PATHOLOGIST CITES HEROIN IN DEATH OF BELUSHI (original) (raw)
U.S.|PATHOLOGIST CITES HEROIN IN DEATH OF BELUSHI
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/19/us/pathologist-cites-heroin-in-death-of-belushi.html
Advertisement
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
- Sept. 19, 1985
Credit...The New York Times Archives
See the article in its original context from
September 19, 1985
,
Section A, Page
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.
About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
Dr. Michael Baden, New York City's former chief medical examiner, testified today that if John Belushi had not consumed heroin on March 5, 1982, he would not have died.
During his two hours of testimony, Dr. Baden, who said he has performed more than 15,000 autopsies, testified that he agreed with findings by Dr. Ronald Kornblum, the Los Angeles medical examiner, that Mr. Belushi died of acute heroin and cocaine poisoning at the age of 33.
But Dr. Baden, who was called as an expert because of his work in drug-related deaths in New York City, went a step further. He told Judge James F. Nelson ''Absent the heroin, he would not have died when he died.''
Dr. Baden testified for the prosecution in Municipal Court here at a preliminary hearing to determine if Cathy Evelyn Smith should stand trial on charges of murder, The hearing entered its second week today.
Miss Smith, a former singer, is accused of injecting Mr. Belushi with a lethal dose of heroin and cocaine during the last week of his life. She was questioned at the time of the comedian's death, but a grand jury was convened a year later after The National Enquirer, a gossip tabloid, published an article reporting that she said she was responsible for the comedian's death. She later said her comments had been distorted.
Heroin Called Cause of Death
Mayor Koch of New York ousted Dr. Baden as the city's chief medical examiner in 1979. Dr. Baden is on medical leave as one of the city's deputy medical examiners. He said in an interview he was still seeking re-instatement through a Federal appeals court in Manhattan.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement