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Medical examiner's report differs from charge filed in drowning case
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Published: August 27, 2008
The medical examiner says the death of a man in a pond near the Lewisville Trails subdivision last week was an accidental drowning, even though another man is facing criminal charges.
Don Craft, 46, was pulled from the pond last Thursday afternoon.
The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office charged Stanley Scott Carper, 43, with voluntary manslaughter in Craft's death the next day. Also Friday, Dr. Ellen Riemer of the state Medical Examiner's Officer found that Craft's death was an accidental drowning.
District Attorney Tom Keith would say how his office came to decide that Craft's death was a criminal act.
Keith said that based on his interpretation of the State Bar's rules for attorneys, he could not cite specifics.
"I can say generically that the medical examiner's decision is based on a medical point of view and not from a legal point of view," Keith said. "Sometimes it's the same, sometimes it's different."
Carper's attorney, Jason Crump, said he had not seen the medical examiner's findings.
"At this point, I'm not in a position to comment," said Crump, whose client is being held at Forsyth County Jail on $221,000 bond.
Riemer said there was a strong smell of alcohol from Craft's body and that alcohol contributed to his death. There was clear evidence at the scene of heavy drinking, she said. Blood tests on both men are pending.
Voluntary manslaughter is a relatively rare charge, said defense attorneys interviewed for this story.
It is a common charge when someone is acting partly in self-defense but uses more force than is reasonable, such as if someone is punched and then stabs his assailant.
"It's important what a medical examiner says," said Vince Rabil, a defense attorney and former prosecutor in Keith's office. "But the medical examiner doesn't necessarily know all the facts — he's just giving an opinion about the immediate cause of death and not the legal cause."
"Without knowing the case facts, you can just speculate on a million different possibilities," Rabil said.
Maj. Brad Stanley, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said investigators gave Keith's office all the facts of the case and did not decide on the charge.
"They felt there was criminal misconduct, and that's what they felt was the appropriate charge," he said.
Riemer said Craft had all the typical signs of drowning, including fluid in his ears and nose. A medical examiner can change her ruling on a cause of death, or can mark the cause as "pending" while waiting for more information.
Riemer said that she hasn't heard more information from the sheriff's office about the case.
"Drownings are accidents, until proven otherwise," she said. "All I can say is that he drowned, I don't know how it happened that he drowned."
• Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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