Two medical examiners are facing discipline after the family of Michelle O’Connell and the family's private investigator filed complaints with the Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission over the way her autopsy was conducted.
O’Connell's death has been ruled a suicide by multiple agencies, but her family has long maintained that they believe the 24-year-old mother was killed. The gun that killed O'Connell was the service weapon of her boyfriend -- a St. Johns County deputy.
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The family and the private investigator allege that District 23 medical examiner Predrag Bulic allowed two people to view the autopsy photos without the permission of O’Connell’s family, and kept records at his house that were not part of the official case file.
The complaints against associate medical examiner Frederick Hobin were that he also kept records at his home, including the amended death certificate; failed to do a complete investigation, in that he missed O’Connell’s broken jaw; and allowed the O’Connell’s private investigator to see the autopsy photos.
The commission is recommending a 6-month suspension for Hobin and a 1-year probation for Bulic.