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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Monday the Court of Appeal heard Vinaccia was challenging his conviction on a charge of child homicide – an offence similar to manslaughter that applies to victims aged six or under – and that his lawyers intended to bring new evidence before the court.The 28-year-old’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed to Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell that the appeal was primarily directed at the scientific evidence related to autopsy results showing what is referred to as a “triad” of internal head injuries – bleeding in the brain, a retinal haemorrhage and swelling of the brain. It is unclear what the new evidence to be put at Vinaccia’s appeal comprises, but Mr Edney said it clearly showed his client should not have been convicted. “The evidence is so cogent, plausible and probable it would establish an innocent person has been convicted or there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice,” he told Justice Maxwell."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Prosecutor Christopher Boyce, QC, will argue the appeals court should not allow the new evidence as it could set a precedent for other cases over the use of expert evidence. However, Mr Boyce also conceded he would want to know if the new evidence would have made any difference in Vinaccia’s case. “If it did and our experts said, ‘Oh goodness, we’ve made a mistake about this,’ then I’d want to know that,” Mr Boyce said. Justice Maxwell expected the legal challenge would chart new territory for the appeals court. “We haven’t had many forensic evidence cases and it’s quite unprecedented to have the concept of conflicting expert opinions which weren’t heard by the trial court,” he said."
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STORY: "New evidence before appeals court in challenge against baby shaking conviction," by Reporters Adam Cooper and Chris Vedelago, published by The Age on June 21, 2021. (Adam Cooper joined The Age in 2011. Chris Vedelago is an Investigative Reporter for The Age with a special interest in crime and justice.)
GIST: "New scientific evidence will be put to the Court of Appeal for a man convicted of killing his girlfriend’s baby son, with his lawyers arguing he is an innocent man who suffered a miscarriage of justice in being found guilty and jailed.
Jesse Vinaccia was found guilty of child homicide in 2019 and jailed for 8Ѕ years over the death of Kaleb Baylis-Clarke, who was 17 weeks old when he died in January 2016.
Vinaccia’s trial heard he violently shook Kaleb at a Cranbourne West home while the baby’s mother, Erin Baylis-Clarke, was at work. Kaleb died in hospital a week later and medical experts later said his fatal head injuries were consistent with him being shaken.
But since Vinaccia’s trial doubts have been raised about the scientific evidence relied on to jail a number of men for shaking babies, which in turn has raised serious questions over whether their convictions were sound.
On Monday the Court of Appeal heard Vinaccia was challenging his conviction on a charge of child homicide – an offence similar to manslaughter that applies to victims aged six or under – and that his lawyers intended to bring new evidence before the court.
The 28-year-old’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed to Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell that the appeal was primarily directed at the scientific evidence related to autopsy results showing what is referred to as a “triad” of internal head injuries – bleeding in the brain, a retinal haemorrhage and swelling of the brain.
It is unclear what the new evidence to be put at Vinaccia’s appeal comprises, but Mr Edney said it clearly showed his client should not have been convicted.
“The evidence is so cogent, plausible and probable it would establish an innocent person has been convicted or there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice,” he told Justice Maxwell.
At trial, Vinaccia’s lawyers conceded he shouldn’t have handled Kaleb the way he did but argued his actions did not amount to an unlawful or dangerous act, and that the baby had existing medical problems that made him more vulnerable.
Vinaccia admitted to police that on the night of January 23, 2016, he was “pretty rough” with Kaleb when he lifted him and carried him to his cot, after a Facebook conversation with the baby’s father.
Forensic paediatricians Joanna Tully and Linda Iles gave evidence at the trial that their investigations found Kaleb died from a traumatic head injury consistent with him either being shaken or suffering some sort of blunt trauma. The court heard on Monday there was no suggestion the paediatricians’ evidence was unreliable.
However, in an investigation by The Age this year, Dr Iles and her colleague at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, David Ranson, said the same internal injuries could be caused by other medical conditions.
Two other men jailed in recent years for either child homicide or recklessly causing serious injury, Joby Rowe and Jesse Harvey, have also launched appeals against their convictions on similar grounds to Vinaccia.
In Vinaccia’s appeal, Mr Edney said on Monday: “In light of the new evidence this court ought to look at the matters afresh with the benefits of those expert reports.”
Prosecutor Christopher Boyce, QC, will argue the appeals court should not allow the new evidence as it could set a precedent for other cases over the use of expert evidence. However, Mr Boyce also conceded he would want to know if the new evidence would have made any difference in Vinaccia’s case.
“If it did and our experts said, ‘Oh goodness, we’ve made a mistake about this,’ then I’d want to know that,” Mr Boyce said.
Justice Maxwell expected the legal challenge would chart new territory for the appeals court.
“We haven’t had many forensic evidence cases and it’s quite unprecedented to have the concept of conflicting expert opinions which weren’t heard by the trial court,” he said.
The case will return to court in August. Vinaccia must serve 5½ years before he is eligible for parole, meaning his earliest release date is halfway through 2024.
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-evidence-before-appeals-court-in-challenge-against-baby-shaking-conviction-20210621-p582ut.html
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;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "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;
