"Semeniuk, who worked as the child abuse Crown in Windsor for years, told the court he wasn't consulted by Chatham-Kent police before the manslaughter charges were laid a few days after the boy's death. Police did consult with another local Crown, he said.
"The preliminary cause of death would lead everyone to believe it was a homicide," he said, adding those findings are currently under review by a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
He said the charge shouldn't have been laid before the cause of death was confirmed.
"It was clear that some of the recommendations in the Goudge Inquiry were not complied with," Semeniuk told the court.
He said the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (the "Goudge Inquiry) was commissioned after a number of highly publicized mistakes made by pathologist Dr. Charles Smith, some of which led to overturned cases.
Semeniuk said a key recommendation in the 2008 inquiry was that a case conference be held within two weeks of an autopsy in a criminally suspicious child's death — before a charge is laid.
"There's no rush to charge until you have all the evidence, especially when the case depends largely on forensic pathology evidence," Semeniuk told The Chatham Daily News outside court.
He told the court he's spoken with Police Chief Dennis Poole and a new protocol on dealing with the suspicious deaths of children is being put in place in Chatham-Kent "so we can ensure the public that innocent people are not charged . . . and that those responsible are held responsible.........
Riddell's defence lawyer Frank Retar said his client is relieved to have the charge withdrawn.
"She is finally able to grieve the loss of her son," he said. "She's never been able to do that because she's had the charges hanging over her head."
Retar hopes the stigma of the charges doesn't follow Riddell.
"There was nothing to suggest she was involved in the death of her child — nothing," he said. "She's a kind, sweet, gentle soul. It was heartbreaking to see the devastation this caused."
REPORTER ERICA BAJER; THE CHATHAM DAILY NEWS;
MARK CALENDER NOW: IMPORTANT JOINT NPR, FRONTLINE, PROPUBLICA INVESTIGATION OF CHILD DEATH CASES INVOLVING ABUSE, ASSAULT AND "SHAKEN-BABY SYNDROME." ASKS IF DEATH INVESTIGATORS ARE BEING PROPERLY TRAINED FOR CHILD CASES; FIRST OF THREE SEGMENTS ON "THE CHILD CASES" AIRS ON JUNE 28 AT 9.00 PM:
When a child dies under suspicious circumstances, abuse is often suspected. That's what happened in the case of six-month-old Isis Vas, whose death was deemed "a clear-cut and classic" case of child abuse, sending a man named Ernie Lopez to prison for 60 years. But now a Texas judge has moved to overturn Lopez's conviction, and new questions are being asked about the quality of expert testimony in this and many other similar cases. In this joint investigation with ProPublica and NPR, FRONTLINE correspondent A.C. Thompson unearths more than 20 child death cases in which people were jailed on medical evidence -- involving abuse, assault and "shaken-baby syndrome" -- that was later found unreliable or flat-out wrong. Are death investigators being properly trained for child cases? The Child Cases is the first of three magazine segments airing June 28 at 9 p.m. (check local listings);
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-child-cases/
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Almost three years have passed since Justice Stephen Goudge released his report on many of former pathologist Charles Smith's cases on September 30, 2008. That should certainly have been enough for the Ontario government to put in place Justice Goudge's numerous recommendations designed to prevent innocent grieving parents from being wrongfully charged with killing their children. It is clear from this case that this has not happened in Chatham, Ontario, and we are left wondering whether the recommendations have been put into effect anywhere else in Ontario - in spite of all of the government's assurances to the public that the recommendations would be quickly put in place. This has happened on Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley's watch. He has a lot of explaining to do. How sad it would be if Justice Goudge's efforts - and the hard-hitting Inquiry he conducted - turn out to have been in vain.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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"Manslaughter charges in the death of a three-week-old baby have been dropped against his mother and stayed against his father," the Chatham Daily News story by reporter Erica Bajer published earlier today under the heading, "Mother's charge dropped, father's stayed in baby's death," begins.
"The manslaughter charge against Candice J. Riddell, 26, was withdrawn Monday by assistant Crown attorney Randy Semeniuk," the story continues.
"He said she fully co-operated with the Chatham-Kent police investigation into her son Kavan's death in November of 2010.
Semeniuk stayed the manslaughter charge against Justin J. Kozlof, 25, noting the investigation is ongoing and a conclusive cause of death is not yet known. Stayed charges can be re-activated within one year.
Riddell wasn't in court Monday and Kozlof refused to comment following the hearing.
Riddell's defence lawyer Frank Retar said his client is relieved to have the charge withdrawn.
"She is finally able to grieve the loss of her son," he said. "She's never been able to do that because she's had the charges hanging over her head."
Retar hopes the stigma of the charges doesn't follow Riddell.
"There was nothing to suggest she was involved in the death of her child — nothing," he said. "She's a kind, sweet, gentle soul. It was heartbreaking to see the devastation this caused."
Kozlof's lawyer Gudrun Mueller-Wilm said he is also relieved.
"It's very unfortunate that two parents who lose a child have to go through this," she said, noting they almost missed Kavan's funeral because they were behind bars.
She said the couple, who lived on Sheldon Avenue when Kavan died, is no longer together.
Mueller-Wilm said she hopes in the future police wait and complete investigations before people are charged.
"We were very lucky we had Randy Semeniuk, a very experienced prosecutor who made the right decision," she said.
Semeniuk, who worked as the child abuse Crown in Windsor for years, told the court he wasn't consulted by Chatham-Kent police before the manslaughter charges were laid a few days after the boy's death. Police did consult with another local Crown, he said.
"The preliminary cause of death would lead everyone to believe it was a homicide," he said, adding those findings are currently under review by a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
He said the charge shouldn't have been laid before the cause of death was confirmed.
"It was clear that some of the recommendations in the Goudge Inquiry were not complied with," Semeniuk told the court.
He said the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (the "Goudge Inquiry) was commissioned after a number of highly publicized mistakes made by pathologist Dr. Charles Smith, some of which led to overturned cases.
Semeniuk said a key recommendation in the 2008 inquiry was that a case conference be held within two weeks of an autopsy in a criminally suspicious child's death — before a charge is laid.
"There's no rush to charge until you have all the evidence, especially when the case depends largely on forensic pathology evidence," Semeniuk told The Chatham Daily News outside court.
He told the court he's spoken with Police Chief Dennis Poole and a new protocol on dealing with the suspicious deaths of children is being put in place in Chatham-Kent "so we can ensure the public that innocent people are not charged . . . and that those responsible are held responsible."
Acting Insp. Trevor Crane, head of the major crime unit, said the protocol is in the early stages of development.
He said in all serious cases, police collaborate with the Crown's office.
The investigation into Kavan's death is ongoing and Crane said he couldn't discuss specifics of the case.
"The medical report has to go through a number of hands and we don't know when we will get it," he said.
"Investigative decisions with respect to charges were made in consultation with the Crown and were appropriate given the evidence before us."
Semeniuk said when the protocol is in place, he will meet with police and other agencies, such as the children's aid society, before charges are laid.
This way, decisions drawing on all available expertise can be made.
It's hoped that as part of the protocol, two detectives will be dedicated to child death cases and be extensively trained to investigate them, he said.
Semeniuk said he had a handful of cases involving the disgraced pathologist Charles Smith but all the convictions were upheld, partly because he instituted a similar protocol in Windsor.
"The whole protocol is to be very proactive, yet cautious," he said.
Ontario Court Justice Donald Ebbs pointed out that after the pediatrician review, the coroners' report will again be examined.
"In my experience, preliminary findings are really not findings," the judge said."
The story can be found at:
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3189751
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
