A Times Editorial

Why the 5th Circuit needs an overhaul

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 2000

Goldbricking may not be a crime, but it is nonetheless intolerable.

If the doctor who served as medical examiner for the 5th Judicial Circuit had shared that sentiment, perhaps the five counties that paid him for his services wouldn't now feel shortchanged by his extended absences.

In a recent Times report, staff writer Jamie Malernee disclosed that Dr. William Shutze, who was paid $1.3-million to perform forensic investigations and autopsies for this region, had lived in Maine for at least the past two of the 28 years he was medical examiner for Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Sumter and Marion counties. His daughter, also a medical doctor, and several assistants apparently ran the office in Leesburg while he was away. It was not until some counties began to question how their money was being spent that Shutze retired Dec. 31, and a new system of oversight was instituted.

That Shutze could be gone for so long without the people who paid his salary even noticing underscores fundamental flaws in the system used to select and administer medical examiners' funding. Even though law enforcement agencies complained regularly about delays in receiving the results of autopsies and toxicology tests, neither they nor the city and county governments who funded Shutze's operation had the authority to affect his performance. Those who did question how he spent the money were rebuffed. Officials also were concerned that Shutze's staff may have been unresponsive or rude to family members of the deceased and that responsibilities were delegated to workers who were not qualified.

Further complicating that already undesirable situation was the fact Shutze and his daughter, Susan Rendon, ran a private medical laboratory business concurrent with their public duties. In fact, when Rendon learned she would not inherit her father's job, she abruptly left the medical examiner's office, leaving no one in charge and taking with her more than $110,000 worth of office equipment. The public is left to speculate whether Shutze's and Rendon's private enterprise took time away from their public service.

Fortunately, the new medical examiner, Dr. Valerie Rao, appears determined to restore credibility to the medical examiner's office. She has agreed to a contract with Lake County that will collect fees from the other four counties in the circuit. A committee made up of one commissioner from each county will meet at least annually, perhaps more frequently, to approve Rao's budget and talk about common concerns.

That is an interim step in the right direction, but officials from all the counties should use it as an example of the need for the state Legislature and the governor to consider realigning the 5th Judicial Circuit. Simply put, it is too big for one medical examiner -- or one state attorney or one chief judge -- to serve adequately. The population, and consequently the crime and court case load, is up significantly in all five counties except Sumter.

Some thought should be given to redrawing the boundaries, with an eye toward leaving more populous Lake and Marion counties in the 5th Circuit, and creating a new one for Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties. It makes sense because the circuit already is the second largest in the state, serving more than 750,000 people. About 300,000 of those live in Hernando and Citrus counties.

If such an overhaul had been in place several years ago, it probably would have been easier to scrutinize the medical examiner's performance and almost certainly would have precluded the problems created by Shutze's poor work ethic.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.