POST: "On the Salem witch trial syndrome: Aisling Brady McCarthy," by Matt Connolly, published by the Patriot Ledger on August 14, 2014. Matt Connolly is a former Norfolk County prosecutor who writes about major court cases and other legal issues.
GIST: "I prosecuted a murder case that came about during this time. I also oversaw an investigation into accusations by a child of evil and strange happenings at certain day care center. In the murder case where a mother murdered her child it was clear she was abetted by a psychologist who was caught up in the hysteria of the times. In the investigation, despite professionals telling us the child’s wild stories had to be true, I preferred to rely on our state police investigators who did an appropriate investigation and found no grounds for believing anything was amiss at the day care center. Had we credited the child’s evidence and sent in the “experts” we probably would have brought about a situation where most parents of the children in the school would have been convinced their child had been molested. The “experts” were our modern day witches seeing things no one else could see. I bring this up because of the “shaking baby” case. The Boston Herald deserves kudos for its coverage. It notes that Dr. Alice Whittier Newton has diagnosed the death of Rehma Sabir as one caused by her being shaken to death despite no outward signs of trauma. Aisling Brady McCarthy has been charged with first degree murder by the Middlesex District Attorney. This is the same district attorney’s office as handled the Fells Acre case. This doctor lists herself as being the medical director of the child protection program with clinical interests in child abuse and neglect. She’s also the doctor behind the Justina Pelletier matter which I didn’t follow but it seems whatever her input into it it cause untoward misery for the child and her family. She also apparently made a shaken baby finding in another matter that didn’t seem to hold up. My experience tells me that people in the business of looking for something will often find it even if it isn’t there. That was the case with the witches, the abused children and perhaps it is the case with Aisling Brady McCarthy. My experience also suggests that the defendant has a hard time beating these cases because of the sympathy for the dead child and the probable testimony of the doctor, who even if her evidence is totally conjured up because of a predisposition to make that finding, it will be enough to get the case to the jury. There are problems with the case........."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20140814/BLOGS/308149972/12334/NEWS
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/
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.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
