FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. — For Erica Lotts, the coroner’s inquest into her son’s manner of death left more questions than answers in her mind, and apparently in the minds of the jurors, too.
It’s a proceeding reserved only for counties that do not have a medical examiner.
In those counties, a coroner is an elected official who contracts with a pathologist to perform autopsies when necessary.
Pathologists can determine a cause of death (shooting, stabbing, brain trauma, etc.), but the coroner determines the manner of death (suicide, accident, natural causes or by violence). The coroner’s decision on manner of death is usually heavily reliant upon the pathologist’s report.
But a coroner can also call for an inquest to determine the manner of death. It’s a proceeding in which a jury hears all of the evidence gathered during a death investigation.
It feels sort of like a trial, with witnesses being sworn in and being questioned. But there is no one to object or make motions to admit additional items into evidence that the coroner didn't ask for.
I asked Madison County Coroner Collin Follis to walk me through his reasons for calling an inquest into Derontae Martin’s death, especially after pathologist Dr. Russell Deidiker’s autopsy concluded the 19-year-old died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his left temple during a birthday party at a home in Fredericktown on April 25.
The proceeding unfolded on July 30 inside the one-courtroom courthouse in Fredericktown.
Follis, perched where a judge would typically sit, wasn’t in a very chatty mood when I asked if he could walk me through his reasons for calling the inquest.
Like a robot, he repeatedly referred me to the state law that defines what an inquest is.
It states: “In all counties in which a coroner is required by section 58.010, the coroner shall, upon holding an inquest and securing the jury's verdict on the inquest, immediately file a record of the proceedings in the office of the prosecuting attorney.
“In all such counties where investigation by the coroner shows no inquest to be necessary, the coroner shall file a written report with the prosecuting attorney setting forth the facts and circumstances surrounding the case, together with his conclusions and the action taken. The cost of the additional transcript hereby required shall be paid from county funds.
“The coroner or his deputy shall contact the appropriate family member or legal representative of the deceased within six hours from discovery of death regarding disposition of the body. There shall be no solicitation by the coroner or his deputy regarding the funeral arrangements of the deceased. If no family member or legal representative can be found within six hours, the coroner shall order the embalming of the deceased body and the cost of such embalming shall be paid by a family member or the deceased's legal representative when found. If no family member or legal representative can be found within ten days from the time the body was discovered, the provisions of section 58.460 shall apply. Any act of solicitation prohibited under this section shall also be grounds for removal.”
Lotts said she never gave Follis permission to embalm her son’s body, and, to this day, no one from the county has ever even called her to tell her her son died.
She said her mother, Kimberly Robinson, found out about his death from a family friend’s neighbor. They started calling hospitals, and ultimately a dispatcher sent their call to the Madison County Police Department. Someone from the department told her her grandson was in the morgue.
Deidiker did his autopsy on April 26, which is when Follis embalmed and washed Martin’s body without Lotts’ permission.
She still hasn’t gotten a bill from the county for the embalming process, as is required by that state law Follis referred me to.
Madison County Prosecutor M. Dwight Robbins was slightly more chatty, telling me he likes to ask the coroner to perform an inquest whenever there is “uncertainty about a death.”
He wouldn’t define the uncertainty surrounding Martin’s death.
Robbins sat at the prosecutor’s table and did all the talking, questioning witnesses, asking them to point out what they saw in photographs, and asking investigators to share their opinions.
One witness told the jury the homeowner confessed to the shooting, saying he did it because he doesn’t like Black people.
Another witness, Zach Graham, told the jury he watched Martin shoot himself in an attic. He bounced his knee incessantly while on the stand. His bushy, curly, brown hair hung over his eyes. Robbins asked him to repeat his answers several times because it was hard to understand him.
He asked Robbins to repeat his questions many times, too.
The jury also heard from Deidiker, who said he believed the fatal shot was fired from one inch or less away, a statement that contrasts with the initial findings of a second private autopsy Martin’s family requested.
The family hired Dr. Jane Turner to perform that second autopsy. She said Martin was likely shot from at least two feet away given the absence of any soot marks near the wound.
Deidiker said the soot marks weren’t on Martin’s body when Turner did her exam because Martin had been embalmed and washed.
Turner now says she concurs with Deidiker’s finding after seeing the autopsy photos, something she didn’t have during her initial exam.
“I’ve had homicides where the soot pattern has been similar, so that does not rule out homicide,” said Turner, a former pathologist for the St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office where autopsies involving gunshots are a nearly daily occurrence.
She also found it odd that there were so few crime scene photos given to Lotts, no X-rays of her son’s body and no photos of the gun as it was found near Martin’s body.
Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Adams testified during the inquest that he moved the gun to his patrol car to secure it, not knowing whether anyone else was in the house.
“That’s no common protocol,” Turner said. “From some of the statements people made, it appears that someone was in the room when he shot himself, which is always of concern because that other person is certainly capable of pulling a trigger as well.”
In addition to Deidiker, Robbins also called about a dozen witnesses to the stand, including paramedics, deputies, many of the young adults who were at the birthday party where the shooting happened as well as the homeowner.
Graphic photos from the scene and the autopsy flashed on a projector screen, leading some in the gallery to gasp, turn away, and, in Martin’s grandmother’s case, leave the room.
All the while, a bailiff donning a Madison County Sheriff’s Department uniform and badge watched over her, handing her a bottle of water as soon as she sat down, and walking arm-in-arm with her every time she got up.
It was interesting to see the officer give Robinson such attention as she and her daughter say his department has kept them in the dark about the investigation -- refusing to return phone calls, and being rude and refusing to answer questions when they do.
She's kept recordings of her conversations with the sheriff and the deputy investigating her son's case where they, too, robotically repeating "It's an ongoing investigation," every time she asks a question.
The bailiff was there when the jury of six spent two hours and 10 minutes deliberating.
When Follis read the words, “By violence,” from the verdict sheet, jaws dropped.
Follis left without a word to Lotts.
So did Robbins.
Lotts sat there stunned, her eyes racing around the room, searching for meaning.
The bailiff remained, telling her the verdict means the jury believes her son did not take his own life.
He looked on as she descended the stairs to the first floor of the courthouse, nearly collapsing in her mother’s arms. She was nine months pregnant, wearing a long white cotton dress with her son’s picture on it near the words, “Justice for Derontae Martin.”
After the women regained their composure, the bailiff locked his arm with Robinson’s, steadying her and walking her outside.
She turned to him in the doorway.
“Thank you for your service,” she said.
She hopes one day she can say the same to Robbins -- but that all depends on what he does with the jury's findings.