ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL AGREES TO RE-OPEN TWO SMITH RELATED CASES INVOLVING DEATHS OF NEWBORN: LATEST MAKIN STORY; GLOBE AND MAIL;

"IN EACH CASE, EXPERT PATHOLOGISTS WHO REVIEWED DR. SMITH'S AUTOPSY WORK DISPARAGED HIS FINDINGS OF ASPHYXIA. THEY STATED THAT HE WAS WRONG TO REACH A FIRM CONCLUSION POINTING TO FOUL PLAY BASED ON SLIM EVIDENCE, AND WHEN OTHER EXPLANATIONS - SUCH AS THE INFANTS BEING DEPRIVED OF OXYGEN IN THE BIRTH CANAL - WERE POSSIBLE."

JUSTICE REPORTER KIRK MAKIN: GLOBE AND MAIL;

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The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision to reopen two Smith related cases is the subject of a story by Justice reporter which runs in today's Globe and mail under the heading, "Court agrees to reopen criminal cases in deaths of 2 newborns," and bears the sub-heading, "Mothers implicated by pathologist."

"An Ontario Court of Appeal judge agreed yesterday that the criminal cases of two women can be reopened to give them an opportunity to show that they were wrongly convicted of killing their newborn babies almost 15 years ago," the story begins.

""The appeal obviously has merit," Mr. Justice Marc Rosenberg said," it continues.

"The two Ontario women claim that they felt compelled to plead guilty to homicide offences after pathologist Charles Smith - at the time, the country's leading pediatric pathologist - implicated them in the horrifying deaths.

Judge Rosenberg also noted that Crown counsel Alison Wheeler, Gillian Roberts and Jennifer Woolcombe had consented to the reopening of the two cases.

In each case, expert pathologists who reviewed Dr. Smith's autopsy work disparaged his findings of asphyxia. They stated that he was wrong to reach a firm conclusion pointing to foul play based on slim evidence, and when other explanations - such as the infants being deprived of oxygen in the birth canal - were possible.

One of the women pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1998. She received a conditional sentence and three years probation. The other was 21 when she was charged in 1992.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1994, and received a suspended sentence, three years probation and 300 hours of community service."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;