ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Families of people whose deaths have been reclassified are calling for a broader investigation after a recent audit of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner casts doubt on the office's findings.
Decades of efforts between Sherri Warren and Reverend Marguerite Morris have led to small wins in their continued fight to get their family members' cases reopened.
WATCH: Families call for wider investigation after audit reveals misclassified deaths
During their struggle, they've succeeded in getting their family members' manner of death changed and have even changed state law.
"So, I have really nothing to lose and I have a lot to gain and that is helping other families not have to go through what we went through," Warren said.
Now that they've seen the audit performed on the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner by the Attorney General, which found that dozens of in-custody deaths should have been ruled homicide but weren't, they want more deaths to be investigated.
"We now need clarifications of how many of those cases can be triggered by Katherine's Law because technically they would fall under it. And those families need to know today that they do have a right to know that the law can be activated in their cases," Morris said.
Katherine's Law allows cases to be reopened and families to meet with the State's Attorney's Office if the manner of death is changed.
For Warren and Morris, the audit casts doubt on the manner of death determinations from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner beyond just the in-custody deaths that were investigated.
"So we're inviting the AG's office or the Governor's office to do what's necessary to look into how those other cases were handled," Morris said.
They're hoping to speak with the Governor and Attorney General about a larger investigation and plan to meet with the families impacted by the audit.
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