The lawyer representing the family of Chris Cornell, Kirk Pasich, did an interview last month with LawDragon and he discussed a new investigation into Chris Cornell’s death.
“We retained two of the country’s leading experts, a toxicologist and a pathologist, to do an independent review of the medical reports, not to come to a preordained conclusion. We didn’t say, ‘Hey, we want you to see if you can confirm X.’
We said, ‘We have unanswered questions. We don’t think the medical examiner was looking at the question of the impact of the drugs that the toxicology report identifies on Chris’ mental state or his physical state. We want you to look at and tell us what do you think? Just give us your independent opinion.’ We now have those reports and they confirm that there was a combination of drugs in Chris’ system that would have impaired his mental judgment, his mental capacity, and his physical capacity.
If Chris Cornell took his life, and there are still questions as to whether it may have been accidental, it was not with his normal judgment, his normal mental facilities or even his normal physical facilities. When one looks at the concert tape that night, you can see that the Chris Cornell that’s performing there is not the Chris Cornell that people knew.
He was slurring words. He was forgetting lyrics. He had loss of balance. He was stumbling. All of these things were not Chris Cornell. We know he took some Ativan and we know from the toxicology report he had other drugs in his system apparently ingested likely after the concert, so what people saw at the concert was exacerbated by what was taken after it.
And it’s confirmed by the toxicology report, but that’s been lost a little bit in the shuffle because all people hear is ‘suicide, suicide,’ and Chester Bennington’s death on Chris Cornell’s birthday just magnified that.”
