Baltimore police have not released the photos of the scene of Robert Clay’s death to his family or The Examiner, despite a formal public information request made by this newspaper in August.

The public information request sought photos of Clay’s Reservoir Hill office, where the minority business contractor association founder and longtime activist was found shot to death May 16, 2005.

Marcia LaVine, Clay’s daughter, said recently that preventing the family from reviewing every piece of evidence raised questions about how Clay died.

Police released their report on Clay’s death, but blacked out information, including the owner of the stolen gun that police say Clay used to kill himself.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Also excluded from the report was the gunshot residue analysis, a test that could alleviate doubts that Clay fired the fatal shot that killed him.

“We didn’t get to see pictures of the crime scene,” LaVine said at Baltimore City Council hearing calling for police to reopen the case in December. LaVine and several others made the request after The Examiner published a series of stories last year that raised questions about the case.

Baltimore police spokesman Matt Jablow said the nearly five-month-old public information request filed by The Examiner was still being reviewed by the department’s lawyers.

“The department’s chief legal counsel is reviewing the request,” he said.

Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association attorney Alice Lucan said she believed the department was taking too long to respond.

“This is pretty severely long,” she said.

Lucan said if a public agencies plans on denying an information request, they are supposed to do so within 10 days. If the agency grants the request, it is supposed to respond within 30 days, Lucan said.

Two members of the Baltimore City Council have sent letters to the FBI, asking its Baltimore chief to reopen the investigation into Clay’s death. The FBI has declined comment.

The state medical examiner ruled Clay’s death a suicide, but friends and family have raised questions about the case, including that Clay was right-handed but was shot in the left side of the head.

The Examiner sought the photographs from the scene in order to submit them to forensic experts, including famed forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee, who asked to review them to offer a second opinion.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com