Overview

• Common Pleas Judge Linda Carpenter sharply criticized the city’s pace during a hearing and questioned why the process could not move faster.
• Carpenter asked why she could not change the manner of death to “undetermined,” signaling potential court action if the review continues to stall.
• City attorneys said the Medical Examiner’s Office has been conducting the review since spring and cited a summer municipal worker strike that left the office understaffed.
• The deadline enforces terms of a settlement with Ellen Greenberg’s parents that required an expeditious reexamination and included a monetary payment.
• The dispute is fueled by shifting official classifications and new expert opinions, including the original pathologist’s affidavit withdrawing his suicide conclusion and a family expert’s claim that at least one wound was postmortem.