The family of a California lawyer who died during a trip to Mexico says an official autopsy and a separate family-commissioned investigation challenge the idea that he died accidentally.
Elliot Blair, who worked as a public defender in Orange County, California, died Jan. 14 at a resort in Rosarito Beach, 32 miles south of San Diego in the Mexican state of Baja California. Colleagues and family said he was there celebrating his one-year wedding anniversary.
Officials in Baja said Blair, who was 33, appeared to have fallen from the third floor of the hotel and was lifeless when first responders arrived early that morning.
A Mexican state autopsy circulated by the family lists Blair’s blood alcohol content at .10, which in Baja as well as the U.S. state of California is just above the driving limit of .08. It also mentions “aggravated homicide” as a possible crime in the death, although the document has not been verified by the Baja California state attorney general.
Blair’s family has questioned the conclusion that his death was the result of traumatic brain injury caused by an accidental fall, and they have hired a Santa Monica, California-based injury expert, Dr. Rami Hashish, to review evidence, family attorney Case Barnett said.
Additionally, a private pathologist’s review of Blair’s death sought by his family has found that the lawyer suffered roughly 40 fractures to his skull, Barnett said by email.
The Orange County Register and its parent company, the Southern California News Group, first reported news of the fractures and other evidence possibly inconsistent with an accidental death determination.
Blair’s widow, fellow Orange County public defender Kimberly Williams, told the publications the idea he may have been drunk is inconsistent with his ability to drink and stay sharp. “I’ve never seen him stumble drunk,” she said.
“A fall does not make sense,” she said.
She has said a detective at the scene of the death Jan. 14 told her Blair’s body had evidence of a…
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