Bulletin: Roderick Blacksmith. Manitoba; Acquitted on a charge of second-degree murder; Prosecutors relied mainly on the fact that he was the only adult in the home when the 13-month old foster son was rushed to hospital; Defence medical experts testified that brain injuries can take days to develop. Canadian Press;

STORY: "Foster dad cleared in baby's death," published by the Canadian Press on February 3, 2014.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Roderick Blacksmith has been found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his foster son."

GIST: "A Manitoba man has been cleared in the death of his foster son. Roderick Blacksmith was on trial for second-degree murder in the November 2008 death of 13-month-old Cameron Ouskan. A Queen’s Bench judge ruled the Crown did not produce evidence pointing to Blacksmith as being the person responsible. Justice Deborah McCawley also said she is considering taking the rare step of having the Crown pay Blacksmith’s legal costs. The trial was told the young boy died from head injuries, but Crown witnesses could not pinpoint the day when the injuries would have occurred. The Crown relied mainly on the fact that Blacksmith was the only adult in the home when the boy was rushed to hospital in Gillam, Man., but medical experts told the trial brain injuries can take days to develop. “In my view, there is no evidence of an unlawful act, there is no evidence of Mr. Blacksmith having done anything wrong, and there is no evidence of a particular time frame,” defence lawyer Saul Simmonds told court Friday."

The entire story can be found at:

http://globalnews.ca/news/1125407/foster-dad-cleared-in-babys-death/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.co