PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "
The linchpin of the prosecution’s
case (against Maria Shepherd) was the flawed evidence of Charles Smith, a once-revered pediatric
forensic pathologist. He concluded in an autopsy that Kasandra had
died as a result of abuse. Once that evidence was backed up by several
other respected physicians, Shepherd felt she had no choice to but plead
guilty to a crime which, firstly, didn’t exist, and secondly, she
didn’t commit. “I thought that by complying, I could get home
sooner, so I could get someone to help me and get this all fixed,”
Shepherd recalled.
Smith would later be stripped of his licence
for doing to Shepherd what he did to up to a dozen other people —
forming erroneous opinions and providing misleading statements in court
that would implicate them in the deaths of their own children.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This is part one of what appears to be
an excellent series published by Global News on Canada's wrongfully
convicted. I recommend going directly to the link for the post below
to take advantage of several informative links within the post. Some
of the Canadian cases are worthy of attention from people in other
jurisdictions because they have led to public inquiries and
recommendations for avoiding further miscarriages of justice. Issues
such as mistaken eyewitness identification (Rob Baltovich) , false
confessions, and flawed pathology (and flawed pathologists) and
tunnel vision and hazardous cellmate testimony (Guy Paul Morin) have
been explored in depth. I draw particular attention to the Maria
Shepherd case - a Charles Smith case - which features in this opening
salvo to the Five Part series..."
Shepherd
spent two years less a day in prison, eventually convicted on the
flawed testimony from one-time-revered pediatric forensic pathologist
Dr. Charles Smith. Complaints
about his conduct led to a fresh investigation which found Shepherd’s
stepdaughter died from natural causes." Looking forward to Part Two!
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
---------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Canada’s Wrongfully Convicted: "The cases of Robert Baltovich and Maria Shepherd," by Pippa Reed and Niki Reitmeyer, published by CKNW (Global News 980) on May 1, 2019. (Part Two of a five-part series examining wrongful convictions and why they happen.)
GIST: "Robert
Baltovich was a young man in the prime of his life. He’d met a
beautiful woman, Elizabeth Bain, with whom he was very much in love. But
his life went into a tailspin when she went missing from the University
of Toronto Scarborough campus on June 19, 1990. It was at that point Baltovich realized something terrible was unfolding. “When I got the call from her mother at 6:30 the next morning, asking
if Liz was with me, and I said of course she wasn’t. That’s when we all
realized something was wrong,” Baltovich said. “Liz was not the type to
stay out late without telling anybody.” And when Bain’s abandoned
car was discovered near the Scarborough campus with her blood inside,
it quickly became evident she was never coming back.
The days, months and years that followed would test Baltovich to his core. Five
months after Bain’s disappearance, Baltovich was charged with her
murder. How did police reach that point? Hypnosis. That’s right, the
witnesses were hypnotized by the prosecution in an effort to jog their
memories. However, all it seemed to do was distort their memories,
leading to false testimony. Baltovich knew he was innocent — but still,
in February 1992, he was forced to stand trial for murdering Bain. Put
yourself in that courtroom. The eyes of everyone upon you, as you wait
for the jury to hand down a verdict, which could change the course of
your future. How would you feel? “In the back of my mind I kept
thinking, ‘You’re innocent, you can’t be convicted, you’re innocent, you
can’t be convicted, you didn’t do this,'” he recalled. “And when, of
course, the foreman said, ‘we find the accused guilty as charged’ — I
mean, it was a pretty brutal feeling. I just tried to stay strong.” Maria Shepherd: At
the same time, police were gathering evidence to put Baltovich behind
bars, another Canadian was about to be wrongfully accused of a heinous
crime she didn’t commit. In 1991, Maria Shepherd had two young children
and was pregnant with her third child. “I’d never had interactions with the law,” Shepherd said. Still, she was charged with causing the death of her three-and-a-half-year-old stepdaughter, Kasandra. Kasandra had been ill. A few months prior to her death, she had
even undergone a CAT scan that showed some notable space between her
skull and her brain. “She was vomiting on a regular basis, and so
we brought her into the hospital. She stayed there for about a month,”
Shepherd recalled. “Even though we took her to the hospital, she was
still discharged with no formal findings of why she was so sick except
to say that they thought that she perhaps had gastroenteritis.” On April 11, 1991, Kasandra died at home. “She had a grand mal seizure,” Shepherd said. “Everything was happening so quickly. We called 911."
Fast forward to October 1992, and Shepherd was under extreme
pressure to confess to manslaughter. The linchpin of the prosecution’s
case was the flawed evidence of Charles Smith, a once-revered pediatric
forensic pathologist. He concluded in an autopsy that Kasandra had
died as a result of abuse. Once that evidence was backed up by several
other respected physicians, Shepherd felt she had no choice to but plead
guilty to a crime which, firstly, didn’t exist, and secondly, she
didn’t commit. “I thought that by complying, I could get home
sooner, so I could get someone to help me and get this all fixed,”
Shepherd recalled.
Smith would later be stripped of his licence
for doing to Shepherd what he did to up to a dozen other people —
forming erroneous opinions and providing misleading statements in court
that would implicate them in the deaths of their own children. On
Oct. 22, 1992, Shepherd, who was pregnant with her youngest child
Chanel, was sent to prison for manslaughter. She was sentenced to two
years less a day. Both Maria Shepherd and Robert Baltovich were
able to eventually prove their innocence, but it came at a heavy cost.
What are the psychological effects of going to prison for a crime you
didn’t commit? How do you heal from wounds that run so deep?"
In
Part Three of ‘Canada’s Wrongfully Convicted,’ a special series from
the Jon McComb show on 980 CKNW, we examine the psychological impacts of
being wrongfully convicted. How do you put your life back together?
The entire story can be read at:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5217934/canadas-wrongfully-convicted-robert-baltovich-maria-shepherd/
PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the
Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
