Medical Experts On Taser

An Akron 9th District Court of Appeals panel has ruled that visiting Common Pleas Judge Ted Schneiderman overstepped his bounds by ordering the medical examiner to remove specific language from the autopsy and death certificate of jail inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr.  McCullaugh, 28, died Aug. 20, 2006, after what Summit County sheriff's records described as a ''violent struggle'' with deputies in his cell in the jail's mental-health unit.

The medical examiner, Lisa J. Kohler, ruled in October 2006 that McCullaugh's death was a homicide caused by asphyxia from multiple blunt-force blows and the ''combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint.''  Medical expert witnesses said the stun gun ''did not contribute in any way'' to the death of McCullaugh.  Wednesday’s decision was a victory for Taser International Inc. because the court ruled that Schneiderman was not wrong in ordering Kohler to remove specific Taser references from McCullaugh's autopsy and death certificate.

Excerpted from Ohio.com.