County Commissioners Fire Medical Examiner

El Paso County Commissioners fired the medical examiner Monday after years of debate on whether he was even qualified to occupy the position.

Commissioners voted 3 to 1 to fire Dr. Paul Schrode with Commissioner Dan Haggerty casting the only vote against the firing. Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr. was not present.

No specific reason has been given by the court for the firing. Shrode had been El Paso’s medical examiner for five years. Nearly three years ago, the ABC-7 I-Team found Shrode misrepresented his qualifications on his resume.

In executive session, prior to the vote, El Paso County Attorney Joann Bernal and District Attorney Jaime Esparaza brought forward new information that an Ohio convicted murderer might escape his death sentence because of flawed testimony given by Shrode.

Haggerty said he voted against firing Shrode because in his mind nothing had affected his ability to do the job. Cobos, who had voted previously to fire him, didn’t offer a specific reason.

Some, including outspoken attorney Theresa Caballero, felt the county waited too long to fire Shrode.

“He should have been fired in August of 2007 when you were made aware of this problem,” Caballero told the County Commissioners.

And since Shrode has or will testify in as many as 40 pending cases with the District Attorney’s office, Esparza said a review is underway.

“I think we have to be diligent and examine where he’s testified and where or not it puts into question the outcome of a criminal case,” Esparza said.