The Chanda Turner Reform Act (SB250) has been signed into law, and will go into effect Nov. 1, 2011! Families can now appeal their loved-ones' death certificates!

CHANDA TURNER was shot to death at her home in Paul's Valley on July 12, 2000.  Her boyfriend claimed she shot herself while he slept through the sound of gunfire, then found her outside on the backsteps after she was dead.  Crime scene photos depict blood throughout the inside of the home, including on the mattress he claimed he was asleep on. The mattress had been stripped of sheets; no one asked where they went. There were more signs of clean-up in the bedroom, including a bottle of cleaning solution on the floor. The boyfriend had fresh scratches on his arms, and Chanda was covered in bruises. There were signs of a struggle in the livingroom, including broken furniture.

Despite all these red flags that Chanda did not commit suicide, but actually fought for her life, M.E. Investigator John Miller went to the scene and effectively closed the case by classifying the death a suicide.  No pathologist examined Chanda's body at the time.  Despite repeated requests, the family was denied an autopsy for almost 10 years.  Knowing they would never give up fighting to get justice for their daughter, her parents buried her in a sealed casket inside a sealed crypt to preserve her body for the day when they could finally get an autopsy.

That day came in December 2009.  The family finally got a Court Order, with the assistance of the Cleveland County District Attorney, that finally resulted in an exhumation autopsy.  Both pathologists involved at the autopsy (then-Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Collie Trant, and Colorado Springs Coroner, Dr. Robert Bux) ruled the death a HOMICIDE. 

  THEN SHOCKINGLY, POLITICS, SCANDAL AND CORRUPTION brought the Turner's decade-long battle for justice to a grinding halt.

Before Dr. Trant, who appeared to be the most competent Chief M.E. Oklahoma had seen years, could complete the paperwork changing Chanda's manner of death to homicide, the Board governing the ME's Office fired him.  His sudden and suspicious termination was met with public outcry.

 
  Despite the taxpayers who pay the M.E.'s salaries demanding answers, the MedicoLegal Board refused to explain the mysterious firing which left the Turners and several other families in a lurch.  According to Dr. Trant's lawyer, it was because Dr. Trant uncovered wrongdoing in the M.E.'s Office and attempted to report it.  Dr. Trant promptly filed a Whistleblower and Wrongful Termination suit. 
 See Dr. Trant's Amended Petition and/or follow the suit on OSCN here. 

Chanda's case was then to be handled by acting Interim Chief, Eric Duval. But instead of completing Chanda's paperwork, Dr.  Duval quit his post and left the State.  Left in a tailspin, the family asked the Board to explain why they fired Dr. Trant and joined another family asking that he be allowed to complete work on their cases.  Their request to speak at the March 18, 2010 Board Meeting was denied.                       

The case was then assigned to Dr. Chai Choi, who hails from a women's university and college of medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and appears frequently throughout this website in botched ME cases.  She advised she could not make out Dr. Trant's abbreviations on the diagrams from Chanda's autopsy.  This caused the Turners to fear any report she prepared would be inaccurate, and they were right.

With no doctors left in charge of the ME's Office, former OSBI head Tom Jordan
took over as Chief Administrative Officer.  After running the Turner's in circles, he suddenly resigned his position. The media subsequently reported he participated in secret meetings with legislators involved in the political corruption investigation now underway. 

    Before he jumped ship, Jordan called a meeting with the Turner's attorney on March 22, 2010.  At that meeting, it was decided Dr. Bux should prepare a report to assist Dr. Chai Choi in completing the paperwork, since he attended the autopsy pursuant to Oklahoma Court Order, and Choi was neither present nor could she make out the notes. Dr. Bux prepared his report  as requested in April 2010, ruling the death a HOMICIDE. 

     Dr. Choi completely disregarded all evidence from the autopsy and, after all this family has gone through, closed it with no corrections.  In fact, her report is dated 3/2/10, long before the 3/22/10 meeting with Tom Jordan (see box to right of the post-autopsy "report" which is riddled with errors, is unsigned, and which still checks "NO" autopsy - in complete disregard for the heartwrenching experience the Turners endured watching their daughter's exhumation and transportation to the ME's Office where an autopsy was done three months before). The Turners were not even aware of this report when they sued the ME's Office on May 4, 2010.  Simultaneously they filed an Open Records Request and were shocked to discover the error-laden 3/2/10"report" months later.  

The Turners then joined five (5) other Oklahoma families and took their fight to the Capitol steps in a rally held May 27, 2010. 

New legislation was passed on the same day as the rally that would have given the families a legal mechanism to correct all the mistakes in their cases. Again they had hope, only to have Oklahoma Politics yank the rug out from underneath them.

These families who had worked long and hard gathering signatures for their Petitions Demanding Reform of the ME's Office, and who brought those Petitions to the Capitol during the May 27th rally, were devastated all over again when Governor Henry vetoed the new Bills because they also contained a new $80,000.00/year administrative position, allegedly earmarked for a former M.E. secretary who was leaving her seat in the State Senate so a Republican could run for it. This launched a POLITICAL CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION by the Oklahoma County D.A., which resulted in the filing of felony charges against two Oklahoma legislators in December of 2010.  Meanwhile, the families supposedly "helped" by passage of the now-Vetoed bill were left right where they started: fighting with an ME's Office that is in absolute shambles and betrayed by a legislature that up until now has been derelict in its duties to fix the monster it created.

Thankfully, State Senator Bryce Marlatt decided to step up and, with the help of House Rep. Don Armes, is carrying SB250, The Chanda Turner Reform Act. 

In March of 2011, SB250 passed the Senate unanimously and is currently awaiting to be heard in the House of Representatives.  SB250 will create an appeals process for aggrieved families to have wrong cause/manner of death determinations corrected, create oversight of the MedicoLegal Board, and bring JUSTICE TO OKLAHOMA'S DEAD AND THEIR GRIEVING FAMILIES.

Meanwhile, Chanda Turner's death certificate remains unchanged.

Congratulations Garvin County on fighting corruption and electing a new Sheriff, Larry Rhodes, on Nov 2, 2010. And to the murderers who think they got away with it: there is no statute of limitations on homicide ... and we're not done yet.  We WILL see JUSTICE PREVAIL.  

May 2011: THE CHANDA TURNER REFORM ACT IS NOW LAW!

March 29, 2011: New Chief M.E., Dr. Eric Pheifer, a ray of hope for JFTD families. Click here to see the story.

March 2011: SB250 PASSES THE SENATE UNANIMOUSLY AND MOVES TO THE HOUSE.

Dec 22: Felony Bribery charges filed against Rep. Randy Terrilll and former Senator Debbie Leftwich in M.E. Corruption Scandal. 

Dec 16: Board considers offering Chief position to Dr. William Cox, who pled guilty to ethics violations in Ohio (paying back over $100,000.00 in restitution), and whom a judge jailed for dodging subpoenas and called an embarrassment to himself and his profession. 

Nov 19: Sibley declines Chief position, avoiding having to go through a background check.

Nov 16 rally at the Capitol demanding reform and protesting Sibley's choice as Chief ME. 

Nov 6, 2010- Funeral Home Association's new President questions integrity of death certificates issued by M.E.'s Office. Click HERE to read.

Nov 4, 2010- the board withdraws offer of Chief M.E. from Keen (with a dubious past) and offers it to Sibley - who has a WORST past! Click HERE to see News9's expose on Sibley.  

October 26, 2010- a former ME employee, with a 1993 drug prior, uses passkey the ME's Office neglected to take away from him to get into ME's Office and steal drugs, including morphine, at least FIVE times. See the stories here: KOCO FOX25 NEWS9  KFOR

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Special thanks to STATE SENATOR MARLATT, who has filed SB250, (The Chanda Turner Reform Act) in the State Senate that will re-vamp the MedicoLegal Board, fix the problems with the M.E.'s Office, and bring justice to our families.  Many thanks to Rep. Don Armes, one of the first legislators to reach out to our families regarding the ME's Office, and who will carry the Chanda Turner Reform Act on the House side.  Thank you also to Rep. Dennis Bailey and Senator Connie Johnson, both of whom have expressed an interest in helping reform the ME's Office, and also to Senator Andrew Rice, who has pledged his support for reform of the M.E.'s Office. Also special thanks to Rep. Al McAffrey for drafting this letter for JFTD! 

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  On Sept 2, 2010, Nationally syndicated domestic violence expert, Susan Murphy Milano, who has appeared on Oprah and The Justice Files, writes about Chanda Turner's and Sheila Deviney's homicides on Women In Crime Ink.  Read it here:

http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2010/09/oklahoma-where-crime-blows-like-wind.html      

And read her August 12, 2010 "Time's Up! Justice Exists for All: Minus the State of Oklahoma" here:

http://timesupblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/justice-exists-for-all-minus-state-of.html

Get Involved Today!

Are you outraged at the scandal, deceit, corruption, incompetence and lack of accountability at our tax-funded ME's Office? Then print and sign the PETITION supporting the CHANDA TURNER REFORM BILL today. Every signature counts!

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NATIONALLY Syndicated  CRIMEWIRE does a ninety (90) minute special on the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, airing July 25, 2010.  Listen here. 

Chanda's case is also featured NATIONALLY on  August 9, 2010 on Intimate Partner Homicide (second story beginning at 29:50 minutes): http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susanmurphymilano/2010/08/10/intimate-partner-homicide-investigation-hosts-sher

Listen to CRIMEWIRE on Blog Talk Radio - Chanda's case is the middle segment beginning at 26:16 to 41:40. 

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After exhuming their daughter for a long-overdue autopsy in December 2009, the Turners had to force the ME's Office to turn over documents explaining why, when both doctors at autopsy ruled the death a homicide, the Agency continues to refuse to change Chanda's death certificate. 
 

The documents released by the ME's Office to justify their refusal are shocking:                      New ME Report dated March 2, 2010, but not released until May 2010, ignored the autopsy results all together, and checked "no autopsy" despite also releasing a diagram of the autopsy performed Dec. 09: they check "heavy truck" when no vehicle was involved in this home death; Chanda's date of birth is wrong, her date of death is wrong, the report is unsigned by the physician whose name is stamped on it, and that pathologist hasn't worked there in years!!

Our tax dollars are funding this shocking ineptitude.

Joe and Donna Turner pray that bringing public awareness to the staggeringly deficient quality of work produced by our tax-funded ME's Office will force much-needed change, and prevent other Oklahoma famiies from going through the same nightmare they have been forced to endure. 

Read the Turner's June 9, 2010 Press Release here.  Watch KFOR report, FOX 25 report, and NEWS 9  reports by clicking the links.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Read the July '09 NAME Inspection results that stripped the ME's Office of it's Accreditation here.

Read Dr. Trant's Letter in response to the NAME Inspection here, with his plan for correcting the ME's Office's deficiencies, including changing the policy of NOT conducting autopsies in alleged suicide cases because of the "possibility that homicides have been missed (it is not at all rare that someone who commits murder will try to make the scene look like it was a suicide)." Chief Medical Examiner, July 2009, page 2, item 3.

July 20, 2009 GRAND JURY REPORT on the ME's Office: "... there has either been wllful blindness or gross incompetence on the part of those responsible for administration of the office." (p. 2 of 9)  "Written polices are lacking ... as well as protocol for how investigations or cases should be handled." (p. 5 of 9)  Evidence is improperly stored with no safeguards to prevent cross-contamination. (p. 7 of 9)

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ADDITIONAL LINKS:

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT: "Thou Shalt not Get Away With It..."

http://sheiladeviney.org/

http://www.facebook.com/theeleventhcommandment#!/pages/TheEleventhCommandment/140667695965077?ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Sheila-Deviney/137013713003946?ref=ts