A man who served as a medical examiner for many metro Atlanta counties - including Gwinnett - has died in federal prison.
Joe Burton, 74, died Friday after suffering a heart attack at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The prison houses inmates who need medical care.
Burton's prestigious career ended when he pleaded guilty to charges of trading hundreds of prescriptions for opioids in return for sexual favors. One of the co-defendants in his case was a Flowery Branch woman.
According to the newspaper report, during an interview in 2016, Burton estimated that he had performed more than 10,000 autopsies. He also provided testimony in hundreds of cases across the state, including several in Hall County.
