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THE DEATH OF BARBARA ALICE WISE
A Death in the Congressman's Office
Big Wheel Keeps on Turning
American Politics Journal
by Tamara Baker and Celeste Harrison Whitlow
July 21, 2003
Between the evening of July 19th, 2001, and the following morning, a young, vigorous political aide named Lori Klausutis died alone and under mysterious circumstances in the Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, offices of Congressman Joseph Scarborough.
The attending medical examiner, Dr. Michael Berkland, stated in his report that she had fainted and fallen, hitting her head on a desk. This, he said, broke her skull in a 7-inch transverse fracture running from right temple to left, pulverized a region of bone the size of a small marble inside the skull behind the right ear and caused a fist-sized hematoma, or effusion of blood, gathering below the dura mater of the left side of the skull. There was also a contusion, or bruise, on the back of the head. Bloody foam, signifying a death of slow asphyxiation, bubbled up from her lungs into her mouth. Just for good measure, Dr. Berkland claimed that Lori's heart had also failed.
Remarkably, the entire political establishment of northwest Florida, from the police department to the press formed a solid stone wall around this astonishing conclusion.
Berkland's supervisor, Dr. Gary Cumberland, did not notice the internal contradiction between the claim of heart failure and the formation of a massive hematoma. Nor did he remark on Berkland's claim, which contradicts the medical literature, that the hematoma could only have been formed by Lori's head striking an object, not vice versa.
The Chairman of the Medical Examiners' Commission for the state of Florida, Dr. Stephen Nelson, was well aware of the shortcomings in Berkland's record, having recommended that Berkland be suspended for failing to report to Florida that his license was in danger of revocation in Missouri. Nelson knew that Berkland had been fired by the state of Missouri for failing to complete autopsy reports. According to his Missouri supervisor's deposition, Berkland failed to perform 28 autopsy reports for homicides alone in 1994-5. The total number of incomplete cases may have been over 140. Ultimately the cause of death could not be determined for several cases.
Nelson also learned at the time of the Klausutis case that Berkland had falsified his curriculum vitae. More seriously, he had falsified autopsy reports and mishandled organs taken from the dead. In one particularly tragic case, one that irreparably traumatized the surviving family members, Berkland removed the brain of a young woman from his office and placed it in the back of his car. It had to be rescued by an agent of the family's attorney.
Nelson, who in 1999 recommended that Berkland be suspended, also knew that Berkland had subsequently escaped discipline by Florida. Yet as senior medical examiner for the state of Florida, Nelson disclaimed to us any power to act in the Klausutis case. Perhaps having witnessed the political workings that squashed Nelson's effort to oust Berkland-- and succeeded in sealing the complaint against Berkland that Nelson had supported-- Nelson concluded that the state of Florida desired good politics over good forensic medicine. In any event, not long after the Berkland episode, Nelson was promoted to the Chairmanship of the Medical Examiners' Commission.
For this second anniversary of Lori Klausutis' death, a review of recent events is in order.
On June 17th, 2003, WGTX AM-1280 radio broke the news that Berkland had been abruptly fired.
On June 27th, Michelle Nicholson of WEAR-TV reported that the official cause of dismissal was given as a failure to complete autopsies in a timely fashion. This was one of the same charges that led to his firing in Missouri. In Florida, Berkland claimed he had done 320 autopsies in his last year in the First Judicial District Medical Examiner's office. This number, disputed by the medical examiner's office, is substantially greater than the number he was performing in Missouri and may represent cases with incomplete or absent notes.
Given the backlog of unperformed autopsies, the cause of dismissal is suspicious. By firing Berkland abruptly, with no replacement available, Berkland's supervisor, Dr. Gary Cumberland, is faced with doing double duty. There are even more serious implications. As noted, Berkland has a history of having claimed to do autopsies that he had not completed, and in many cases, had never started. With Berkland's departure, many more cases may well pass into legal limbo, with the cause of death impossible to ascertain.
Unraveling the full slate of Berkland's deceptions could prove to be a full-time job. He seems to have misstated the date of his hiring as acting medical examiner by the Jackson County Medical Examiner's office, listing 1990 rather than 1994 as the start date. The University of Kansas School of Medicine has failed to respond to repeated inquiries into Berkland's claim of having served as an associate professor of pathology, beginning in 1993. We also understand that he was booted from Litton Pathology Associates, where he had moonlighted even as he was avoiding his work at the Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office, with his possessions being unceremoniously dumped in the parking lot.
The courts, of course, are unlikely to do this sort of continuing re-examination. Dozens of people, convicted on the strength of Berkland's incomplete, inaccurate and invented work will remain in prison. In many cases, the defendants are poor and sport an unpopular shade of skin. The courts are busy, don't you know? In Missouri, courts were extraordinarily indulgent of Berkland's misdeeds. Therefore, justice is likely to come slow, and from the charitable work of conscientious public defendants rather than as an corrective intrinsic to the system. In other cases, such as that of Lori Klausutis, murderers walk free thanks to Berkland's work- and, of course, thanks to the corruption that hired, retained and even celebrated Berkland.
Joe Scarborough has run a ragged course. A few months after Klausutis' death, responding to a question by Chris Matthews about what would happen to an aide left his employ and wrote about him, Scarborough blurted out "I think they'd be in danger." Abandoning his congressional seat, his role in publishing the Florida Sun and an active legal career with the Levin Law Firm, Joe Scarborough eventually re-married, left northwest Florida and moved to New York, to join the stable of sideshows at MSNBC.
Recently Don Imus slagged Scarborough with a question from left field: "You said you had sex with that intern and then you had to kill her."
Scarborough, laughing, replied, "Yeah, well what are you gonna do?"
On Imus, of course, it's difficult to tell the humor from the rest of the nastiness. One is reminded of George Bush's answer to Tucker Carlson's question about murderess and born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker's plea for clemency. Pursing his lips, Bush mimicked the lady he had doomed: "Please don't kill me."
Hey, death is a scream.
But the political machine in northwest Florida just keeps on rolling. As Bill Moyers reported on PBS, the Emerald Coast is being paved over by the St. Joe Timber company. People of the Panhandle, if you give them enough time, if you stay silent in the face of this wrong, they'll pave over Lori's grave.
OBITUARY:
Lori Kaye Klausutis Lori Kaye Klausutis, age 28, of Niceville, Fla., passed away on Thursday, July 19, 2001. She was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church where she sang in the choir and was also a cantor. She was a former president of the Young Republicans and was serving as treasurer at the time of her passing.
Lori graduated Cum Laude from the University of Georgia School of Journalism and was working on completing her MBA from the University of West Florida. She was also a member of the Sigma Kappa Sorority.
She performed in "Wild Wild Women" with the Stagecrafters. She was also on the boards of the Fort Walton Beach Youth Symphony and a member of the Fort Walton Beach Jaycees.
Survivors include her husband, T.J. Klausutis of Niceville; parents, Larry and Linda Bolterstein of Marietta, Georgia; sister, Kelly Ann Bolterstein of Atlanta, Ga.; father- and mother-in-law, Norm and Carol Klausutis of Niceville; brother- and sisters-in-law, Michael and Laurie Klausutis of Valparaiso, Fla., and Kristen Klausutis of Niceville; and grandparents, Leo and Heneretta Leja of Fraser, Mich.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, July 25, 2001 at St. Mary's Catholic Church at 10:00 a.m. with Father Paul White officiating. Burial will follow in the Heritage Gardens Cemetery in Niceville.
McLaughlin Mortuary is in charge of local arrangements.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/archive/opinion/010823edit1.html
This article can be found on page A4 of the August 23, 2001 Daily News. EDITORIAL - Klausutis records should be released
The medical examiner's office and the Fort Walton Beach Police Department are adding another layer of mystery to the death of congressional aide Lori Klausutis by refusing to release records of their investigations.
Their failure to produce the information at this newspaper's request may even be illegal.
Mrs. Klausutis, 28, was found dead July 20 in the Fort Walton Beach office of U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough. Associate Medical Examiner Michael Berkland announced Aug. 6 that Mrs. Klausutis had a heart condition - previously unsuspected - that caused her to collapse. He said she fell, hit her head on a desk, suffered a blood clot and died.
Dr. Berkland said there was an obvious injury to Mrs. Klausutis' head. Previous official statements had said there was no sign of trauma.
On Aug. 9 the Daily News verbally requested the Police Department's investigative report on the Klausutis case. On Aug. 10 the newspaper made a formal request, in writing, for Dr. Berkland's autopsy report.
That was two weeks ago. Police Capt. Ron Bishop says the investigation is open - meaning the records can't be released - until Dr. Berkland's autopsy report is filed with the Police Department. Dr. Berkland says he's been too busy and hasn't gotten around to finishing his report.
Until today, the Daily News has not publicized its request for the records. The Klausutis case has prompted many rumors and much speculation. This newspaper decided to pursue the records quietly, hoping that their release would answer our questions about the investigation and the way it was conducted.
Instead, failure to release the records only raises more questions.
If the police investigation is still open, are other leads being followed?
Is there something in the records that the medical examiner and the police don't want the public to see?
The withholding of this information does more than inconvenience this newspaper. It appears to violate Florida's public records law.
Autopsy reports - except for photos - are public records. The Florida Supreme Court has said the only permitted delay in producing such records for public inspection "is the limited reasonable time allowed the custodian to retrieve the record and delete those portions ... the custodian asserts are exempt."
Capt. Bishop's argument that the case is still open is, under Florida law, dubious. "Criminal investigative information" is considered "active" only if "it is related to an ongoing investigation which is continuing with a reasonable, good faith anticipation of securing an arrest or prosecution in the foreseeable future."
If the police expect an arrest in the Klausutis case, we'd sure like to know.
Otherwise, we'll have to quote Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: "An agency's unreasonable and excessive delays in producing public records can constitute an unlawful refusal to provide access to public records."
"Unlawful" is not a word the manual uses lightly. It isn't a word we use lightly either.
The medical examiner's office and the Police Department should release their records.
