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Lawyer for B.B. King’s manager fires back at poisoning accusations

The lawyer for B.B. King’s longtime manager fired back Tuesday after accusations arose claiming she poisoned the late music legend.

King’s daughters, Patty King and Karen Williams, claim his manager, LaVerne Toney, and another of his aides poisoned their father. The Clark County coroner’s office then took jurisdiction of the body and performed an autopsy over the weekend.

“The allegations are baseless and unfounded and are unsupported in reality,” attorney Brent Bryson said in a statement Tuesday.

King, who’s legal name is Riley B. King, went into in-home hospice care in April. Several of his children, including Williams and Patty King, accused Toney of neglecting their father and stealing his money. The adult children tried to become their father’s legal guardian. Toney had power-of-attorney for King, but guardianship would have trumped those powers.

The guardianship petition was denied May 7, with a court citing two investigations that turned up no evidence to support their claims. King died May 14 at age 89 in his Las Vegas home.

Three independent doctors evaluated King in the days leading up to his death, Bryson said Tuesday. All three deemed hospice care appropriate, and one went on to say that there was no evidence of additional or inappropriate drugs being given to the blues legend.

“Unfortunately even musical icons die. Ms. Toney did everything she could to carry out the wishes of Mr. King while he was alive, and continues to carry out Mr. King’s wishes after his death,” Bryson said.

The results from the autopsy and toxicology reports will come back in about six to eight weeks, Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said in a statement Monday.

King had been embalmed, Fudenberg said, but tests should still come back with clear results. Those results shouldn’t be affected by the fact that King’s body had already been embalmed, the coroner said.

“It certainly affects the process, but it doesn’t prohibit us from getting toxicology reports,” he said Tuesday.

Experts in the forensic toxicology field agreed that the results likely won’t be diluted or skewed by the embalming.

“In most cases, autopsy examination of a recently embalmed body does not limit the ability of a forensic pathologist to perform a complete and detailed examination,” Dr. Marcus Nashelsky, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said.

“Embalming fluids will introduce some artifacts for the toxicology analysis, but usually the toxicology analysis can be well performed and fully interpreted.”

Nashelsky added that although the blood has been replaced by embalming fluids during the embalming process, there are other areas of the body that can be tested with accuracy.

Las Vegas police are not involved with the investigation, the department said Tuesday. Metro will not get involved unless the coroner determines King died from something other than natural causes.

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.

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