"It was Premier McGuinty's government which took this approach recently after former Attorney General Michael Bryant became involved in an unfortunate altercation which resulted in a bicycle courrier's tragic death. Ontario overcame this conflict of interest by retaining Richard Peck - a highly respected lawyer in British Columbia - to come to Ontario, check out the evidence and make a recommendation. Although Peck ultimately recommended that Bryant should not charged the Government's decision not to prosecute was by and large accepted by the public at large, because of the independent perspective which had been brought to the case......"
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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BACKGROUND: The Goudge inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Charles 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. (He has since been thrown out of the medical profession in Ontario);
The 1,000-page report by Justice Stephen Goudge slammed 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 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, 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 Smith's failings included hanging on to crucial evidence, "losing" evidence which showed his opinion was wrong and may have assisted the accused person, mistating 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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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Each time the Ontario Court of Appeal quashes another conviction based on a former Dr. Charles Smith opinion (as happened in Tammy Marquardt's case on February 10, 1011) I get a strong impression that more and more people are wondering why Smith has not been held accountable in the criminal courts. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is the Premier who launched the independent public Inquiry into many of Smith's cases in order to restore confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system. My message to the Premier is that public confidence will only be re-established when Smith is himself brought to account, just as his many victims were brought to account. Because the Ontario government has such a palpable conflict of interest when it comes to Charles Smith - its prosecutors relied on him to help the Crown walk away with conviction after conviction in the criminal courts over many years - I have a solution to offer him. Premier McGuinty should encourage Attorney General Chris Bentley to invite a seasoned lawyer from another jurisdiction to come to Ontario and independently examine the relevant Smith cases to determine whether criminal prosecutions are warranted - and whether there is a reasonable probability that he can be convicted. It was Premier McGuinty's government which took this approach recently after former Attorney General Michael Bryant became involved in an unfortunate altercation which resulted in a bicycle courrier's tragic death. Ontario overcame this conflict of interest by retaining Richard Peck - a highly respected lawyer in British Columbia - to come to Ontario, check out the evidence and make a recommendation. Although Peck ultimately recommended that Bryant should not charged the Government's decision not to prosecute was by and large accepted by the public at large, because of the independent perspective which had been brought to the case. My message to Premier McGuinty, is that if indeed the government wishes to prove that it does have a political will to pursue Smith, it should retain Peck or someone like him from outside of the jurisdiction to do the job as quickly as possible. Public confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system is still very much at stake.
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.
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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
