§ 12-12-316 - Transportation of corpses.
12-12-316. Transportation of corpses.
(a) The State Crime Laboratory is authorized to transport bodies of persons whose death is subject to the provisions of this subchapter to an appropriate place for autopsy or for any other scientific tests.
(b) (1) (A) The bodies of such deceased persons shall be returned to the county from which they were brought by or at the expense of the laboratory only if the State Medical Examiner determines that the cause of death was not suicide, accidental, or from natural causes.
(B) In cases in which the examiner determines that the cause of death was suicide, accidental, or from natural causes, the expense of transporting and returning the bodies of such deceased persons shall be borne by whomever requests the laboratory to examine the cause of death, except for cases referred under the provisions of 12-12-315(a)(2).
(C) A body may be transported when authorized by the prosecuting attorney, circuit court, county sheriff, or chief of police, or upon the request of the next of kin of the deceased or the persons who may be responsible for burial, to a place other than the county of origin.
(2) The laboratory shall not, however, be required to provide actual transportation or the cost of transportation in excess of what would be required to return the body to the county of origin.
(c) The laboratory shall provide transportation or shall bear the cost of transportation at the option of the Executive Director of the State Crime Laboratory, but in no case shall the cost of transportation of dead bodies subject to the provisions of this subchapter be borne by the laboratory without the prior approval and authorization of the executive director or his or her staff.