Chief and coroner squabble over homicide ruling delay

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Coroner David Kennedy said he’s “surprised” the Youngstown police chief is complaining about how long it took to rule the death of a North Side man a homicide.

“The ruling shouldn’t hold up the investigation,” Dr. Kennedy said Thursday. “The police department was certainly aware of how we were leaning and what was happening.”

Michael J. Lambert, who lived at House of Hope, died from “manual strangulation and homicide” on Nov. 11, 2010, according to a June 3 coroner’s report.

Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes questioned why it took nearly seven months for the homicide ruling.

“Why now are we getting a ruling?” Hughes told The Vindicator on Wednesday. “We were pleading with the coroner for a report” when Lambert was found dead.

In response, Dr. Kennedy said Thursday that he was “surprised [Hughes would] complain publicly without talking to me.”

House of Hope is a group home at 115 Illinois Ave. for about for about 55 people with mental impairments such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Lambert, 59, was found dead in a bathtub. On Nov. 13, an autopsy was performed.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and on Vindy.com