice to give weighty evidence was there. The contracted Forensic Pathologist has this way of completely disregarding the opinions of others in the medical field, no matter what their credentials. I know this from past events.
A team of doctors, not one doctor, but a team of doctors at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA in Los Angeles saw Morgan to evaluate a situation. At the conclusion of their evaluation they were satisfied with their findings. After Morgan’s death one of the doctors on this team shared the findings with the contracted Forensic Pathologist Garfield County had hired for Morgan’s autopsy. This doctor told the pathologist that Morgan did not suffer from Porphyria, which of course created a problem because the pathologist had already listed Porphyria as her cause of death, perhaps he should have asked someone who knew first.
The pathologist had told Steve and I on the phone once that he did not have much experience with Porphyria, and he would welcome input from a large respected University Hospital out on the coast. Out of concern at the time we did ask him if he had seen something during the autopsy or perhaps ran a test on Morgan that led him to conclude Porphyria was Morgan’s cause of death, and he told us he had not and did not.
Evidently this welcoming of input from a source such as staff from the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA in Los Angeles was only good until they gave him input which was in conflict with his findings, and it caused a real problem for a case he had already given his professional, “with a great deal of medical certainty ???”, opinion on. The pathologist none – the – less had a simple solution for his apparent snafu. It was not, change the mistake he had made, if that is what you thought. He instead took the position that he suddenly knew more about Porphyria than they did. Most everyone else in the world for that matter. Now really, if you were told by your doctor you possibly could have Porphyria – would you:
- Schedule an appointment with your local Forensic Pathologist, and see if he could see you between autopsies? OR…
- Schedule appointments with a team of doctors at UCLA MEDICAL CENTER, including specialists in this kind of thing to determine what was really wrong with you and what to do about it?
It just boggles my mind is that I can write this, and it is absolutely the truth. But this is not the absolute gem that the contracted forensic pathologist said at the closed-door meeting that really crossed the line, really defies credulity.
The issue was raised by someone at this closed-door meeting that the “Ingram’s” seemed to believe there could be more to Morgan’s death than just simple natural causes, and it could actually be a homicide instead. That such a question could actually be asked is once again beyond me, when Morgan was in the midst of a horrific felony stalking, at her house, out on the streets, she had lived in fear everywhere for four months and then was found dead, days before she was to be officially interviewed about her stalker. But the contracted forensic pathologist had a whole different opinion about Morgan’s death, and he handled it in quite a surprising way for a professional in a room of professionals.
The contracted forensic pathologist is reported to have simply written the whole matter off to, “Bad Blood”, between him and the Medical Examiner who had given the second opinion. Was he accusing him of lying or misrepresenting facts due to a personal disagreement? Beyond shocking! Yet in that room of Law Enforcement, on that day, it was enough. Never mind that among the many opinions the Medical Examiner gave in his second opinion was the fact that he did not see how the contracted forensic pathologist could overlook a blood level of amitriptyline of 7,909, in fact calling it insignificant in determining the cause of death. This statement had gotten the Ingram’s all riled up and that was the problem. This blame of “Bad Blood” from the Forensic Pathologist is all it took to have the past DA and the Sheriff to decide Morgan’s case did not rise to the need for justice. Checks and Balances – Stalker, Murderer, Thief, Intruder, Peeping Tom VS “bad blood” – all even in Garfield County.
I have said it many times now, but I will say it again. It is the professional opinions of doctors, forensic experts, investigative specialists that I base my opinion as to what happened to Morgan on. I am only restating what I am told, not voicing my own, nor Steve’s opinions, and certainly not stooping to blame “Bad Blood”. We are not doctors, forensic experts, or investigative specialists.
Is that really all it took to end Morgan’s right to due process? Bad Blood? Are professionals not able to talk and work out glaring differences? If the lab that tested Morgan’s blood regularly tests blood samples from all over the county every day and says 7,909 is the highest level they have ever seen – how does it get swept away due to bad blood? A level of 7,909 being the highest they remember is a fact, that could very justifiably get the parents of a daughter they had been told died from natural causes all whipped up!
Are we all honestly so busy bickering here in Colorado that nobody can get justice? Or does this “bad blood” defense only work in closed-door meetings in Garfield County?
That brings me back to a basic premise that binds the county – Checks and Balances. The United States has them, but Garfield County finds it easier to conduct business without them, no worries if justice gets lost in the process.
Morgan only wanted to help people, and she did. She also did not want to go, not at the age she was taken, and certainly not in the way she has been taken from us – of this I am absolutely certain.
“Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists…it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, Jr
Equal justice should stand for all – victims included, and why am I not seeing this day after day, email after email, call after call from other victims? We are all citizens, and should be able to receive equal justice, but we are far from it in this case, and things need to be rectified!
