TWO WOMEN CONVICTED OF HOMICIDE IN SMITH CASES ASK ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL TO REOPEN THEIR CASES SO THEY CAN PROVE THEIR INNOCENCE;

"THE WOMEN – BOTH OF WHOM REMAIN CHILDLESS – ARE AMONG NEARLY 20 INDIVIDUALS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN WRONGLY CONVICTED OR CHARGED BASED ON ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS FROM DR. SMITH, THE RECENT SUBJECT OF AN INQUIRY HEADED BY MR. JUSTICE STEPHEN GOUDGE.

IN EACH CASE, EXPERT PATHOLOGISTS WHO REVIEWED DR. SMITH'S AUTOPSY WORK RECENTLY 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."

REPORTER KIRK MAKIN: THE GLOBE AND MAIL;

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The heartbreaking story of these two women is set out in a n article in Thursday's Globe and Mail by Justice reporter Kirk Makin;

"Haunted by criminal convictions that have dogged them since the deaths of their newborn babies almost 15 years ago, two women will ask the Ontario Court of Appeal Friday to reopen their homicide convictions to enable them to prove their innocence," Makin's article begins;

"In stirring affidavits filed with the court, the two Ontario women said 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," the article continues.

"“I do not believe that I caused my baby's death,” one woman said. “To this day, I remain haunted by the events of that day. I have never come to grips with this, and I am ashamed and traumatized. The pain of thinking that I was labelled a baby killer was devastating to me.”

The women – both of whom remain childless – are among nearly 20 individuals believed to have been wrongly convicted or charged based on erroneous conclusions from Dr. Smith, the recent subject of an inquiry headed by Mr. Justice Stephen Goudge.

In each case, expert pathologists who reviewed Dr. Smith's autopsy work recently 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.

In affidavits filed by defence lawyers James Lockyer and Alison Craig, each woman described a harrowing scene in which she gave birth in the bathroom of her family home.

Both swore that they did not know that they were pregnant until, panicking and suffering excruciating pain, they saw their baby's head emerge.

The younger woman recalled drifting in and out of consciousness on the night of the birth. “Sitting in a bathroom with my own blood around me is an experience I hope never to have again,” she said in her affidavit.

Her father found her shivering in bed the next morning and took her to the hospital.

After a 15-month investigation, police held a news conference to announce her arrest.

They alleged that she had killed the infant, and then placed its remains in a plastic bag and put it in her closet.

“I simply cannot remember placing my baby's body in a bag and putting it in my closet,” the woman's affidavit said. “My inability to remember upsets me.”

She recalled being guilt-stricken and horrified at the prospect of her family having to testify at a trial.

She told of being repeatedly warned that Dr. Smith's opinion invariably carried great weight in court.

The second woman echoed those words, stating in her affidavit that lawyers, “described Dr. Smith as the leader in his field, with almost a God-like presence in court.

“I was terrified of going to jail,” she said. “I would have done anything to avoid having to return to prison. I was a young woman with goals and ambitions. The charge of murder that hung over me was all-consuming.”

In the second case, the baby's remains were found in the bathroom toilet. Under intense police interrogation, the mother could remember only disjointed snatches of what had taken place.

“Bits and pieces of that night have come back to me, but I still have no memory of ever placing the baby in the toilet,” she said. “It made no noise and, as far as I could tell, it was not moving or breathing.”

Both women implored the court to grant them anonymity, saying that they were shunned by their communities, and now fear that renewed publicity will destroy their personal lives and prospects for continued employment."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;