Brandon Dotson, a 43-year-old Alabama inmate, was found dead in his cell, and his body was delivered to his family in a severely decomposed state, resulting in a closed casket funeral.
Allegedly, his heart was missing from his body, and the family is seeking its return for examination and proper cremation or interment.
The lawsuit filed by his family accuses the Alabama Department of Corrections of intentional or reckless destruction of evidence and details alleged prison staff misconduct, indifference to medical needs, and a cover-up. (Trending: Hunter Biden’s Own Memoir Is Coming Back To Haunt Him In Criminal Trial)
Family of inmate Brandon Dotson who died in Alabama prison while serving 99 years for burglary sues after 'deceased inmate's body is returned to them without his HEART' https://t.co/6AGHFlAYvX pic.twitter.com/qRwXflVSvg
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) December 11, 2023
Dotson’s family retained a private pathologist to conduct his own autopsy, and they discovered “the heart was missing from the chest cavity of Mr. Dotson’s body,” according to the lawsuit.
Attorney Lauren Faraino wrote, “[The Alabama Department of Corrections] performed an autopsy on [Dotson] and removed the heart, thereby concealing the true cause of death.”
“By taking this action, Defendants intentionally or recklessly destroyed or altered key evidence that deprived Plaintiff of the ability to determine how the deceased died through an independent autopsy,” she added.
Dotson’s family is hoping the heart will be located so it “may be examined by an autopsy pathologist and then properly cremated or interred.”
The family is also seeking a jury trial and injunctions against specific officials and institutions.
The lawsuit claims Alabama DOC Commissioner John Q. Hamm could have, “halt[ed] the constitutional violations” and Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Director Angelo Della Manna could have “instruct[ed]… medical examiners not to remove organs or tissues from a body undergoing an autopsy without permission from his next of kin.”
“In the midst of grieving Brandon Dotson’s untimely death, his family is having to fight to get the most basic answers about how he died, and why the Alabama Department of Corrections returned his body without his heart,” explained Faraino.
“At this time we do not know where his heart is. It is the state’s responsibility to keep those who are in its prisons safe from harm,” the family’s lawyer continued.
Concluding, “The ADOC failed to do that for Brandon, as they have for dozens of other individuals this year.”
These claims are part of a larger pattern of alleged mistreatment in Alabama prisons, according to the lawsuit.
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