However, the Police Department's homicide unit refused to accept this ruling, classified Morris' death as accidental, and requested a second opinion from a brain-injury specialist.
[5] On December 27, 2002, family members viewed photographs of Morris' body at the Medical Examiner's office, and expressed concern upon noticing slight indentation marks on her wrists.
During a meeting on January 7, 2003, with Homicide Captain Charles Bloom, Wilkins learned that her daughter received a courtesy ride from police 20 minutes before she was discovered lying on the sidewalk with a head injury.
Tests performed by a brain-injury specialist, on samples taken during an initial autopsy, resulted in a finding that her death was due to cerebral injury.
[10] Relying on Cwiek's investigative work, author Kenneth Lipp of The Daily Beast, summarizes the aftermath of Morris' death in saying: "police and prosecutors hid critical information about what happened.
Meanwhile, the district attorney's office refused to give police files to the civilian oversight board reviewing Morris's case.
When the DA finally turned over the files, it forced the board to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would keep what they found hidden forever.
In April 2003 the Philadelphia Police Department released an edited version of the 911 recording, which included 3 transmissions between officers Skala, Novak, and Berry.
[12] The same month, in response to community concern, District Attorney Lynne Abraham launched an investigation of Morris' case, and promised to seek physical evidence, including the related 911 recording.
[15] In December 2003, in response to community pressure, the Police Advisory Commission released dispatch records suggesting that the transmissions on the tape lasted for 49 minutes.
The new executive director, Kelvyn Anderson, stated that the "nondisclosure agreement that the 2008 Police Advisory Commission entered into with the DA undermines our effectiveness and credibility as a civilian oversight board and compromises the openness and transparency that is our raison d'être."
Calling "the magnitude of mismanagement of the Nizah Morris homicide [to be] staggering," Anderson sent a letter requesting a full investigation from U.S. Attorney Zane Memenger.
[3] In 2015, The Daily Beast reported that the U.S. Attorney General's office did not respond to the Police Advisory Commission's request for an appropriate and full investigation.
"[3] In 2015, Officer Elizabeth Skala-DiDonato has only received a "verbal reprimand" despite the Police Advisory Commission's finding that she "blatantly and methodically" lied about her interactions with Morris on the night of her homicide.
"[3] In 2011, Philadelphia opened an addiction treatment center for transgender Philadelphians, named The Morris Home for Trans and Gender-Variant People after her.