Autopsy In Mississippi Hanging Case Shown To Otis Byrd’s Family, NAACP Fears A Racist Hate Crime

The results of the autopsy in the Mississippi hanging case have been shown to the family of Otis Byrd. The family is now seeking an independent investigation, and the local chapter of the NAACP fears a racist hate crime since the black man was founding hanging from a tree.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, 54-year-old Otis Byrd is an ex-convict who served 26 years in prison for fatally shooting a woman in a convenience store. Despite this past, Byrd’s family said that he was turning his life around, and wouldn’t have been the type of person to commit suicide.

“He tried to turn his life around. He was going to church every Sunday,” said Byrd’s stepsister, Tracy Wilson. “Anybody could have done this. I just don’t see him doing it to himself.”

The body of Byrd was found on March 19, 2015, two weeks after he was reported missing. The black man was hanging from a tree branch by a white sheet, with hands unbound and both feet off the ground with a skull cap covering his face. At the time, Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas Sr. noted that it did not appear Byrd had climbed the tree in order to commit suicide, and there wasn’t a chair or ladder found nearby

The FBI shared the result of the autopsy in the Mississippi hanging case with the family a week after the body was found. Byrd’s was so badly decomposed that dental records were needed to help identify him, and his body has already been cremated. But family lawyer Dennis Sweet IV believes showing the autopsy to the family is not enough.

“We cannot allow the death of a man hanging from a tree to be swept under the rug,” Sweet said. “We ask that all authority and public officials be open (and) transparent with the family and fair in their investigation.”

According to BDN, the NAACP fears the black man’s hanging is the result of a racist hate crime. The FBI has not publicly released the autopsy in the Mississippi hanging case, but it is believed the circumstances of Otis Byrd’s death warrants further investigation.

“Otis Byrd was found dead three weeks ago and the family still has limited information,” Sweet said, according to WAPT. “The family wants answers. As legal counsel, we are prepared to take any and all legal action necessary to make sure the investigation is thorough and complete.”

Otis Byrd’s family is hiring independent experts, including pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who once testified at the O.J. Simpson trial and conducted the autopsy of Michael Brown. This new investigation of the Mississippi hanging will be conduct separate from state and federal authorities.

[Image via Mississippi Department Of Corrections]