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Prosecutor: Medical Examiner Callery 'absent' much of time

Jonathan Starkey
The News Journal

DOVER Delaware's chief medical examiner, Richard T. Callery, used his state office, including state employes, to run a private consulting business, state prosecutor Kathleen Jennings told lawmakers during a joint committee hearing in Legislative Hall on Wednesday.

During testimony Wednesday, Jennings blamed Callery for creating a culture in the medical examiner's office that led to unsupervised work and, ultimately, the drugs going missing.

She said Callery, who remains the subject of a Delaware State Police criminal investigation, for the potential misuse of state resources, was "absent for large, large periods of time consulting and testifying in other states."

Jennings' comments came during a hearing called by Sen. Robert Marshall, a Wilmington Democrat and chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, to learn more about how drugs went missing from the state's Controlled Substances Laboratory, which is housed in the chief medical examiner's office.

Prosecutors have notified 75 defendants that drug evidence in their cases may have been tampered with or gone missing, including five defendants in federal prosecutions.

Several cases have been affected after drugs were discovered missing from the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The drug scandal has "compromised" 146 cases, resulting in plea deals or dismissals, Jennings told lawmakers on Wednesday. Marijuana, heroin, Oxycontin and cocaine are among the missing drugs.

Delaware's public defender has filed more than 420 motions since April 30 seeking to reopen and overturn drug convictions due to security lapses in the drug lab and thefts of drug evidence.

For years, Callery has worked side jobs as an expert witness for defendants in cases out of state., as well as some prosecutions He also worked as a contract pathologist for the state of Rhode Island for at least a decade while employed full time for the state of Delaware.

"It's not rocket science that this would happen if someone isn't there supervising what is going on," Jennings said. "It's inevitable that bad things happen in a culture like that."

Callery remains on suspension but continues to collect his $198,000-a-year salary while investigations continue. He is also the subject of a an internal human resources investigation at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

Another member of the office, forensic investigator James Woodson, also has been suspended with pay while investigations continue.

State officials shuttered the state's drug lab on Feb. 25 after learning of the missing evidence. Investigators have since pored through 25,000 pieces of drug evidence – including more than 9,270 in the evidence locker in the chief medical examiner's office – for signs of tampering.Investigators have since pored through 25,000 pieces of drug evidence for signs of tampering and more than 9,270 in the evidence locker in the chief medical examiner's office.

The Delaware State Police and other police agencies across the state have reported evidence problems in material they received back from the medical examiner's office, Jennings said, including departments agencies in Wilmington, New Castle County, Dover, Middletown, Milford and Bridgeville.

Since the February closure of the drug lab, law enforcement agencies have been sending drug evidence for testing to a contractor's lab in Willow Grove, Pa., at cost of to the state thus far of $102,000, thus far.

Gov. Jack Markell and administration officials took their first formal steps Wednesday to reorganize the medical examiner's office in response to the missing drug scandal. A proposal presented at Wednesday's hearing would make the office under law enforcement control as a new division in the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

The administration plan would rename the office the Division of Forensic Science, create a Forensic Science Commission to oversee it, the new division and make the division director more accountable to top administration officials. Lawmakers must approve any such change.

Any reorganization could have impacts on the state budget. Lewis Schiliro, secretary of Homeland Security, said the move will come with a cost, but is necessary to reopen the state's drug lab and restart evidence processing.

"There will be some costs attached to it," Schiliro told lawmakers. "There is no other way to do this. In my view, we will not be able to accept evidence back there until we have a system in there that can attest to the credibility."

Lawmakers and Jennings blamed Callery for leaving the medical examiner's office without a consistent supervisor.

Callery is serving a 10-year term as chief medical examiner, with his term scheduled to run through 2017. He has "due-process" rights, HSS Secretary Rita Landgraf told lawmakers Wednesday, and is not easily fired.

"I know you are in a very difficult position," Sen. Greg Lavelle, a Sharpley Republican, told administration officials. "Boy it would be nice if he would resign, wouldn't it, and take responsibility for his failures in that office."

Rep. Michael Mulrooney, a Newark DemocratD-Pennwood, said it's past time for Callery to lose his job.

"Enough is enough," Mulrooney said. "Heads gotta roll. I'm just an old electrician. I know if I messed up a job this big, I'd be gone. I don't see why any government official has to be any different."

Reporter Sean O'Sullivan contributed to this story. Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at