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An independent review of the death of a French citizen at his San Francisco apartment in 2007 has declared the case homicide and ruled out suicide, a lawyer for the man's parents told AFP Friday.
The death of Hugues de la Plaza, discovered in a pool of blood in his apartment, has led to a long public dispute between his family and the San Francisco Police Department -- which has said some evidence pointed to suicide.
The independent report, prepared earlier this year by former San Francisco medical examiner Michael Ferenc, has not been made public.
Portions of the one-page report were read to AFP by attorney Bill Fazio, who is representing de la Plaza's parents.
"In my opinion, the death of Mr. Hugues de la Plaza was a homicide," Ferenc's report concludes.
Phone and e-mail messages to the San Francisco Police Department were not immediately returned Friday.
De la Plaza, a 36-year-old sound engineer who held US and French citizenship and was thinking of moving to Argentina at the time of his death, was stabbed three times. His body was discovered after neighbors found blood outside his apartment and police broke down his locked door.
The San Francisco medical examiner's office has not made an official finding in the case. Police commissioned Ferenc for his review earlier this year.
The dead man's father, Francois de la Plaza, came to San Francisco earlier this year and held a news conference on the steps of City Hall at which he said French investigators had concluded his son had been stabbed in a surprise attack. The dead man was stabbed once in the abdomen, once in the chest and once in the neck, Francois de la Plaza said.
"Based on the angle of entrance, he could not have done it himself," the father said, basing his conclusions on the review by French investigators. "No knife was ever found. For them, it was rather obvious."
Fazio said he hopes Ferenc's independent review will push San Francisco police to treat the case as a homicide.
"I certainly hope so, there is no question in my mind that it should be. French authorities have said it's a homicide and now someone commissioned by the police department has said it's a homicide," Fazio said.
"You hope the police department comes to the same conclusion as other people. It's already two years late."
