BROOKLINE, MASS. (WHDH) - One word is all Penelope McGee believes it took to change her life. That word? Homicide.
Five years ago ‘homicide’ was written on her ex-husband’s death certificate. McGee said it unraveled everything.
“I’d be telling a different story,” McGee said.
Today, McGee is free but earlier this year, she was in a Norfolk County courtroom facing up to 20 years in prison.
“While I feel very pleased that I am exonerated…I just don’t want this to happen to somebody else again,” McGee said.
In February, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone found McGee not guilty of involuntary manslaughter involving the death of her ex-husband, Andrew Savitz. While the bench trial cleared her, McGee remains concerned about the factors and systems that landed her in that position in the first place.
“I can’t in good conscience let this continue; let this happen to somebody else,” she said.
McGee was married to Savitz for 15 years and they had three kids together.
We said we didn’t do marriage well, but we did divorce well,” McGee admitted. “We lived a mile from each other.”
McGee remembered Savitz as a funny and smart man.
“He was a great dad. He adored his children, but his sense of humor that’s why I married him. He had the best sense of humor,” McGee said.
Savitz was an environmental consultant and served as an adviser to Michael Dukakis during his 1988 presidential campaign.
On the night of January 28, 2020, McGee remembered going over to her ex-husband’s house where her kids were staying. She said they were discussing his brothers wanting to evict her from the home she was living in.
“It started out just as a conversation and then it got heated,” McGee remembered.
She said Savitz grabbed her by the hair and pushed her against the wall. Police reports described broken plates and ‘food containers strewed across the kitchen floor.’
Their daughter was home at the time and later told police she came downstairs and saw McGee shove and push Savitz.
Their daughter called 911 for a domestic dispute and is heard yelling, “Dad, Stop, Stop, Stop,” according to police records.
Savitz collapsed during the argument and later died.
Brookline police arrested McGee on assault and battery- related charges.
“He was the aggressor,” McGee said. “I couldn’t put two and two together and think that I assaulted him.”
Later, the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) determined that Savitz had died of cardiac dysrhythmia, following an altercation with a person.
Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease were listed as contributing factors in his death. Despite the underlying health issues, the death certificate listed the manner of death as homicide.
Months later, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office charged McGee with involuntary manslaughter, a charge McGee blames on the medical examiner’s decision to list ‘homicide’ as the manner of death.
“I feel as if five years of my life were stolen from me by that one word,” McGee said.
During the trial, the forensic pathologist Dr. Rebecca Dedrick, who performed the autopsy, defended her decision.
“He was angry in the presence of another person; therefore, this becomes death at the hands of another; a second person is involved in the situation,” Dedrick said during trial.
Dr. Jan Gorniak is a forensic pathologist and former coroner, was not involved with this case, but explained that the way homicide is defined by forensic pathologists differs from the legal definition.
“So often it is that homicide manner that gets confused with murder and that is not what we are saying,” Gorniak explained. “We just know someone died at the hands of another- that’s homicide. Then we let law enforcement and prosecutors determine if or what charges should be brought about.”
Gorniak said manner of death determinations are based on the circumstances surrounding a person’s death and further explained that homicide doesn’t require a physical element.
The National Association of Medical Examiners guide states that “deaths resulting from fear/fright induced by verbal assault, threats of physical harm, or through acts of aggression intended to instill fear or fright may be classified as homicide if there is a close temporal relationship between the incident and death.”
An OCME spokesperson said its office is committed to the “highest standards of forensic pathology and death investigation.”
They also said Savitz’s case was “certified through a comprehensive examination by a highly skilled and board-certified medical examiner, conducted in accordance with national forensic standards and best practices.”
A spokesperson goes on to note, “It is the role of the court, not the medical examiner, to determine legal responsibility based on all available facts.”
“You don’t have to press charges.… once the cause and manner is ruled, then that’s law enforcement – wherever it goes from there that’s law enforcement,” Gorniak said.
Gorniak said police and the DA’s office were the ones who decided to charge McGee.
Attorney and independent legal expert Anne Bremner thinks McGee should be questioning the DA, though she agrees that without homicide listed as the manner of death, a case would be difficult to pursue. She argued that prosecutors relied too heavily on that determination in McGee’s case.
“It shouldn’t have been prosecuted,” Bremner said. “You don’t just rely on that word in an autopsy report to prosecute a case. You just don’t, but it sounds like that’s what happened here.”
Bremner said she was shocked that this case was prosecuted.
“She didn’t give him a heart attack. You can’t prove that beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said.
The Norfolk DA declined to be interviewed but told 7 Investigates an independent grand jury issued an indictment. The DA’s office also noted that Judge Cannone denied the defense’s motion to dismiss the case for insufficient evidence.
At the trial, prosecutors argued McGee was the aggressor and knew about Savitz’s health conditions.
“She was yelling and screaming, hitting and shoving him. His heart couldn’t handle the stress of the altercation and he collapsed and passed away,” a Norfolk prosecutor argued.
Ultimately, Judge Cannone found McGee not guilty.
Now, McGee is trying to move forward, but she said the damage of the last five years can’t be undone.
“I just don’t want this to happen to somebody else. I feel as if five years of my life were stolen from me,” McGee said.
McGee’s blame remains focused on the OCME. She has filed complaints with the Massachusetts Governor and the Attorney General seeking oversight for the OCME. A forensic oversight board is also reviewing her case.
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