A Civil District Court judge has found Orleans Parish Coroner Dwight McKenna’s office liable for “outrageous and reckless” misconduct after it failed to identify a body and notify the deceased’s person’s family, the second time this year a judge has rapped the coroner for such problems.
Judge Marissa Hutabarat said in a Friday ruling that the office violated its legal duty by failing to identify 42-year-old Justin Smith, who died of a drug overdose in June 2023. Smith’s body was left unidentified in the morgue for 25 days while his father, Sidney Smith, searched for his son.
“It is reasonable to believe that the outrageous and reckless (in)action of the Coroner’s Office caused profound and ongoing emotional suffering to a devoted parent like Mr. Smith,” Hutabarat wrote in her ruling. Hutabarat awarded $67,500 in damages to Smith…