DEFENCE LAWYER PRAISES GOUDGE INQUIRY FOCUS ON CHILD HEAD INJURIES IN CASE WHERE MURDER CHARGE AGAINST MOTHER WITHDRAWN; TORONTO STAR;

Defence lawyer Rob Nuttall's views are set out in a story running in a story by Betsy Powell intoday's Toronto Star under the heading: "Mom's murder charge dropped."

"A veteran defence lawyer is crediting the work of the Goudge inquiry for a decision announced yesterday by the Crown to withdraw charges against his client, who was charged three years ago with the death of her infant daughter," the story begins;

"Prosecutor Donna Armstrong said in Superior Court that the Crown feels it has no reasonable prospect of convicting Anna Sokotnyuk of second-degree murder," the story continues.

"The 27-year-old woman said she is relieved her ordeal has ended.

Sokotnyuk was charged in 2005 – 10 months after police received a 911 call about an infant who had stopped breathing.

The Crown made its decision after an independent review of the case by experts in the wake of Justice Stephen Goudge's inquiry probing pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario. Armstrong said those experts "can't seem to agree" on the cause of Anastasia's death with any "degree of certainty."

Nuttall praised the provincial inquiry presided over by Justice Stephen Goudge for examining some of the questionable and "conflicting views" on child head injuries, particularly when there is no obvious trauma to a child's body."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;