BACKGROUND: "United States District Judge Lee Yeakel has overturned the murder conviction of Estela Rosa Jimenez and ordered a new trial based on Jimenez being denied her constitutional right to present qualified medical experts at her trial in August 2005. The decision is grounded on the earlier recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin issued in September 2018. It has been almost 15 years since Jimenez was convicted of murder for the death of a 21-month-old child in her care. Jimenez has always maintained her innocence and stated the child’s death was a tragic accident and not murder. Lawyer Bryce Benjet: “Rosa Jimenez was convicted based only on the scientifically invalid medical theory that was physically impossible for an infant to have choked on a wad of paper towel. There were no signs of abuse, Ms. Jimenez immediately tried to resuscitate Bryan Gutierrez and called for help. As any parent knows, the state’s theory made no sense. We have since presented leading experts in pediatric choking who described similar incidents of accidental choking and confirmed that nothing about this case suggested foul play. Unfortunately, Ms. Jimenez’s appointed defense counsel failed to hire a competent medical expert and the jury made its decision based on invalid science. Judge Yeakel’s decision today granting a new trial confirms the findings of both the trial judge and the state habeas judge that there is a reasonable likelihood Ms. Jimenez was wrongfully convicted. There is simply no evidence that this little boy’s death was anything but a tragic accident. Ms. Jimenez and her family have likewise suffered immeasurably. Her children have grown up without their mother, and Ms. Jimenez’s health has deteriorated while she spent almost half of her life imprisoned for a murder that never even happened."
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FROM ROTTEN TOMATOES: "A controversial court case involving an illegal immigrant and the death of a young child is examined in this documentary by filmmaker Lucia Gaja. Rosa Estela Olvera was born and raised in Ecatepec, a suburb of Mexico City, and in 1999, when she was just seventeen years old, Rosa decided to quit school and cross the border into the United States in search of work. Rosa ended up in Austin, Texas, where she met Fidel Juarez; Rosa and Fidel fell in love and were soon married. After having a baby, Rosa began picking up work as a babysitter, and soon had a number of regular customers who appreciated her gentle and considerate handling of children. However, after looking after Bryan Gutierrez, a boy less than two years old, Rose was charged with murder when the child was found dead with a lump of paper towel stuck in its throat. Rosa was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison, but in Mi Vida Dentro (aka My Life Inside), Gaja examines the evidence and suggests that Rosa's race and immigration status may have a great deal to do with the verdict and than an innocent woman has been convicted of a crime she did not commit. My Life Inside received its North American premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi.
"https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mi_vida_dentro_my_life_inside
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FROM ROTTEN TOMATOES: "A controversial court case involving an illegal immigrant and the death of a young child is examined in this documentary by filmmaker Lucia Gaja. Rosa Estela Olvera was born and raised in Ecatepec, a suburb of Mexico City, and in 1999, when she was just seventeen years old, Rosa decided to quit school and cross the border into the United States in search of work. Rosa ended up in Austin, Texas, where she met Fidel Juarez; Rosa and Fidel fell in love and were soon married. After having a baby, Rosa began picking up work as a babysitter, and soon had a number of regular customers who appreciated her gentle and considerate handling of children. However, after looking after Bryan Gutierrez, a boy less than two years old, Rose was charged with murder when the child was found dead with a lump of paper towel stuck in its throat. Rosa was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison, but in Mi Vida Dentro (aka My Life Inside), Gaja examines the evidence and suggests that Rosa's race and immigration status may have a great deal to do with the verdict and than an innocent woman has been convicted of a crime she did not commit. My Life Inside received its North American premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi.
"https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mi_vida_dentro_my_life_inside
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Jimenez was a 20-year-old undocumented immigrant when she was accused in 2003 of suffocating 21-month-old Bryan Gutierrez, a child in her care, by cramming a wad of paper towels down his throat. Prosecutors had no witnesses and no clear motive; instead, they presented experts who swore the child could not have swallowed the paper towels on his own. Jimenez's court-appointed attorney couldn't raise the money necessary to effectively counter the state's argument. Jimenez was convicted on the expert testimony and little else. She has protested her innocence ever since. In 2010 the Innocence Project took the case and brought experts of their own, who testified that children do get large objects stuck in their throats and that the toddler's death was likely a tragic accident."
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STORY: "Mi Vida Dentro Documentary Spotlights Rosa Jimenez Case: Activists organize screening as Jimenez awaits D.A.'s Office decision on a retrial," by Reporter Brant Bingamon, published by The Austin Chronicle on February 21, 2020.
GIST: "When will Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore make a decision on the fate of Rosa Jimenez? This was the question on everyone's lips at the screening and panel discussion of Mi Vida Dentro, Lucía Gajá's documentary telling Jimenez's story, held on Feb. 12 at the Mueller Alamo Drafthouse. Jimenez has served 17 years of a 99-year sentence for the murder of a toddler, but her guilt has long been doubted. Late last year, a federal judge ordered the D.A.'s Office to either retry or release Jimenez by Feb. 25. Attendance at the screening – organized by Kathy Mitchell of Just Liberty, with help from the Justice Collaborative, Austin Justice Coalition, Workers Defense Action Fund, and Austin Community Law Center – showed that Jimenez's case is striking a nerve. Attorney Sara Brown, who has represented Jimenez since 2012, urged the audience to contact the D.A. "The public outcry is the reason why these reviews are going on in the District Attorney's Office," she said. "All of that support has made a difference." Jimenez was a 20-year-old undocumented immigrant when she was accused in 2003 of suffocating 21-month-old Bryan Gutierrez, a child in her care, by cramming a wad of paper towels down his throat. Prosecutors had no witnesses and no clear motive; instead, they presented experts who swore the child could not have swallowed the paper towels on his own. Jimenez's court-appointed attorney couldn't raise the money necessary to effectively counter the state's argument. Jimenez was convicted on the expert testimony and little else. She has protested her innocence ever since. In 2010 the Innocence Project took the case and brought experts of their own, who testified that children do get large objects stuck in their throats and that the toddler's death was likely a tragic accident. A judge agreed and ordered a new trial. That order was reversed in 2012, but renewed in 2019 when U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel laid down the Feb. 25 deadline. In the years that her case has traveled through the appeals process, Jimenez has developed stage 4 kidney disease. Her Innocence Project attorney, Vanessa Potkin, says she will need dialysis and, eventually, a kidney transplant to stay alive but will never be able to get on a transplant list while in prison. Nonetheless, in January, representatives of the Texas Attorney General's office, in consultation with Moore, asked the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to keep Jimenez incarcerated indefinitely. The 5CA agreed. Potkin said Moore's decision on a retrial will likely determine whether the A.G. tries to keep Jimenez in prison. "What we heard from the Attorney General's office is they will take their cues from the district attorney," she said. For her part, Moore recently expressed confidence in Jimenez's trial jury, telling the online publication The Appeal that Jimenez's guilt was "resolved by the twelve men and women who actually saw all the evidence and heard opinion testimony. Everything after that is opinion by people who were not in that courtroom." Mitchell isn't impressed by that logic. "Yes, the original jury heard 'opinion testimony,'" she said. "They just didn't hear the testimony that led four judges to agree she is probably innocent. So those twelve jurors didn't consider all the evidence."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2020-02-21/mi-vida-dentro-documentary-spotlights-rosa-jimenez-case/
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;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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