Dennoriss Richardson's Wife Disputes Autopsy: ‘Did Not Kill Himself'

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The household of Dennoriss Richardson is pushing again towards an Alabama state post-mortem that claims a Black man who was discovered hanging in an deserted dwelling in late September died by suicide.

Based on AP, in late December, Alabama launched Dennoriss Richardson’s post-mortem, which dominated the 39-year-old’s loss of life a suicide.

Regardless of the state’s findings, the Alabama Division of Forensic Sciences didn’t instantly present a duplicate of the post-mortem outcomes to the general public, which has led to extra questions concerning the post-mortem’s validity. Leigh Richardson, Dennoriss Richardson’s spouse, says she additionally has not seen the official post-mortem and stays steadfast within the perception that her husband didn’t commit suicide.

The sheriff’s division has “been saying he dedicated suicide from the start inside 5 days of investigation,” Leigh Richardson stated in a press release. “For this reason we’re combating for the reality. This has not been simple by any means. Nevertheless, we all know that “NaNa” didn’t kill himself.”

In September, 39-year-old Dennoriss Richardson was discovered hanging in an deserted dwelling in a rural a part of Colbert County, Alabama, miles away from his dwelling in Sheffield. The Colbert County Sheriff’s Workplace dominated Richardson’s loss of life a suicide. Nonetheless, Sheriff Eric Balentine confirmed the FBI accepted his request to analyze the hanging, saying his division “exhausted all assets” in its investigation.

“We really feel assured in what our findings had been, however we really feel like by doing this we may give the household extra peace of thoughts,” Balentine stated.

Leigh believes her husband’s loss of life was linked to a lawsuit he filed towards the native police division in February 2024. The swimsuit alleged that whereas Richardson was in jail, he was assaulted, denied medical consideration, sprayed with tear fuel and tased. Leigh additionally famous that her husband didn’t go away a suicide observe and that he had no connection to the home the place he was discovered.

A non-public post-mortem was carried out by Richardson’s lawyer in late December, which stated that “A radical and meticulous investigation needs to be carried out to rule out staged suicide.”

From AP:

The non-public post-mortem carried out by forensic pathologist Dr. Adel Shaker affirmed the state’s findings that Dennoriss Richardson died from “Asphyxia Secondary to Neck Compression,” which is in line with hanging.

Roderick Van Daniel, the lawyer who represented Dennoriss Richardson in his civil rights lawsuit towards the Sheffield Police Division, informed AP one thing isn’t proper concerning the investigation.

“This complete investigation is suspicious,” stated Van Daniel. He continued, ”This household and neighborhood are uninterested in the evasive solutions and lies being informed to them.”

Native activists and different Black neighborhood members had been additionally skeptical of the suicide ruling based mostly on the area’s historical past of lynching and the newer historical past of police brutality and racist misconduct in Colbert County. AP famous that in Alabama, “there have been 359 reported lynchings between 1877 and 1943, in keeping with the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal justice reform nonprofit,” and that 11 of these lynchings occurred in Colbert County. However way more regarding is the conduct of Colbert County cops, which has been far more latest.

Dennoriss Richardson’s lawyer, Van Daniel, spoke at his consumer’s funeral in early October, saying that Richardson “believed in transparency and accountability” and that he “stood up towards police misconduct.”

“His household and the Sheffield neighborhood deserve solutions,” Daniel stated. “We deserve solutions.”