Mississippi will hire a full-time medical examiner to fill a longstanding void in the state’s ability to conduct autopsies and investigate suspicious deaths, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson said Tuesday.

The announcement was buoyed by a $500,000 commitment by the Legislature to fund the office vacant since 1994. Still, the agency commended the work of Dr. Steven Hayne, whose contract was terminated via fax Monday.

“Dr. Hayne has clearly carried the water,” Simpson said. “He’s conducted numerous investigations under difficult circumstances.”

Hayne will have 90 days to wrap up 500 outstanding cases, Simpson said. He also may apply for the full-time job, but can’t work for the state in the interim, Simpson said, because of his current backlog.

Law enforcement and legal officials in Warren County had commended Hayne’s work, but emphasized the need for a stable, official presence.

Hayne was criticized this year after evidence surfaced indicating two Mississippi prisoners who were convicted partly on the basis of Hayne’s testimony – based on bite-mark descriptions provided to Hayne by Dr. Michael West – did not commit the crimes. State officials emphasized the move announced Tuesday wasn’t related to the criticism.

In April, the Innocence Project – a group of attorneys that helps inmates believed wrongfully convicted – filed a complaint against Hayne seeking to have his license revoked.

The Innocence Project said Hayne had testified in two cases in the 1990s that human bite marks were discovered on the bodies of two 3-year-old girls who were raped and killed.

But the two men who were convicted for the separate slayings were cleared after a third man confessed.

A panel of forensic experts that later examined the evidence in one case concluded some of the wounds were probably caused by crawfish and insects, decomposition and rough handling of the body.

Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, said the state should ask Hayne for all of his autopsy reports and initiate a full-scale review.

Former Jackson Mayor Dale Danks Jr., attorney for Hayne, declined comment about the Innocence Project allegations, but said “a close scrutiny of that which is being alleged has been proven to be totally false.”

Attorney General Jim Hood said he’s concerned about Hayne’s impending departure because it could impact cases that the pathologist has been involved with.

“If defense lawyers are able to ask the question, ‘Have you been fired?’ on the witness stand, it’s going to hurt in all those cases,” Hood said, adding that Hayne had “kept the state afloat” for the more than 20 years he’s been a contract pathologist.

Paying the salary of a fully certified medical examiner has been an obstacle for the state. Until a hiring decision is made, the Department of Public Safety has contracted with Forensic Medical Inc. of Nashville, already reported to be doing autopsies in Mississippi. The Tennessee company has five full-time, board-certified pathologists, Simpson said. The company will be paid at the same rate as Hayne – just raised to $1,000 per case.

While Simpson said Hayne could apply for the job, Hayne reportedly does not meet the qualifications of being certified in forensic pathology through the American Board of Pathology, an affiliate of the American Board of Medical Specialties.