"BELK, "AS FAR AS I KNOW HE'S A FREE MAN."
A PLEA AGREEMENT MEANS A SENTENCE OF THE 3 AND A HALF YEARS ALREADY SERVED PLUS A YEAR AND A HALF ON PROBATION FOR DELASHMITT.
HE PLEADED GUILTY TO RECKLESS HOMICIDE AND CHILD NEGLECT.
BELK, "I WAS SURPRISED AT THE REASONING, WHY THERE WAS A PLEA AGREEMENT."
PROSECUTORS POINT TO THIS MAN, RONALD TOOLSIE, THE MEDICAL EXAMINER IN THE CASE.
HIS MEDICAL LICENSE GOT SUSPENDED WHICH MEANS THEY LOST THEIR PRIMARY EVIDENCE... TOOLSIE'S AUTOPSY CONCLUDING THE BABY HAD BEEN RAPED AND SHAKEN...
AND THIS ISN'T THE FIRST OF TOOLSIE'S TROUBLES.
WE REPORTED BACK IN NOVEMBER HE'D BEEN INDICTED ON CHARGES OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG FRAUD AND DRUG DISTRIBUTION."
WDEF NEWS 12;
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BACKGROUND: This Blog is following several cases involving former Tennessee Medical Examiner Ronald Toolsie - including Mitchell Delashmitt and Gussie Vann. Forensic experts also accuse Toolsie of botching the autopsy of 14-month-old Angel Delashmitt, who was found dead in a McMinn County pond in 2003. Delashmitt was charged with raping and killing the infant. Death row inmate Vann was granted a new trial after a judge ruled his defense attorneys did not provide an adequate challenge to claims that he raped and murdered his 8-year-old daughter in 1992. Vann was granted a new hearing after forensic experts testified there were flaws in the state's handling of evidence following Vann’s daughter’s death, which was originally reported as an accidental hanging. The experts said there were no signs of sexual abuse as originally reported in the autopsy prepared by former medical examiner Toolsie.
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"A McMinn County man pleads guilty to lesser charges in the murder and rape of his one year old daughter," the WDEF News 12 story published earlier today begins, under the heading, "Mitchell Delashmitt Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charges in 2003 Rape and Murder of His One Year Old Daughter."
"Mitchell Delashmitt got sentenced to the nearly 4 years he already served," the story continues.
"This after the license of the medical examiner in the case got suspended.
The outcome leaves a lot of people angry.
Bob Conine, nats walking through grass "Up in that corner over there."
Bob Conine remembers it clearly... June 2003.
Conine, "I could see up there just plain as day. There wasn't nothing went on until I seen him come down the driveway go down through there going from side to side a little bit."
That's when he recalls Mitchell Delashmitt making the heartbreaking discovery .
Conine, "I kind of looked away and heard and splash and looked back and he was over in the pond and had the baby up by the leg."
The baby.. Delashmitt's daughter Angel.
He told police he fell asleep while babysitting her and she managed to leave the house and wander to the pond.
Still, he got charged with felony murder, rape and child neglect.
Jeremy Belk, Daily Post-Athenian, "It started out as a death penalty case."
Daily Post-Athenian staff writer Jeremy Belk has been covering the case since the start.
He went to court Wednesday for jury selection and instead heard a surprising development.
Belk, "As far as I know he's a free man."
A plea agreement means a sentence of the 3 and a half years already served plus a year and a half on probation for Delashmitt.
He pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and child neglect.
Belk, "I was surprised at the reasoning, why there was a plea agreement."
Prosecutors point to this man, Ronald Toolsie, the medical examiner in the case.
His medical license got suspended which means they lost their primary evidence... Toolsie's autopsy concluding the baby had been raped and shaken.
Conine, "I just absolutely can't believe it."
After waiting 6 years for justice it leaves people like Bob Conine upset.
Conine, "He's guilty and I can't believe that he just walked out of there like that."
And this isn't the first of Toolsie's troubles.
We reported back in November he'd been indicted on charges of prescription drug fraud and drug distribution."
The story can be found at:
http://www.wdef.com/news/mitchell_delashmitt_pleads_guilty_to_lesser_charges_in_2003_rape_and_murder_of_his_one_year_old_daughter/05/2010
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Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
Is The Age of Progressive Prosecutors Over?
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