sheridan's four sons, the oldest of whom had followed his father's political footsteps and served as chief counsel to the new jersey republican party, vigorously disputed the finding. not only had their parents not shown any sign that they might do something like this, there were anomalies in the evidence, as well as deficiencies in the investigation. after a court challenge they brought, in 2017 the state's chief medical examiner overruled the prosecutor and said that while john sheridan's proximate cause of death was the combined effect of the stab wounds he suffered and smoke inhalation, it could not be determined if he had stabbed himself or not.