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Berrien County prosecutor raises problems with contracted medical examiner services, subpoenas and rising expert fees
Summary
County Prosecutor Amy Byrd told an administrative committee that the county's contract arrangement with WMed is producing cases where former WMed doctors are billing large expert fees and evading subpoenas; county leaders asked staff to explore contract edits and local alternatives for lab work.
County Prosecutor Amy Byrd told the Berrien County administrative committee that the county's contract with WMed for medical examiner and autopsy services has produced new problems for criminal prosecutions, prompting officials to seek alternatives and possible contract changes.
Byrd reported that when doctors who performed autopsies for the county under WMed leave that employer, they become private witnesses for later trials and have billed the prosecutor's office as outside expert witnesses. Byrd said she currently has a bill for one such witness for about $17,000, and she described the expense and the difficulty of serving subpoenas on doctors who are no longer WMed employees as a growing risk to prosecutions.
Committee members discussed immediate and longer-term options. Counsel and other commissioners said courts have mechanisms to compel testimony and set reasonable fees, and they noted expanded remote testimony rules put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that may still allow some testimony by videoconference. Committee members asked county administration and legal staff to coordinate with Byrd on alternatives that could avoid repeating the $17,000 scenario.
Administrators and committee members also noted that some forensic lab work used in county criminal cases is performed out of state. Byrd suggested exploring local laboratory alternatives, and members mentioned the possibility of using Andrews (a local lab referenced in committee discussion) for some testing currently sent out of state.
County officials said they will pursue multiple avenues: asking WMed to consider contract addenda that require contracted medical examiners to be available for subpoenas for a limited period after employment ends, checking whether current employment contracts at WMed already cover testimony obligations, reviewing the Michigan rules of criminal procedure and evidence for remote testimony provisions, and evaluating local lab capacity. The committee asked county administration to follow up with Byrd and other stakeholders and return with recommendations.
The discussion was held in the administrative committee and did not include a formal board motion to change contracts; committee members instead directed staff to investigate options and report back.
