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Dr. Michael McGee was the Ramsey County chief medical examiner for more than three decades. McGee often testified in court about his findings. His testimony has been 

 over the years by judges and medical experts, though Ramsey County 

 in a 2003 murder after calling McGee’s testimony “unreliable, misleading and inaccurate.” That prompted 

 of more than 200 of McGee’s cases by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced the multi-year, multi-phase, $380,000 review process has been largely completed.

Choi characterized McGee as “a product of his time.” Choi said in the final phase of review, independent medical examiners looked at seven of McGee’s cases that were determined to need additional analysis. 

The medical examiners ultimately disagreed with how McGee phrased some answers in court — for example, using the legal term “assault” instead of the more neutral term “injured by others”  — and said McGee sometimes seemed to overstate his confidence in his conclusions.

However, Choi said that everyone involved in the review of the cases — including the three independent medical examiners, Ramsey County, the Great North Innocence Project and the Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence — agreed with McGee’s major findings and found no reason to modify or overturn six of the seven murder convictions.

“We reviewed those concerns very carefully and ultimately determined that, while the criticisms were valid, they did not go to the aspects of the case that were key to determining the defendant's guilt,” Choi said.

Choi said a lesson from the review of McGee’s cases is that prosecutors should receive additional training to better understand the work of medical examiners and the limitations of their expertise.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office has also been reviewing several cases it prosecuted in which McGee testified. 

the office overturned a 1998 murder conviction

 in which McGee provided pivotal testimony that Thomas Rhodes threw his wife overboard during a nighttime boat ride, and he ran her over. Rhodes claimed she had fallen accidentally and he frantically searched for her. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office told MPR News in a statement that the review of McGee’s cases is “ongoing.”

Throughout his career, McGee also worked on cases for other counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Choi said this review was specific to Ramsey County.

“Everybody should be doing their due diligence with regard to those cases involving Doctor McGee in other places,” Choi said.

Choi said the unnamed defendant in the seventh case pleaded guilty, was sentenced and already served their time in a case that involved a death. Choi said he believes the conviction should stand. However, his office won’t release details of that case’s review yet. 

“We just want to give this information up and show the defendant this is what the medical committee said, and then we want the defense to tell us what they think,” Choi said.

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Cait Kelley

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The Ramsey County Attorney's Office has determined six of seven murder cases should be upheld. They were subjected to extensive review after the testimony of the former county medical examiner was questioned.

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Cait Kelley | MPR News

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Ramsey County Attorney confirms six murder convictions after medical examiner criticized

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