IN AN AFFIDAVIT FILED LAST MONTH IN SUPPORT OF HER SUPREME COURT APPLICATION, NEWFOUNDLAND'S CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, SIMON AVIS, FLATLY DISMISSED DR. SMITH'S CONCLUSION THAT KENNETH'S DEATH WAS A RESULT OF ASPHYXIA. THE ONLY LEGITIMATE FINDING FOR CAUSE OF DEATH, HE SAID, IS “UNDETERMINED.”
“TO FURTHER DEFINE THE ASPHYXIA AS A RESULT OF SMOTHERING OR NECK COMPRESSION WAS WRONG AND INAPPROPRIATE,” DR. AVIS SAID.
HIS VIEW WAS CORROBORATED BY A FINNISH PATHOLOGIST, PEKKA SAUKKO, WHO BRANDED DR. SMITH'S FINDINGS “ILLOGICAL AND COMPLETELY AGAINST SCIENTIFIC-BASED REASONING.”
JUSTICE REPORTER KIRK MAKIN: GLOBE AND MAIL;
CP PHOTO: OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE; FREE AT LAST;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Like Bill Mullins-Johnson, Sherry Sherret, two women who cannot be identified by name and Dinesh Kumar - all victims of Dr. Charles Smith who have been acquitted by the province's highest court often years after their conviction - Tammy Marquardt will be asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to clear her name. (At least five other similar appeals are pending). Ms. Marquardt's appeal is set for Thursday February 10, 2011. In anticipation of this important date I am running a retrospective of 14 posts which ran previously on this Blog.
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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Thursday, March 12, 2009
TAMMY MARQUARDT: PART (6); RELEASE FROM CUSTODY PENDING HEARING IN ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL; GLOBE AND MAIL REPORTS;
The Globe and Mail reports that Tammy Marquardt was granted bail earlier this morning by the Ontario Court of Appeal;
The Story, by Justice Reporter Kirk Makin runs under the heading, "Court grants woman bail after 14 years."
"Fourteen years after she was convicted of murdering her two-year-old son, Tammy Marquardt tasted freedom today as the Ontario Court of Appeal granted her bail," the story begins;
"The 37-year-old woman beamed as she heard Mr. Justice Kathryn Feldman say Ms. Marquardt can live in a Toronto halfway house - supervised by the Toronto Bail Program - while she awaits an appeal of her conviction," it continues;
"Apart from a brief release on parole several years ago that ended in a quick revocation, she had not set foot outside prison since her conviction in 1995 for murdering her two-year-old son, Kenneth.
The child died on Oct. 9, 1993, after Ms. Marquardt called 911 in a panic to report that she had emerged from the shower to find Kenneth – who had a history of epileptic seizures – tangled in his bedclothes, struggling for breath and calling, “mommy.”
Ms. Marquardt is one of a half-dozen individuals who have been permitted to reopen convictions that were based on dubious testimony from Dr. Charles Smith, a world-renowned pediatric forensic psychiatrist whose work has now been largely discredited.
When the Supreme Court of Canada granted her permission to reopen her case last month, it ended 14 years of asserting her innocence and watching as Dr. Smith's once-sterling reputation was destroyed in case after case – several times granting freedom to a parent or caregiver convicted of killing a child.
One of the most notable features of Ms. Marquardt's case is that she rejected plea bargain that would have given her a five-year sentence for manslaughter. Instead, she threw herself on the mercy of a jury, with the prospect of a life sentence if her gamble backfired.
“For years, I was told that I was in denial,” she said last month, in her first-ever interview. “You're in here, so obviously you did something. I had to just hold my head up, knowing in my heart of hearts that I hadn't done anything. I know the truth – and it will come out some day. I have just held onto that.”
While witnesses who entered Ms. Marquardt's apartment on the day of Kenneth's death attested to her being visibly distraught, police were skeptical.
At trial, the Crown portrayed Ms. Marquardt as an overstressed mother on welfare who had called the Children's Aid Society several times to have Kenneth temporarily placed in a foster home, once expressing fears that she might hurt him.
On the eve of her trial, her two lawyers gave her conflicting advice. “One kept saying, ‘There isn't enough evidence here to get you convicted,' she recalled in the interview. “The other was saying, ‘The Crown's offering you a plea of manslaughter for five years – take it!' I hadn't done anything. Why should I take it?”
She was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.
In an affidavit filed last month in support of her Supreme Court application, Newfoundland's Chief Medical Examiner, Simon Avis, flatly dismissed Dr. Smith's conclusion that Kenneth's death was a result of asphyxia. The only legitimate finding for cause of death, he said, is “undetermined.”
“To further define the asphyxia as a result of smothering or neck compression was wrong and inappropriate,” Dr. Avis said.
His view was corroborated by a Finnish pathologist, Pekka Saukko, who branded Dr. Smith's findings “illogical and completely against scientific-based reasoning.”
Ms. Marquardt gave birth to her second child, Keith, while on bail awaiting trial. She arrived in prison five months pregnant; her third son, Eric, was seized two days after he was born. Both boys were adopted by the same parents, whose identity remains a mystery to Ms. Marquardt.
She said that she dreams of seeing her two sons at the end of it all.
Ms. Marquardt was released on parole in 2005, but it was revoked after she began drinking heavily.
In the interview last month, she said that she tries not to think about being exonerated. “Part of me is scared to look that far ahead,” she said. “It's just overwhelming. The truth is finally going to be out there. I just wish it didn't take so long.
“If they still had capital punishment, I would be dead,” she added. “Thank God Canada doesn't have the death penalty any more.”
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The post can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2009/03/tammy-marquardt-released-from-custody.html
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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://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
