The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida argued that the coroner’s inquest system no longer works at a town hall meeting on Feb. 23.
The meeting, co-sponsored by the Movement for Change, discussed the coroner’s inquest into Victor Steen's death. He was killed on Oct. 3, 2009 in a police pursuit in front of Sluggo’s restaurant on West Cervantes Street. Steen, 17, was struck by a police car driven by Pensacola police officer Jerald Ard.
Mike Kirk, an ACLU board member, read a brief history of the coroner’s inquest. He said that it is a formal non-advisory, non-jury presentation of the evidence concerning a death.
"The law no longer states any circumstances where the state attorney must conduct a coroner’s inquest," Kirk said. "It’s entirely up to his discretion. It is also up to the state attorney whether or not there should be a prosecution.”
According to a handout distributed at the meeting, since 1988 at least 12 coroner’s inquests have been conducted in Escambia County in cases involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Two of those 12 cases resulted in a finding that officers contributed to the victim’s death. However, the state attorney did not initiate a prosecution in either case.
Benjamin Stevenson, staff attorney for the ACLU Northwest Florida region, told attendees why the ACLU believes that the coroner’s inquest no longer works.
“It is not effective because there are many other much more effective ways to do this,” he said. “The state attorney, if he so elected, could have a press conference. He could release the entire FDLE report, and he could discuss it at length and go over each individual testimony that was gathered by the state attorney office.”
He said that the state attorney could also show and display physical evidence that was recovered by the FDLE and answer questions. Stevenson made it clear what the objective of the ACLU is.
“We are not calling for a prosecution per se,” he said. “We’re calling for a procedure to be put in place that will make equitable sense to everybody. And we’re calling for the abolishment of the use of the coroner’s inquest as a political shield.”
Stevenson said there are several limitations on a coroner’s inquest: It does not determine the medical cause of death, which is left to pathologists. It is not a fact-finding mission, and it does not provide the public with adequate information on what happened.
Stevenson said that it’s safe to say that the state attorney’s office has already made up its mind regarding a prosecution for Steen’s case.
“If they were planning to have a trial, then there would be no need to have an inquest to let the public know what the facts are, because the criminal trial would bear all that out,” he said.
The ACLU and the Movement For Change included in their handout that they believe it is disrespectful to Floridians and the Steen family that the state attorney should pursue a coroner’s inquest that misleads the public.
“I think that the coroner’s inquest is misleading,” Stevenson said. “They need to stop covering up what the public needs to know.”
Leshawn Walker, 19, a friend of Steen’s, said he went to the meeting to hear some positive information about the coroner’s inquest.
“I think it’s good that people came out, but I don’t think anything will be done,” he said. “It will just be swept under the rug.”
Steen's mother, Cassandra Steen, was present at the meeting. With tears in her eyes, she thanked community members for their support and expressed her feelings about the inquest.
“I am totally against the coroner’s inquest,” she said. “I want justice for my son. Not only for my son, but for other families that have suffered such an injustice. I just want to speak out and be a voice.”
LeRoy Boyd, president for the Movement For Change, said that he wants to see more members of the community to come out and let their voice be heard about the injustices in the community.
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