SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The Ramsey County Attorney's Office is reviewing 71 criminal cases due to questions about the reliability of former medical examiner Michael McGee, partnering with a non-profit in a process that could have broad implications and even potentially lead to convictions being tossed.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi told KARE 11 on Friday that it's "too early to say" whether case outcomes could be reversed, but he did not rule out the possibility, depending on the circumstances.
"If that's the right thing to do in a certain case, we will do that," Choi said in an interview. "But we will be very thorough in looking into all this."
Choi's office first launched a review of cases involving McGee in September 2021, after a federal judge in North Dakota vacated the death sentence of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., for the high-profile murder of 22-year-old Minnesota native Dru Sjodin. In the decision halting Rodriguez's execution, Circuit Judge Ralph R. Erickson partly blamed McGee for depriving Rodriguez of a fair trial.
"Ramsey County Medical Examiner Michael McGee ("McGee") presented unsupported, misleading, and inaccurate testimony regarding the cause of Sjodin's death," Erickson wrote. "The circumstances surrounding Sjodin's death were instrumental in advancing the government's arguments for why this case is unlike other murders such that a death sentence was the only just and appropriate punishment."
McGee, who could not be reached for comment, served as Ramsey County's medical examiner from 1985 to 2019 and conducted autopsies for cases in many jurisdictions outside of Ramsey. While Erickson said that "it is beyond question that Rodriguez abducted and murdered Sjodin," he also said "the jury did not hear the truth" because of McGee's testimony. He specifically criticized McGee for expressing "opinions on sexual assault" that were "excessively speculative and unsupported."
Erickson's findings in the 232-page document from September 2021 caught the attention of Michelle Monteiro, a conviction review specialist for the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. Choi said she suggested reviewing all previous Ramsey County cases in which McGee appeared as a witness, which totaled 216 dating back to the 1980s. Of those 216 original cases, 71 have been advanced to a second phase of the review process.
According to Choi, the county is paying a group known as the "Prosecutors' Center for Excellence" a sum of $175,000 to help conduct the review. The non-profit will make recommendations to Choi after the 71 remaining cases involving McGee are scrutinized.
"If there are reasons why the conviction is not sound or is unlawful, then we'll take appropriate action," Choi said. "Whatever is necessary to ensure that justice is done."
This is not the first time McGee's work has been subject to criticism.
After a Douglas County judge accused McGee or providing "false or incorrect" testimony in an infant murder case, Choi initiated a review of McGee in September 2011. MPR News reported in February 2012 that Choi's office "found no serious concerns with the credibility of the long-time medical examiner," although the county attorney suggested McGee expand his training and knowledge in the field of infant deaths.
Choi said Friday that he does not regret allowing McGee to stay in the medical examiner's office.
"No, because in that context, the review was very narrow and focused on a certain set of cases," Choi said. "That situation was really involving how Dr. McGee was interpreting information relative to an infant death case. And so, we did a very thorough review of his handling of those particular cases, and we did make some recommendations and we demanded that certain changes be made."
Coincidentally, State Attorney General Keith Ellison announced just last week that he would vacate the murder conviction of Thomas Rhodes, a 1998 case in Kandiyohi County that also involved McGee. Based on findings from the Conviction Review Unit, Ellison's office cited "new forensic analysis and questions surrounding Dr. McGee's testimony" for the reversal.
"What happened last week through the AG's action," Choi said, "really validates the work we're doing, that we started back in September of 2021 here in this office."
Choi could not provide a timeline for how long the review of the 71 remaining cases might take.
Trista MatasCastillo, the chair of the Ramsey County Board, said in a statement that the "Ramsey County Board of Commissioners and leadership team are in full support of Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and the steps he has taken to ensure an independent evaluation of RCAO cases involving Dr. McGee. The county is awaiting review details to determine any potential next steps."
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