Dr. Shiping Bao was the medical examiner who did the autopsy on Trayvon Martin’s body, and he was one of the state’s main expert witnesses at last year’s George Zimmerman trial.
The Seminole/Volusia County Medical Examiner’s office fired Dr. Bao one month after the trial.
Now, in a new 37-page book, called “Dead Men Can’t Lie,” Dr. Bao said he wants to set the record straight. He claims Sanford Police didn’t properly preserve evidence.
He writes:
“... I was purposely not given the chance to present some extremely important evidence that could very well have affected the outcome.”
Zimmerman’s defense attorney Don West asked him about that during the trial, to create reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds.
And in his book, Dr. Bao writes:
“It was mistakes like this that helped the defense win the case in the George Zimmerman trial.”
News 13 Legal Analyst Mark NeJame says Bao’s testimony actually helped the defense.
“It was some of the worst testimony I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years as a trial attorney,” said NeJame, with NeJame Law.
Bao also claims the prosecution used him as a scapegoat in the case against George Zimmerman, writing:
“Looking back, it is obvious to me that the prosecuting attorney’s office hoped to lose the case.”
We asked NeJame if these accusations could lead to a new trial.
“The only way there could be another prosecution is if in fact the Feds, because there is no double-jeopardy with a state charge and a federal charge, is if the Feds took this,” said NeJame.
Dr. Bao said he has been questioned this summer by the U.S. Department of Justice in their investigation into whether George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin’s civil rights when he shot Martin in February 2012. But Bao said that’s not a question he’s qualified to answer.
News 13 reached out the state attorney’s office and Sanford Police Tuesday about Dr. Bao’s claims and are still waiting to hear back. The medical examiner’s office had no comment about the book.
Source: News 13
