Medical examiner rules Epstein death a suicide by hanging

Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein say they are “not satisfied” with the medical examiner’s ruling in his prison cell death. WARNING: Sensitive content

WARNING: Sensitive content

Lawyers for billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein say they are “not satifisfied” with the medical examiner’s ruling on Friday that their client died of suicide by hanging.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, touching off outrage and disbelief over how such a high-profile prisoner, known for socialising with powerful people including presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, could have gone unwatched. The Bureau of Prisons said Epstein had apparently killed himself, but that didn’t squelch conspiracy theories about his death.

“First, no one should die in jail,” lawyers Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller said in a statement.

“And no one, not Mr Esptein who was presumed innocent and had violated no disciplinary rule, and not anyone should be imprisoned under the harsh, even medieval conditions at the MCC where Mr Epstein spent his final hours.

“His safety was the responsibility of the MCC. It is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocols.

“The defence team fully intends to conduct its own independent and complete investigation into the circumstances and cause of Mr Epstein’s death including if necessary legal action to view the pivotal videos — if they exist as they should — of the area proximate to Mr Epstein’s cell during the time period leading to his death.

“We are not satisfied with the conclusions of the medical examiner. We will have a more complete response in coming days.”

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Epstein, who was charged with sexually abusing numerous underage girls over several years, had been placed on suicide watch last month after he was found on his cell floor on July 23 with bruising on his neck. Epstein’s cellmate at the time — an ex-police officer facing murder charges — was cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the July incident.

But multiple people familiar with operations at the jail say he was taken off the watch after about a week and put back in a high-security housing unit where he was less closely monitored, but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Attorney-General William Barr says officials have uncovered “serious irregularities” at the jail. The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are both investigating Epstein’s death.

This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center where financier Jeffrey Epstein was being held is viewed in New York. Picture: Don Emmert

Razor wire fencing at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York where financier Jeffrey Epstein died while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Picture: Bebeto Matthews

Jail guards on duty the night of Epstein’s death are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were checking on inmates every half-hour as required, according to several people familiar with the matter.

A guard in Epstein’s unit was working a fifth straight day of overtime and another guard was working mandatory overtime, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the lacked authorisation to publicly discuss the investigation.

US District Judge Richard Berman, who is in charge of the criminal case against Epstein, asked the jail’s warden this week for answers about the earlier episode, writing in a letter Monday that it had “never been definitively explained”.

The warden replied that an internal investigation was completed but that he couldn’t provide information because the findings were being incorporated into investigations into Epstein’s death.

The Associated Press often does not report details of suicide methods, but has made an exception because Epstein’s cause of death is pertinent to the ongoing investigations.

BREAKING: Medical examiner rules Jeffrey Epstein's death a suicide, says he hanged himself in his jail cell

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2019

The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday that the autopsy revealed that several bones in Epstein’s neck had been broken, leading to speculation his death was a homicide.

Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson issued a statement Thursday in response to those articles, saying, “In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesised to determine the cause and manner of death. Everything must be consistent — no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum.”

According to the New York medical examiner’s office, there was no foul play involved and the financier took his own life.

The medical examiner’s ruling came a day after two more women sued Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, saying he sexually abused them.

A man stands near a US flag at half staff on Little St. James Island, in the US Virgin Islands, a property owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: Gabriel Lopez Albarran

A view of Jeffrey Epstein's stone mansion on Little St. James Island. Picture: Gabriel Lopez Albarran

The suit, filed Thursday in a federal court in New York, claims the women were working as hostesses at a popular Manhattan restaurant in 2004 when they were recruited to give Epstein massages.

One was 18 at the time. The other was 20.

The lawsuit says an unidentified female recruiter offered the hostesses hundreds of dollars to provide massages to Epstein, saying he “liked young, pretty girls to massage him,” and wouldn’t engage in any unwanted touching. The women say Epstein groped them anyway.

One plaintiff now lives in Japan, the other in Baltimore. They seek $100 million in damages, citing depression, anxiety, anger and flashbacks. Other lawsuits, filed over many years by other women, accused him of hiring girls as young as 14 or 15 to give him massages, then subjecting them to sex acts.

Armed guards and the sharp rocks that lie beneath the turquoise waters around his Caribbean island have long deterred boaters from the area, but curiosity has overcome concern ever since the financier apparently killed himself in jail as he awaited trial in New York on sex trafficking charges. Picture: Gabriel Lopez Albarran

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp