Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Bulletin: Melissa Calusinski; Illinois; Day care worker guilty of killing boy says new evidence will clear her; "But in a new court petition filed Tuesday that seeks to win her a new trial, Calusinski's lawyers said the X-rays reveal that medical experts for the state inaccurately concluded that the child suffered an acute injury the day of his 2009 death. According to the filing, new evidence will show that the Deerfield boy died as a result of an old injury caused by head-banging during tantrums." Chicago Tribune;

"Lawyers for a suburban woman found guilty of killing a toddler at a Lake County day care center say a newly discovered set of X-rays casts doubt on her conviction. Melissa Calusinski is serving a 31-year sentence for a first-degree murder conviction after authorities argued at her trial that she slammed the boy, Benjamin Kingan, to the ground while working at Minee Subee day care center in Lincolnshire. But in a new court petition filed Tuesday that seeks to win her a new trial, Calusinski's lawyers said the X-rays reveal that medical experts for the state inaccurately concluded that the child suffered an acute injury the day of his 2009 death. According to the filing, new evidence will show that the Deerfield boy died as a result of an old injury caused by head-banging during tantrums.......... According to the new filing, Calusinski's father received a mysterious call on June 10 telling him to "get the second set of X-rays" from the Lake County coroner's office. Those X-rays contain clearer images than those introduced at trial and would have boosted the defense's case, the document states. Calusinski, 28, of Carpentersville, "was wrongfully convicted based on this false medical evidence that was interjected into her alleged confession," the petition says. The document also contains a sworn statement from Dr. Nancy Jones, a forensic pathologist and former Cook County medical examiner, which said: "It is impossible to conclude, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that the final head injury was intentionally inflicted.".........Calusinski's lawyers have long said that she was coerced into confessing during a 10-hour interrogation that relied on faulty information from forensic pathologist Eupil Choi, who performed the autopsy. Choi later signed a statement in which he admitted that he "missed that (Ben) had suffered an old injury" that predated the day of his death, the petition states."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-day-care-murder-appeal-met-20150623-story.html