Dr. Sam Andrews’ time with the office of Travis County Medical Examiner has come under scrutiny lately because of recent reports out of Lubbock and because of two Austin area murder cases.
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Andrews became the interim Lubbock County Medical Examiner in August and took the job on a permanent basis on October 1.
Our affiliate, kxan.com, on Wednesday learned that Andrews’ last day with Travis County was October 1. His Travis County start date was May 18, 2015.
Dr. Andrews submitted a resignation letter as he made the transition from Travis County to Lubbock County.
When asked about any possible disciplinary issues, Travis County does not comment on any disciplinary action. Kxan.com is submitting an open-records request to see if there are any such issues.
Andrews was not called to the stand earlier this month in the murder trail of Charity Ellis who claimed she shot and killed Bradley Sullivan in self-defense.
The Austin-American Statement reported, “Prosecutors did not call him to testify because of concerns related to a Texas Rangers and Texas Medical Board investigation into the Lubbock County medical examiner’s office, where Andrews works now as chief medical examiner.”
Andrews testimony came into question the case of Bryan Canchola who was on trial for murder in 2017. Andrews was accused of changing his testimony during the Travis County trial, and the charge was dropped from murder to assault. Canchola was sentenced to six months.
That’s in addition to a case in Albuquerque where Andrews’ testimony came into question and two police officers were acquitted of murder.
On Wednesday, a lawsuit accused Andrews and Dr. Evan Matshes of collecting body parts from dead children to be used for medical research without consent of the families.
Andrews made his own allegations against former medical examiner Sridhar Natarjan purportedly relying on statements from pathologist Stephen Pustilnik. Pustilnik this week said, not only are the allegations false, he never made any such statement against Natarajan.
Andrews also made allegations against Lubbock County Commissioner Jason Corley, saying Corley interfered with the medical examiner’s office. Corley denied it.
Andrews was not only made the subject of a Texas Rangers investigation in February, but he was also the target of two subpoenas from the Texas Medical Board in October.
Andrews, so far, has not returned calls for comment.
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