Tyler Perry has hired a medical examiner to conduct a second autopsy on his nephew's body, after the 26-year-old allegedly committed suicide in prison on Tuesday night.
Officials at a prison facility near St. Helena Parish in Louisiana insist Gavin Porter hanged himself in his cell, after being placed in solitary confinement following a fight with another inmate over the weekend. However, Porter's mother - and Perry's sister - isn't convinced he took his own life, with her doubts leading to the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office opening an investigation into the alleged suicide.
Perry is also using his own clout by hiring Dr. Michael Baden to conduct a second autopsy on Porter's body.
Explaining the move in a post on his Instagram page on Thursday night, the A Fall From Grace director wrote: "Three days ago, I got the horrible news that he allegedly committed suicide in prison. I say allegedly because, unfortunately, our criminal justice system and prisons have been notorious for cover ups and/or getting it wrong.
"With that in mind I have hired Dr. Michael Baden to do a second autopsy, and we are expecting the results soon. I want to be clear that we are not a family of conspiracy theorists, and we want to believe that there was no foul play, just as the sheriff has stated publicly."
Perry added that he had hoped Porter would eventually turn his life around after being handed a 20-year prison sentence for shooting and killing his biological father in 2016.
"Despite this horrible act, before he went to prison I went to see him in the local jail," Perry continued. "I assured him that we all still loved him, but it was important to all of us, including his mother, that he was punished for this horrific crime that he had committed. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
"It was my hope that after serving his time, really reflecting, showing much remorse, and asking God for forgiveness, that he would have been able to come work for me. Where he would join all the other former inmates that work for me and turn his life around, just as they have. But that day will never come."
