Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Leo Ackley; Michigan; Shaken Baby Syndrome; Bulletin; WWMT reports that the jurors have headed home - without reaching a verdict..."We spoke briefly with Ackley’s attorney, who while he didn’t represent Ackley in the first trial, says that in 2012, those jurors came back with a verdict in about an hour. This current jury is now about six hours into deliberations, and no verdict."..."The jurors in the current trial will be back for day two of deliberations at 8:30 am Thursday morning."


"Jurors have headed home for the night without reaching a verdict in the case of a Battle Creek man accused of murdering a three-year-old girl. Newschannel 3 has been keeping a close eye on the retrial of 30-year-old Leo Ackley. We spoke briefly with Ackley’s attorney, who while he didn’t represent Ackley in the first trial, says that in 2012, those jurors came back with a verdict in about an hour. This current jury is now about six hours into deliberations, and no verdict. The focus of the trial is three-year-old Baylee Stenman, who died in 2011 of a subdural hematoma, caused by head trauma. Prosecutors argue that the young girl died at the hands of her mother’s then live-in boyfriend, Ackley. However Ackley and his attorney say that Baylee’s death was an accident, not a case of child abuse. In Ackley’s first trial in 2012 he was convicted of first degree murder and first degree child abuse. The prosecution called multiple witnesses who testified that Baylee died as a result of a head injury that was caused intentionally on July 28, 2011, but his defense attorney never called an experts. In 2015, the Michigan Supreme Court granted Ackley a new trial, citing ineffective council. This week, Ackley’s new attorney brought in an expert who said not enough evidence was taken during Baylee’s autopsy to conclude exactly when the injury occurred.
http://wwmt.com/news/local/jurors-head-home-without-reaching-verdict-in-leo-ackley-trial