Toronto Star Probe: Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan's five-part anatomy of an investigation into the death of a little boy: It is called 'Death in a small town' - and is loaded with unanswered questions. Link provided to all five parts.

LINK TO THE TORONTO STAR'S  INTRIGUING FIVE PART SERIES: (Published today):

child-death-investigation.html

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: A lack of focus on certain injuries, their timing, and a strong focus on the parents, are just two of the questions raised in the Star probe. Although five years have passed, a cloak of secrecy surrounds the case, which has been categorized as 'open.' Of particular interest to this Blog  is thee role played in the case by The Hospital for Sick Children which gave us  disgraced pathologist Charles Smith and the now-shuttered 'Motherisk' drug testing lab - both responsible for destroying so many lives. The series notes that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)  sent "case records' to the hospital in 2018, requesting "a further medical investigation from a paediatrician" to assist with the investigation. (The Hospital's  report was reportedly provided to the OPP a year ago.)  That document appears to be under wraps as well. All my instincts tell me that this case,   and the litigation around it will be of great interest -  especially with  my former Toronto Star colleague Kevin Donovan, a very able investigative reporter,  digging in. I will be following developments closely.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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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;

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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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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;