John Howard-Bee: Pennsylvania: Shaken Baby Syndrome case: A father faces the death penalty: A classic SBS case - but one of the few in which the so-called syndrome - a highly controversial theory' can lead to the death chamber. The case is aggravated by so-called confessions obtained through use of the notorious Reid technique. (Even though, as reporter Zack Hoopes notes, " According to Abom, (John Abom: his court appointed public defender) video of the interview showed Howard-Bee explicitly denying intentionally hurting his son 19 times, but Reid continued the interview regardless. At one point, Howard-Bee breaks down and says “there is nothing more I can tell you, you’re driving me insane,” according to a courtroom reading of the interview transcript. At one point, Howard-Bee lays his head down on the table and says “I can’t anymore.”) In addition to the controversial Reid Technique, a jailhouse informant also is said to have played a role in the case. We will be following this case closely - all eyes should be on this Pennsylvania courtroom. HL.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Kudos to reporter Zack Hoopes for putting this important case - in which a man is on death row because of a theory  which is considerable dispute among medical professionals - in the public eye. This case also deserves the attention Hoopes and The Sentinel have provided because it bears the hallmarks of other wrongful shaken baby prosecutions - reliance on the equally controversial Reid Technique of interrogation and the presence of a jailhouse informant. (In my experience, the Reid Technique and Jailhouse informant are usually trotted out when the police and prosecutors realize that there is no legitimate way they can prosecute a case.) Worse for Howard-Bee, we learn from Hoope's story that the judge has already ruled against him on several key pre-trial  motions.  So thank you  Zack Hoopes and  The Sentinel for the fine journalism. It is so very important.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Dr. Lori Frasier, the head of the child abuse pediatrics unit at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and, coincidentally, the doctor who examined Howard-Bee’s child and provided much of the medical information in the police affidavit. Much of Frasier’s medical research has gone toward proving that AHT  (abusive head trauma) can be reliably diagnosed, albeit through an intensive clinical process. “Child abuse is unique compared with other diagnostic processes because there is no single or combined set of clinical indicators that proves a child has been abused,” Frasier wrote in a 2015 paper, which studied diagnostic procedures in AHT cases including neuroimaging, biomechanical studies, and other complex indicators of abuse. (Robert Dunha - Death Penalty Information Center -  criticized the use of the death penalty in shaken baby/AHT cases – pointing to the case of Jeffery Havard, the Mississippi man who was taken off death row last year amidst evidence that the shaken baby death of his child had been wrongly diagnosed. Dozens, if not hundreds, of often conflicting studies have been published in recent years as to whether or not accidental falls and collisions can cause AHT-like symptoms, particularly in children with chronic health problems. While it’s hard to make a comparison given that medical evidence in Howard-Bee’s case hasn’t yet been presented at trial, “there are extremely significant issues regarding junk science and shaken baby cases,” Dunham said. “Any time you deal with a diagnosis like that, and it automatically permits the prosecution to seek the death penalty, there should be huge red flags going up,” Dunham said. The complexity of a shaken baby or AHT diagnosis has been a major factor in why Howard-Bee has been incarcerated for so long without trial, and it’s also a major factor in why cost considerations seem to have become an increasing concern in the case."

STORY: "Trial of father in infant's 2015 death finally set to move forward," by reporter Zack Hoopes, published by The Sentinel on June 7, 2019. (The Sentinel is a daily newspaper based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, serving the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan area.)

GIST: "On Nov. 11, 2015, police arrested John Howard-Bee of Carlisle for allegedly shaking and physically abusing his infant son, resulting in the baby’s death. Three and a half years later, Howard-Bee, now 25, is still in jail, and his homicide case has not yet gone to trial. A trial date has been set for October and is almost certain to happen this time, despite past continuances, given that the judge presiding over the case has ruled on a series of motions that remained unresolved for over two years. When the case comes to trial, it stands to be one of the most difficult and potentially controversial death penalty cases the state has seen in some time. This is not only because of the death penalty itself, which is in a state of limbo in Pennsylvania, but also because of certain factors in Howard-Bee’s case that have further aggravated the already long timetable and specific sentencing requirements of capital cases. The exact parameters of a “shaken baby” death are still being developed by the medical community, meaning that the premise of Howard-Bee’s alleged crime will be subject to more scrutiny than, say, killing someone by shooting them. This has led to chronic delays in moving the case forward due to the difficulty in finding and financing medical experts for a case in which the defendant is unable to pay for his own defense, and his court-appointed defender must have their expenses approved by the presiding judge. 

Pre-trial hearings: Much of the adjudication over the past 43 months has been spent on pre-trial hearings regarding the investigative procedures of the Pennsylvania State Police, as well as motions and stipulations regarding the death penalty and the admission or exclusion of evidence that could impact Howard-Bee’s sentencing, were he to be convicted — the ultimate determination of whether he lives or dies. In many cases, motions regarding the most basic information about the case have caused delays of several months due to scheduling difficulties. “You’re describing classic signs of a death penalty case disrupting the criminal justice system,” said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center. “You would not have that kind of impairment if this were not a capital case. These are the classic costs of the over-pursuit of capital punishment.” The Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office could, hypothetically, take the death penalty off the table at any point. 2015: A year-end review of crime in Cumberland County It was a year that in some ways spoke to the relative safety of Cumberland County, but at the same time showed signs of the worst society has …But at this juncture, it’s largely moot point — the court has already spent 3½ years on defense motions that are geared toward ensuring that no rock is left unturned if and when Howard-Bee faces a death penalty sentencing. “These cases require extensive investigation not only for trial but for the potential penalty phase,” said Marc Bookman of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a nonprofit group that consults on death penalty defense. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a capital case that wasn’t complicated. Both the prosecution and defense agreed that, while the case is one of the longest they’ve seen, it’s not unusual given the circumstances. “The fact is that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is seeking the death penalty against John Howard-Bee, and that entails a huge responsibility,” said John Abom, Howard-Bee’s court appointed defender. “In addition to prepping for trial we have to prepare for sentencing. Considering the seriousness of the case it’s in everyone interest … that everyone be properly prepared and informed. Kimberly Metzger, the leader prosecutor in the case for Cumberland County District Attorney Skip Ebert, said in April that she foresaw keeping the death penalty in place as the defense continues its work ahead of trial. “They have to be able to do their work and do their job and be satisfied that they’ve uncovered everything they want to uncover to present it to me and the DA, to determine if it’s appropriate to continue with the death penalty or not,” Metzger said. “But at this point there’s no reason for us to take the death penalty off the table.”  

The incident: On the evening of Nov. 10, 2015, Pennsylvania State Police were called to then Carlisle Regional Medical Center for a 6-week-old infant who had allegedly suffered traumatic injuries. The child had been brought by ambulance from a home in South Middleton Township, according to the state police’s affidavit for criminal charges against Howard-Bee. 'A Carlisle man faces aggravated assault charges Wednesday in connection to the assault of a 6-week-old child, police said.'  CRMC doctors advised that the child “had sustained severe trauma to his head causing his brain to swell,” according to the troopers’ affidavit, and was transferred to Penn State Hershey Medical Center. The child had been resuscitated and required life support and intubation. Hershey Medical Center later relayed to the state police the full extent of the child’s injuries, according to the affidavit. The infant had retinal bleeding, as well as multiple skull fractures that doctors said showed inertial injuries, which they believed resulted from shaking, as well as impact injuries, the most recent of which would have rendered the child immediately unconscious. The baby also had “additional skin and skeletal injuries of varying ages that indicate he was subjected to violent and abusive forces throughout his short life,” state police wrote. The child was also underweight by about two pounds based on his pediatric records, and appeared malnourished. Paramedics’ observations, noted in court documents, included that the child had a deformed left femur and what appeared to be “fingerprint contusions” on the face and head. Howard-Bee was asked to come to the State Police at Carlisle station in South Middleton Township to speak with troopers about his son. He was told, according to the police affidavit, that he was not under arrest and free to leave if he wished. But at this point, the narrative gets more contentious......... According to Abom, video of the interview showed Howard-Bee explicitly denying intentionally hurting his son 19 times, but Reid continued the interview regardless. At one point, Howard-Bee breaks down and says “there is nothing more I can tell you, you’re driving me insane,” according to a courtroom reading of the interview transcript. At one point, Howard-Bee lays his head down on the table and says “I can’t anymore.” In his motion, Abom notes that Miranda requirements are not initiated “unless the individual is in custody and subject to interrogation.” But this doesn’t mean the person has to be under arrest in order for Miranda requirements to kick in. “Although not under formal arrest at that time, an objective person would not have felt at liberty to refuse to answer questions and leave,” Abom notes. “An extended station house interrogation creates the reasonable belief in the person being interrogated that his freedom of action is restrained,” Abom continues in his argument. But in his ruling on the pre-trial motions, Placey rejects this: Howard-Bee did not explicitly request to leave or speak with an attorney, and the fact that Reid was focusing on Howard-Bee as a suspect does not itself require Miranda notification, in Placey’s opinion. The interview “was a part of a general police investigation and did not reach an accusatory stage for persons not in custody,” Placey wrote. “The fact that a police investigation eventually focused on a particular individual does not automatically trigger custody.” Apropos of the argument, state police were clearly aware that they could not hold Howard-Bee based on his pre-Miranda statements. One of the state police’s communications to the Cumberland County’s child services department states that “Howard-Bee admitted to striking, slapping, choking and shaking the child” but that “he would be released from the station due to his rights not having been read prior to the conversation. It was only after Howard-Bee was called back to the Carlisle state police barracks that he was Mirandized, but he did not request counsel at this point. In his ruling, Placey found that these statements were also admissible, writing that Howard-Bee “made a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights.”

Further motions:   Though the material garnered from Howard-Bee’s interviews won’t be thrown out, Abom has already built an argument that his client’s alleged confession was coerced. In Reid’s deposition, the defense questions the police investigator about his use of the Reid Technique, an interview strategy whose namesake is coincidental and not related to the trooper himself. Rather, the method involves asking the suspect a series of questions that are predicated on guilt, to see if the interviewee will take the bait and buy into a narrative that assumes they committed the crime. The technique is often criticized as prone to producing false confessions. When asked if he used the technique on Howard-Bee, Reid replies “parts of it, yes,” according to the deposition transcript."..............   But seemingly minor details such as the nature of the state police’s interrogation techniques have continually stretched the timeline of Howard-Bee’s case. Abom initially filed a right-to-know request for the training records of the troopers involved on May 5, 2017. It took months to get the state police to hand them over — heavily redacted — and to schedule the troopers’ deposition. Reid finally appeared at a pre-trial hearing to answer questions about his methods on Feb. 13, 2018, nine months after Abom had began inquiring. At one deposition in January 2018, Placey, remarking on yet another continuance of a motion hearing, said he was aware of the “gamesmanship” going on and that “I know what it is like trying to pull teeth from those folks” in getting the needed documents. Through many of these motion hearings, Abom has already made the case that, while Howard-Bee’s affirmation of his Miranda rights is sufficient for Placey to allow his interviews to be presented at trial, the defendant did not fully comprehend what he was doing. When Howard-Bee was called back to the Carlisle barracks for a second time, troopers already knew that the baby was brain dead, according to a pre-trial deposition transcript, but only told Howard-Bee the status of his son after he agreed to sign the Miranda confirmation. Howard-Bee’s girlfriend, Audrey Rehm, who created an online petition to raise awareness of Howard-Bee’s long confinement, characterized the situation as coercive, given that Howard-Bee did not understand the extent of his son’s injuries, regardless of whether he caused them. “There is no evidence at all to support their claim except what they coerced through manipulation, suggestion and John Howard-Bee’s desperation to keep his son safe,” Rehm wrote in an email. Court dockets also indicate that Abom is seeking the use of a neuropsychologist to evaluate Howard-Bee. Although Abom declined to discuss his strategy before trial, making Howard-Bee’s mental state or mental capacity is an issue that could come up. Placey also rejected a motion by Abom to bar the use of Howard-Bee’s student history from Big Spring School District, finding that police investigators were justified in obtaining it to gauge Howard-Bee’s ability to understand the harm he allegedly caused his child. Conversely, while Howard-Bee’s statements to the police will be admitted to the trial under Placey’s ruling, there is nothing preventing Abom from trying to convince a jury that the statements are bunk. In fact, in discussing the existing case law regarding Miranda notifications in his ruling, Placey writes that the voluntariness of a defendant’s statement is predicated on the suspect’s psychological condition and “any other condition which may drain the power of resistance to suggestion or to otherwise undermine the ability to exercise free will.” Placey also shot down Abom’s attempt to preclude the prosecution’s use of testimony from a former Cumberland County jail inmate who had provided the state police with information about Howard-Bee. Abom had argued that the jailhouse informant was acting at the behest of the state police, thus making him an agent of the state who would have had to warn Howard-Bee of his right to have an attorney present during any of their jailhouse conversations, lest Howard-Bee’s Sixth Amendment rights be violated. Placey found that the testimony “may be admissible” as long as Howard-Bee made the statements voluntarily, and inmates voluntarily provided them to police. Any information acquired by police “by luck or happenstance” does not cause a Sixth Amendment violation, Placey wrote, quoting prior precedent. The material in question “may be admissible” given that one informant “independently sought out prison officials to share information provided by [the] defendant.” However, transcripts of the pre-trial deposition indicate that state police investigators were in contact with the inmates about how to obtain information. The inmate in question testified that Reid had suggested he attempt to form a relationship with Rehm after his release, presumably to obtain information about her son’s death, although he did not follow through on the request. While Abom’s contentions are not immediately impactful given what is known about the case, Placey notes that a number of the motions appear to present arguments in order to be able to include the matter in a possible appeal. “It is noted that a number of the matters contained in the omnibus motion are, as noted, well-settled and their pro forma inclusion therein is to preserve the issue for appeal,” Placey wrote. “The extent to which defense pursued these matters pretrial is a curiosity, as if defense is putting the appeal in front of the trial. Metzger said she did not expect Abom’s arguments to impact what she planned to present as a prosecutor. “It’s very easy to make something of nothing when you have nothing to go on,” she said.

 Death penalty in limbo in Pennsylvania: The technicalities of the death penalty in Pennsylvania, despite its effective annulment in the state, feature heavily in the case of John How…Capital costs: While the death penalty has been a topic of debate in Pennsylvania in a broad sense, it’s also of particular interest in a case where the method of the alleged homicide, chronic child abuse consistent with “shaken baby” symptoms, is not as medically cut-and-dried at most other means of killing. Medical doctors have debated for decades over the accuracy and methodology of diagnosing “shaken baby” cases, which are often more precisely referred to as AHT, abusive head trauma. This refers to a series of injuries that include bleeding behind the eyes, skull fractures, signs of repeated brain swelling, and other ailments that, when taken together, are generally considered signs of child abuse by shaking. One of the leading experts on the diagnostic procedure for this is Dr. Lori Frasier, the head of the child abuse pediatrics unit at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and, coincidentally, the doctor who examined Howard-Bee’s child and provided much of the medical information in the police affidavit. Much of Frasier’s medical research has gone toward proving that AHT can be reliably diagnosed, albeit through an intensive clinical process. “Child abuse is unique compared with other diagnostic processes because there is no single or combined set of clinical indicators that proves a child has been abused,” Frasier wrote in a 2015 paper, which studied diagnostic procedures in AHT cases including neuroimaging, biomechanical studies, and other complex indicators of abuse. Dunham criticized the use of the death penalty in shaken baby/AHT cases – pointing to the case of Jeffery Havard, the Mississippi man who was taken off death row last year amidst evidence that the shaken baby death of his child had been wrongly diagnosed. Dozens, if not hundreds, of often conflicting studies have been published in recent years as to whether or not accidental falls and collisions can cause AHT-like symptoms, particularly in children with chronic health problems. While it’s hard to make a comparison given that medical evidence in Howard-Bee’s case hasn’t yet been presented at trial, “there are extremely significant issues regarding junk science and shaken baby cases,” Dunham said. “Any time you deal with a diagnosis like that, and it automatically permits the prosecution to seek the death penalty, there should be huge red flags going up,” Dunham said. The complexity of a shaken baby or AHT diagnosis has been a major factor in why Howard-Bee has been incarcerated for so long without trial, and it’s also a major factor in why cost considerations seem to have become an increasing concern in the case. In a transcript of a hearing from March of this year, Placey told counsel that the costs for the Howard-Bee are “wildly over by comparison” with the death penalty trial of Rocky Anderson, the accused shooter from the Carlisle American Legion. “What I need, and what I am encouraging from you, is to know that you folks are communicating, and if there is room towards resolution work towards it sooner rather than later because it is in the best financial interest of the county,” Placey said, according to the transcript. Abom, as of January 2019, had already billed the courts nearly $140,000 for his past three years of work as Howard-Bee’s court appointed defender, a figure that will likely multiply if and when the case goes to trial. The same goes for the prosecution, although less directly so, since the District Attorney’s Office does not have to contract outside for qualified attorneys as with the defense. But according to court transcripts, and Metzger herself, she was hired for her position with the Howard-Bee case specifically in mind. “It’s not like the attorneys are gouging,” Bookman said. “If the commonwealth makes the decision to seek the death penalty, they are also making the decision to pay for that case.” Court transcripts thus far also indicate that difficulty in getting medical experts has been a major delay in Howard-Bee’s trial. It wasn’t until March of this year, for instance, that Abom was able to get court approval for a radiologist after prior attempts to hire the needed expert fell through. The allowance for the radiologist is capped at $3,000, up to $300 per hour for up to 10 hours of work on the case. “Your first choice might not work depending on the finances, but we certainly have to find qualified people to consult with,” Abom said, adding that court-allowed fees for a public defense are typically lower than if Howard-Bee could afford to pay on his own. “Not every expert is someone who is going to be a witness, but we are not experts and we need to consult with them from time to time in order to assist us in preparing the case even if we’re not going to call that person [to the stand],” Abom said. “The fact is that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is seeking the death penalty against John Howard-Bee, and that entails a huge responsibility. In addition to prepping for trial we have to prepare for sentencing. Considering the seriousness of the case it’s in everyone interest … that everyone be properly prepared and informed.”

The entire story can be read at:
 https://cumberlink.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/trial-of-father-in-infant-s-death-finally-set-to/article_6b8806a6-f3e7-5206-aad8-739b42d73105.html

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ADDED COPY TO THIS POST: (Added on July 3, 2019); Another disturbing element to this case - in addition to the pattern of the Charles Smith 'manufacturing murder' case,  use of the notorious Reid Technique and the role played by a jailhouse informant, is an inflammatory  FOX 43 story by reporters Leah Kirstein and Tarriel Orr which  ran on November 19, 2015 under the heading "DA: None of us have seen a case this bad. The physicians that tried to treat this child have expressed similar opinions," said Freed. "  The story, continues to taint Bee-Howard in the eyes of potential jurors with District Attorney David Freed's comment: " "We're going to do our utmost to try to get justice for this little boy who had such an unfortunate existence here. We know he's in a better place," added Freed."
https://fox43.com/2015/11/19/none-of-us-have-ever-seen-a-case-this-bad-six-week-old-infant-murdered/
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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;