In a recent copy of Scientific Sleuthing, a forensic sciences newsletter our attorneys receive, I read a very interesting article.  This article was about an Indiana woman who, in August of this year, tried a most creative way to avoid a court date where she was going to be sentenced as a result of a conviction. 

First, she claimed that her son was dying of leukemia and she produced a letter from a doctor to confirm it.  Of course, the letter was a forgery.  Then, SHE died.  An obituary ran in the local paper saying that she died unexpectedly as a result of a car wreck.  Boy, what crappy luck!

 The obit stated that cremation had ALREADY taken place and there would be a memorial at a later date.  The prosecutor checked this and discovered it was a hoax.  No, she had faked her own death by running this obit herself.  Now, she faces additonal fraud on the court problems.  If she had not tried the ruse with her son, this might actually have worked.

The truth is, I had never thought of this.  Oh, I understand that frequently people will come up with various reasons to avoid court.  But, I have had several clients in my career die during the pendency of a court case.  We usually are notified by family members of the death and then we advise the court of this fact AND SHOW AN OBIT to the judge to prove it.  I have never had a judge ask me to produce more proof than that.  Then, the judge(s) have dismissed each of those cases!

I must believe that each of my clients were, in fact, dead.   Based upon the family members who we spoke with, there was little question.  Further, we sent flowers to the funeral home(s) in every case of ours over the years.   I remember ONE situation where I attended the funeral.  However, can any lawyer be SURE without a death certifcate to show to the court? 

One thing for sure, in every case from this point, I will only present this information to a judge when I can produce a death certificate to prove it.