Story highlights
A new coroner's inquest into Amy Winehouse's death will begin on January 8
The assistant deputy coroner who ruled on the death did not have required legal credentials
The original coroner's report concluded it was a "death by misadventure"
Winehouse was found dead at her north London home July 23, 2011
British authorities reopened the probe of Amy Winehouse’s death Monday, a year after the coroner who ruled the singer died of accidental alcohol poisoning resigned amid questions about her legal credentials.
A new coroner’s inquest into Winehouse’s death will begin on January 8, London’s Camden Council announced Monday.
Suzanne Greenaway lost her position as assistant deputy coroner, to which she was appointed by her husband, London Coroner Andrew Reid, after it was discovered that she had not been a registered lawyer in the United Kingdom for the requisite five years.
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The Grammy award-winning artist, who had battled with alcohol and drug abuse over several years, was found dead at her north London home July 23, 2011.
The original coroner’s report concluded it was a “death by misadventure.”
A pathologist told Greenaway’s court that alcohol toxicity was the cause of the 27-year-old’s death, with her blood-alcohol levels measured at more than five times the legal limit for driving. Testimony at her inquest showed no traces of illegal drugs in Winehouse’s system.
The pathologist’s tests revealed that Winehouse’s blood-alcohol level was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood. The level considered lethal is 350 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, and the legal limit to drive in Britain is 80 milligrams of alcohol.
The pathologist found no traces of tablets in Winehouse’s stomach and said her organs appeared to be normal.
A verdict of misadventure means that it is judged to be an accidental death in which no law was broken or criminal negligence involved.
The singer’s soulful, throaty vocals brought her stardom in 2007, but her troubled off-stage life – chronicled in her top 10 hit “Rehab” – won her notoriety.
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Her death came less than two months after her latest release from a rehabilitation program and weeks after she was booed offstage by disappointed fans in Serbia.
The tattooed London-born singer-songwriter’s first album, “Frank,” debuted in 2003, when she was 19.
International success came with her 2007 album “Back to Black.” She dominated the 2008 Grammys, winning five awards that night and delivering, via satellite from London, a strong performance of “Rehab.”
CNN’s Richard Allen Greene in London contributed to this report.
