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Cyril Wecht

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Dr. Cyril Harrison Wecht (born March 20, 1931 in Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania) is one of the most acclaimed forensic pathologists in the United States. He has served as a consultant in numerous high profile cases but is perhaps best known for his outspoken criticism of the Warren Commission's findings concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

He has served as the president of both the American Academy of Forensic Science and the American College of Legal Medicine, and currently heads the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine. He was the coroner of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania until January, 2006.

Background

Wecht was born to Jewish immigrant parents in the tiny mining village of Bobtown, Greene County, Pennsylvania. His father Nathan was a Lithuanian born storekeeper and his Ukrainian born mother Fannie Rubenstein was a homemaker and helped out in the store. When Cyril was young, Nathan moved the family to the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and opened a neighborhood grocery store.

As a teenager he hoped to become a professional musician, but instead attended the University of Pittsburgh where he received his undergraduate and M.D. degrees. He obtained his J.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. After serving in the United States Air Force, he became a forensic pathologist. He served on the staff of St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh before becoming Deputy Coroner of Allegheny County in 1965. Four years later he was elected coroner.

Forensics career

As a forensic expert, Wecht has been at the center of a number of high profile crime cases such as JonBenét Ramsey, Dr. Herman Tarnower (the Scarsdale diet guru), Danielle van Dam, Sunny von Bülow, the Branch Davidian incident, Vincent Foster, and Laci Peterson. During his career, Wecht has personally performed over fourteen thousand autopsies. He is also a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of law at Duquesne University.

Dr. Wecht is both outspoken and controversial. Journalist Robert Dvorchak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper once described Wecht as, "a man who never met a TV camera he didn't like, a man who never had an opinion he didn't share and a man who carries his own local political baggage."

He has publically stated that he believes the autopsy performed on Elvis Presley's body was a fraud. He has argued that the body of Mary Jo Kopechne should be exhumed and reexamined. In his book Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?, he argues that the death of the 6 year old beauty queen was accidental. He also claims that Sirhan Sirhan did not murder Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy assassination

In 1978 he testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations to the effect that John F. Kennedy was not shot by a single gunman, rejecting the assertions of the Warren Commission. He has debated with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who was chief counsel of the Warren Commission, on the matter. Specter was the author of the so called "single bullet theory." He has also controversially called for the exhumation of the president's body.

Controversies

Wecht's political career has proved as controversial as many of his forensic findings. In 1979, Wecht was accused of depositing autopsy fees into a personal account rather than the Coroner's office account. He argued that the charges were politically motivated as he was running for Allegheny County Commissioner at the time. He faced criminal charges for the incident but was acquitted when the case went to trial. The county then sued him seeking $390,000. After losing the case in 1983, he appealed and after a nine year battle, the case was finally settled out of court in 1992 after Wecht agreed to pay $200,000 in damages.

In 1999, he ran for Allegheny County Chief Executive as a Democrat but lost to Republican businessman and political novice Jim Roddey. Wecht's loss to Roddy in overwhelming Democratic Allegheny County was a stunning blow to the party. In 1996, he again became Allegheny County Coroner but controversy continued to follow him. Beginning in 2004, he was the subject of a grand jury probe into alleged corruption at the coroner's office.

In October 2005 Wecht hired former US Attorney General Richard Thornburgh to lead his defense team. There had been wide media speculation that the Thornburgh hiring indicated that Wecht was attempting to seek a plea bargain or negotiate some sort of settlement.

Indictment

Despite attempts to reach a plea deal, Wecht was indicted by the grand jury on January 20, 2006 on 84 counts ranging from mail fraud and wire fraud to theft from office. According to one allegation, Wecht took cadavers with no known next of kin from the Allegheny County Coroner's Office and traded them to a university in exchange for laboratory space for his private pathology business. As a result of his indictment, he resigned as Allegheny County Coroner. Mike Rush, one of Wecht's defense attorneys, said the indictment was politically motivated, stemming from a long standing feud with district attorney Steven Zappala [1].

Books

Dr. Wecht has written several books, including Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cause of Death, Crime Scene Investigation, Grave Secrets, and Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?

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