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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Graig Graziosi

'Exhume him': James Brown's lawyer says he won't stop investigation into singer's death

Getty Images

James Brown’s lawyer has apparently said he wouldn’t stop an Atlanta prosecutor from exhuming “The Godfather of Soul’s” body in an attempt to determine if he was murdered. 

“Exhume him. I don’t have any feelings about it one way or another,” Buddy Dallas, Mr Brown’s lawyer said. 

The comments were made to CNN in response to news that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr was going to reopen the investigation into Mr Brown’s death.

“If he’s got something to base it on, let him exhume the body,” Mr Dallas said. 

Mr Howard Jr’s decision was prompted by allegations by Jacque Hollander, a singer who worked alongside Mr Brown, that the Soul legend’s death was the result of foul play. In addition to the allegations, Ms Hollander also provided the DA with a green plastic storage bin containing evidence related to Mr Brown’s death. 

Ms Hollander met with Mr Howard Jr last week to hand over the evidence and provide the prosecutor with a list of other witnesses. 

This isn’t the first time Ms Hollander is making allegations regarding Mr Brown’s death. She attempted to get attention for her claims in 2017 when she did an interview with CNN regarding her claims. 

The questions over what led to Mr Brown’s demise are hardly the only anomalous occurrences surrounding his death. 

Rather than lay in a grave accessible by the public - as many other famous individuals do - Mr Brown’s body is apparently at rest in a crypt on the property of his daughter Deanna Brown Thomas. Though that alone isn’t that strange, another of Mr Brown’s daughters claimed the crypt was empty, and when CNN reporters examining the case asked Ms Thomas about the claim, the woman would not confirm or deny the claim. 

Further, Mr Brown’s estate executor, Russell Bauknight, gave a “no comment” to CNN reporters asking where Mr Brown’s body was entombed.  

Mr Brown died in Atlanta on Christmas Day, 2006, at the age of 73. His official cause of death was attributed to a heart attack and fluid leaking into his lungs.

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