Court upholds funeral director’s conviction in a body-parts scandal

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the conviction of funeral director Scott W. Batjer for allowing the removal of bone and tissue from eight bodies without consent.

A five-judge panel denied Batjer’s claim that he was wrongly convicted under a law that prohibits the harvesting of body parts before burial, but not before cremation. A judge found after a non-jury trial in 2009 that Batjer, owner of Profetta Funeral Chapels in Webster and Irondequoit, illegally allowed parts to be harvested for use in medical procedures before the bodies were cremated.

Batjer, 41, is serving a prison term of 2 2/3 to eight years. He is eligible for parole in March 2012.

Source: rocnow.com