"LAST FALL, AN INQUIRY BY JUSTICE STEPHEN GOUDGE INTO THE PROVINCE'S FORENSIC PEDIATRIC PATHOLOGY SYSTEM FOUND SMITH COMMITTED ONE BLUNDER AFTER ANOTHER WHILE SENIOR OFFICIALS IN ONTARIO'S CORONER'S OFFICE BLINDED THEMSELVES TO HIS WRONGDOING.
"I JUST HAVE ONE THING I WANT TO SAY TO HIM (SMITH) AND THAT'S `WHY?'" MARQUARDT SAID YESTERDAY, ADDING SHE'S ALSO ANGRY AT "THE PEOPLE THAT EMPLOYED HIM."
"I JUST HOPE AND PRAY THAT THE SYSTEM CHANGES AND I HOPE THAT THROUGH THE GOUDGE INQUIRY, THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO ANOTHER PERSON AGAIN, BECAUSE ... I WOULDN'T WISH THIS ON MY WORST ENEMY.""
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER TRACEY TYLER; PHOTOGRAPH: RENE JOHNSTON; TORONTO STAR;
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Today's Toronto Star story, by Legal Affairs reporter Tracey Tyler contains a photo with a cut-line that says, "Tammy Marquardt gets a hug from William Mullins-Johnson outside Osgoode Hall on March 12, 2009. Both were victims of discredited Dr. Charles Smith."
(The on-line story contains a video of Ms. Marquardt's release...http://www.thestar.com/article/601558...)
"Before the cameras, microphones and first steps into the late winter air, there were these few words of lawyerly advice," the story which bears the headline "Woman in case of disgraced pathologist freed on bail", begins;
""Do up your coat, Tammy," James Lockyer told his client. "It's cold outside."" the story continues;
"And with that, Tammy Marquardt walked into the bright sunshine, leaving behind nearly 14 years in prison.
"This is my day. I'm out. I made it," she told reporters outside Osgoode Hall after a judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal released her on bail. "I'm just overwhelmed and excited to finally have my freedom."
Marquardt, who turned 37 on Wednesday, was convicted on Oct. 24, 1995 of second-degree murder in connection with the death of her son, Kenneth Wynne, 2 1/2.
The prosecution, like dozens of other child death cases in Ontario, hinged on testimony from discredited pathologist Dr. Charles Smith.
Last fall, an inquiry by Justice Stephen Goudge into the province's forensic pediatric pathology system found Smith committed one blunder after another while senior officials in Ontario's coroner's office blinded themselves to his wrongdoing.
"I just have one thing I want to say to him (Smith) and that's `Why?'" Marquardt said yesterday, adding she's also angry at "the people that employed him."
"I just hope and pray that the system changes and I hope that through the Goudge inquiry, this won't happen to another person again, because ... I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."
Smith concluded Kenneth's death was a homicide, caused by smothering or suffocation. Six pathology experts have since rejected those findings, saying the cause of death is undetermined. One, Dr. Simon Avis, chief medical examiner for Newfoundland and Labrador, said it is possible Kenneth, who had epilepsy, died from a seizure.
Marquardt had another son, Keith, now 14, after she was charged. Her youngest, Eric, now 12, was born after she went to prison. Both were seized by child welfare officials and put up for adoption.
Crown counsel Gillian Roberts consented to Marquardt's release yesterday during an appearance before Justice Kathryn Feldman.
Marquardt was transported by correctional officials from the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener. Stepping into the prisoner's box, with her hands shackled in front of her, Marquardt surveyed the crowded courtroom and broke into a smile after seeing some familiar faces.
On one side was her high school law teacher, Michael Cvijetic. On the other, William Mullins-Johnson, who spent 12 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his 4-year-old niece on the basis of Smith's testimony.
"She's my friend," Mullins-Johnson said later. "Our stories parallel in some ways and we bonded out of tragedy. It's out of that collateral damage that we really understand each other.
"I lost my niece, but she lost three sons."
Outside court later, Marquardt embraced Mullins-Johnson and wiped away tears. "Thank you for being here," she said.
Thoughts of her two other sons, Marquardt said, kept her going while in prison. "One day they're going to want to know what happened. They're going to want to hear the truth and I'm the only one who can give that to them."
"I hope they're watching TV today. But I don't even know if they know who I am," she said. "When they're ready, they'll find me."
Marquardt strolled away from the courthouse hand in hand with Mullins-Johnson.
There is one thing she's looking forward to eating, she conceded.
"Melba Toast."
The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to consider Marquardt's request to reopen her case. Lockyer, on behalf of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, is asking the top court to refer the case back to the Ontario Court of Appeal for a hearing into whether the conviction should be quashed.
In the meantime, Marquardt will live in a Toronto treatment centre, under the supervision of the Toronto Bail Program.
"This is now a new beginning for me. It's one of my best days.""
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
