Boulder Co. Coroner Suit: Dr. Claims Pressure To Change Finding

BOULDER, CO – A forensic pathologist formerly employed by the Boulder County Coroner's Office sued Coroner Emma Hall claiming she was forced to change a 2017 death finding from suicide to "accident."

Dawn B. Holmes filed suit against the agency as well as Hall for $2.9 million, plus attorney's fees, for wrongful termination, the Boulder Daily Camera reported. The complaint was filed Monday in Boulder District Court.

Holmes claims in the suit that Hall and an associate asked her to change the manner of death on a 2017 case where a man was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. The man had been found dead at the Circle Motel in Lafayette.

Holmes declared the manner of death a suicide, but Hall and Dustin Bueno, the chief deputy coroner, pressured her to change it to an "accident," the suit says. Hall does not have a medical degree.

Holmes alleges in the suit that after the dispute, she was denied work and eventually forced out of the office, according to the Daily Camera.

The Coroner's office declined to comment on the lawsuit, Staff Writer Madeline St. Amour reported.

Read more in the Boulder Daily Camera

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