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DA Marian Ryan Denies Claim She Bullied Medical Examiner

BOSTON (CBS) – A medical examiner claims the Middlesex District Attorney's office bullied him after he reversed his findings in the death of a 6-month-old Malden boy.

In 2010 prosecutors charged Geoffrey Wilson with murder. The initial conclusion was that his son died from violent shaking.

But those charges were dropped after defense experts found a genetic defect could have caused the baby's death.

Geoffery Wilson
Geoffrey Wilson was initially charged with murdering a 6-month-old baby but charges were dropped. (WBZ-TV)

The medical examiner changed the cause of death from homicide to undetermined but says the District Attorney Marian Ryan pressured him to stick to his initial finding.

"The integrity of our system, making sure that people don't get unjustly accused of any crime, or that they are vindicated when they need to be vindicated depends upon the medical examiner being truly independent," said Jeffrey Catalano, Wilson's attorney.

Ryan for her part, denies the claim, saying she was simply seeking a second opinion.

"Is that what we need to be doing in these serious cases? Yes. It is," Ryan said. "No one makes a decision of an important medical matter without getting a second opinion."

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