Rosa Jimenez. Texas: Innocence Project puts spotlight on her 38th birthday in prison - in this cruel, heartless, unfounded prosecution based on flawed medical testimony. HL...."Rosa Jimenez has spent her last 17 birthdays behind bars, wishing to go home. Last year, on her 37th birthday, a judge overturned her murder conviction and ordered that she either be given a new trial or released within four months. But today, Rosa is spending her 38th birthday still in prison as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pursues an appeal of the judge’s decision."

RELEASE: INNOCENCE PROJECT: October 28, 2020. GIST; Rosa Jimenez has spent her last 17 birthdays behind bars, wishing to go home. Last year, on her 37th birthday, a judge overturned her murder conviction and ordered that she either be given a new trial or released within four months. But today, Rosa is spending her 38th birthday still in prison as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pursues an appeal of the judge’s decision. In honor of her birthday, please take a moment to send Rosa an encouraging birthday note and then share it with your friends and family to bring her justice. In 2003, while Rosa was preparing lunch for her 1-year-old daughter and Bryan Gutierrez, a toddler she regularly babysat, the boy began choking on paper towels. She rushed to his aid, but when that didn’t work, she brought him to her neighbor for help. The child was taken to the hospital where he was resuscitated, but months later he died from complications. Rosa was seven months pregnant with her second child when she was arrested and accused of abusing the toddler, whom she’d loved like her own. After he died, she was charged with murder. She was convicted based on flawed medical testimony and since her conviction, pediatric airway experts from leading U.S. hospitals have concluded that it would have been “nearly impossible” for Rosa to have forced the child to swallow the paper towels and that no evidence suggests his death was anything other than an accident. Four judges have also said that she is likely innocent. Even though there’s so much evidence to point to Rosa’s innocence, the State of Texas is still fighting to keep her in prison. Despite this injustice she’s experienced, Rosa said she still has hope that this will be her last birthday behind bars. So if you can, take a moment today to tell Rosa you’re fighting for her on her birthday. Send a birthday note

The entire release can be read at: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwKjBSNcKtXssBrTKdxTgdCMRpm 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; ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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; ————————————————————————————————— FINAL, FINAL WORD (FOR NOW!): "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true! Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project; ----------------------------------------------------------