"Ontario's highest court quashed both convictions today and the Crown said it will not bring evidence at the new trials," the story continues.
Such a move from the Crown would mean both women, who cannot be identified, will be acquitted."
CP24;
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Background: The inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Dr. Smith — formerly the province's chief pediatric pathologist and a self-styled member of the prosecution team — whose "errors" led to innocent people being branded as child murderers. The 1,000-page report by Justice Stephen Goudge slammed Dr. Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions and asked the province to consider compensation. The provincial coroner's office found evidence of errors in 20 of 45 autopsies Dr. Smith did over a 10-year period starting in the early 1990s. Thirteen resulted in criminal charges. William Mullins-Johnson, who was among those cases, spent 12 years in prison for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, whose death was later attributed to natural causes. In another case, Dr. Smith concluded a mother had stabbed her seven-year-old girl to death when it turned out to have been a dog mauling. The inquiry heard that Dr. Smith's failings included hanging on to crucial evidence, "losing" evidence which showed his opinion was wrong and may have assisted the accused person, misstating evidence, chronic tardiness, and the catastrophic misinterpretation of findings. The cases, along with other heart-rending stories of wrongful prosecutions based in part on Smith's testimony, also raised a host of issues about the pathology system and the reliance of the courts on expert evidence."
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"TORONTO — New trials have been ordered for two women convicted of killing their newborn babies based on the work of now disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith," the CP24 story published earlier today begins under the heading. "New trials ordered in cases of moms convicted ... based on faulty pathology."
"Ontario's highest court quashed both convictions today and the Crown said it will not bring evidence at the new trials," the story continues.
"Such a move from the Crown would mean both women, who cannot be identified, will be acquitted.
"The Crown concedes the two women felt pressured to plead guilty to the crimes because of Smith's stellar reputation as a pediatric forensic pathologist.
Both women always maintained they didn't know they were pregnant when they gave birth in the bathrooms of their homes.
A judicial inquiry into Smith's work found the pathologist's testimony was responsible, in part, for several people being wrongfully convicted of killing children and being sentenced to prison."
The story can be found at:
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101020/101020_pathologist/20101020/?hub=CP24Home
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com
