Timonium Man's 2006 Death Reclassified From Accidental to a Homicide

The Maryland medical examiner’s office has reclassified a 2006 death as a homicide that had initially been ruled as accidental. But Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger told Patch he disagrees with the change and is not pursuing charges.

No one from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner was available to explain the change in the five-year-old incident involving Joseph Miranda, who was 19 when he was run over and killed by a Bobcat at a work site in July 2006. The medical examiner at first ruled the Timonium man’s death accidental before then saying it was “undetermined.”

Last month the medical examiner issued a new determination: homicide.

The switch was announced Tuesday night in a Baltimore County Police Department press release. Miranda's death has now been listed as the 18th homicide in Baltimore County for 2011, according to the release.

But homicide doesn't mean murder. 

"We do not agree with the reclassification," Shellenberger told Patch Wednesday afternoon. "It's our opinion that this incident does not rise to the level of the crime.

"We have found no example of criminal intent in the case,” he added. “We have found no evidence of criminal negligence. We do not believe that anyone could be prosecuted for the crime of murder." 

Miranda’s mother, Adrienne, also of Timonium, filed a civil lawsuit against her son’s employer, Outside Unlimited Inc., and employees who may have been operating the machinery that contributed to his death, online court records indicate.

The death occurred when "Miranda approached two laborers who were using a Bobcat to load soil onto a truck, and told them he needed to use the machine," according to the police department press release.

"When he attempted to jump onto the machine while it was in operation, he slipped and fell," the release states. "The driver did not see him, and ran over him while the driver was continuing to load soil."