If the police are investigating a crime and their evidence leads them to a suspect that is already dead what do they do? Can they simply say, well we’re almost certain it was him, and close the case? Does the case stay open forever because they can never convict someone of the crime? You’d think there would have to be some safeguard in place to stop corrupt cops from pinning crimes on a dead person who couldn’t defend their good name.
I would assume that finding out that a deceased person committed a crime isn’t all that unlikely.
Danny Drug Dealer robs Joe Citizen at gunpoint. The next day Danny ODs or tries to rob Dave Drug Dealer in the wrong part of town and gets shot.
Yeah I would think it happens often enough. So what do they do? Can the police close this case and stop investigating, will records show that Dave Drug Dealer is guilty of the robbery even though there was no trial or conviction?
Yes. In the case of Jean Ellroy, writer James Ellroy’s mother:
Even though the statute of limitaion never expires for homocide…
So, a case can be closed even when it has no legal closure.
IANAL, but I really don’t think so. However, there are cases-- Lee Harvey Oswald comes to mind-- where a person dies before getting a trial and yet they are acknowledged as the perpetrator of a given crime. I doubt that happens for most crimes though.
“Closing” a case means only that it is no longer being officially investigated. It does NOT mean that’s the end of it; closed cases are routinely reopened in the face of new evidence or eyewitness testimony.
True, Q.E.D. And in case like the one above, I don’t think there are legal documents that say such-and-such died before we could convict him, but we know he did it.
I’ve heard of the finding “suspect deceased” to cover exactly this situation.
Use a staple gun, it’s easier.
What records?
Until a case is brought to court, there are no legal records about it.
Police investigative records are mainly internal, and not available to the public. There would be the coroner’s records giving the cause of death, but that will not name a specific person, just something like “killed by a bullet wound from an unknown assailant”.
A County Attorney could bring a case to a Grand Jury, asking them to find that there is sufficient evidence to charge Dave Drug Dealer (deceased) with the crime. If the Jury voted to issue that charge against him, that would be a legal record. But it would not come to trial, because Dave Drug Dealer (deceased) would not be able to defend himself. In actuality, prosecutors would hardly ever do this – there’s little point if he’s dead, and most County Attorney offices are far too busy prosecuting real, live criminals to waste time (and taxpayer money) like this.
IANAL nor an officer of the law, but I believe you can use ‘exceptional clearance’ in most states. This is supposed to be used in extreme circumstances, i.e. the prime suspect is dead. However, it can get cops in big trouble if used incorrectly or greedily. This story covered the local news around here for about a year straight.