Tyree Bowie: Pennsylvania: PennLive: Reporter Jonathan Bergmueller: ‘My son didn’t do this’: Friends and family react to not-guilty verdict in abused boy’s death"... "Friends and family believed Tyree Bowie was innocent of the murder charges he faced during a four-week trial in York County. But would the jury see it that way? They awoke Friday not knowing what was going to happen when jurors started deliberating. Two hours later, they got their answer: Not guilty on all counts. The 43-year-old man was released from jail, where he’s spent the past four years, at 6 p.m. Friday. “When I woke up, I was mixed with emotions,” Cheryl Preston, Bowie’s mother, said. “I knew these were serious charges. But at the same time, my son didn’t do this.” A York County jury determined Bowie had been falsely accused of murdering two-year-old Dante Mullinix, the boy Bowie brought unconscious to the York Hospital the night of Sept. 6, 2018."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Bowie maintained his innocence throughout the entire investigation and trial, saying he tried to save the boy’s life by calling Childline to report suspected abuse and neglect by his mother and her boyfriends, and later trying to resuscitate him when he fell permanently unconscious in his car the night of Sept. 6. “They didn’t want to hear the truth,” Bowie testified on the stand at trial. Prosecutors, meanwhile, claimed he beat and brutalized the boy during a 90-minute period where he watched the boy as a favor to Dante’s mother, Leah Mullinix. Asked for comment on his way out of court Friday, First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker said: “Glory to God in the highest. That’s it.”

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The trial originally was scheduled for two weeks but took twice that long and included witnesses from his family and social circle, in addition to a slew of others. One such witness was Laci Peiffer, who allowed Bowie to stay with her at her apartment in September of 2018 “It hasn’t even hit me,” Peiffer said after hearing of the verdict. “I screamed in my car. I just had to let it all out—I’ll probably cry for a month. It’s amazing.” The past four years have traumatized Peiffer, she said.  The police tried to imply at trial that her apartment was Dante’s murder scene, without investigating the apartment or swabbing it for DNA evidence, she said."

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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Sarah Mullinix, Leah’s sister and Dante’s aunt, never believed Bowie was guilty. She testified in the trial—although she had to return home four hours away and was not present for the verdict. Still, she was happy and relieved to hear Bowie was acquitted. “I think Tyree was trying to help my sister and Dante,” Sarah said. “Now they need to go after the ones who were abusing my nephew.” Her nephew died covered in bruises, partially healed wounds and a sexually transmitted disease that Bowie didn’t have. “I love my little sister, but I’m not stupid,” Sarah said. “She was with Dante 24/7 and she knows who did [expletive] to Dante.” Mullinix, Peiffer and others who commented on social media railed against the York city police and York County District Attorney’s office, who put the case together against Bowie. Sarah said she wants justice for Dante—That includes accountability for her sister, Children and Youth, the York County District Attorney’s Office and the York City Police Department."

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PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY: "Friends and family also cheered for Farley Holt, the lawyer who represented Bowie throughout the trial.  As they gathered outside the York County Prison Friday afternoon in anticipation of Bowie’s release, they cheered things like “Holt for President!” and celebrated him as a compassionate man. Holt, who cried tears of joy as Bowie was acquitted, said, “Finally, after all this time, justice is starting to be done for Dante."

--------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "My son didn't do this': Friends and family react to not-guilty verdict in abused boy's death," by Reporter Jonathan Bergmueller, published by PennLive, on December 30, 2022.

GIST: "Friends and family believed Tyree Bowie was innocent of the murder charges he faced during a four-week trial in York County.

But would the jury see it that way? They awoke Friday not knowing what was going to happen when jurors started deliberating.

Two hours later, they got their answer: Not guilty on all counts. The 43-year-old man was released from jail, where he’s spent the past four years, at 6 p.m. Friday.

“When I woke up, I was mixed with emotions,” Cheryl Preston, Bowie’s mother, said. “I knew these were serious charges. But at the same time, my son didn’t do this.”

A York County jury determined Bowie had been falsely accused of murdering two-year-old Dante Mullinix, the boy Bowie brought unconscious to the York Hospital the night of Sept. 6, 2018.

Bowie maintained his innocence throughout the entire investigation and trial, saying he tried to save the boy’s life by calling Childline to report suspected abuse and neglect by his mother and her boyfriends, and later trying to resuscitate him when he fell permanently unconscious in his car the night of Sept. 6.

“They didn’t want to hear the truth,” Bowie testified on the stand at trial.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, claimed he beat and brutalized the boy during a 90-minute period where he watched the boy as a favor to Dante’s mother, Leah Mullinix.

Asked for comment on his way out of court Friday, First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker said: “Glory to God in the highest. That’s it.”

The trial originally was scheduled for two weeks but took twice that long and included witnesses from his family and social circle, in addition to a slew of others.

One such witness was Laci Peiffer, who allowed Bowie to stay with her at her apartment in September of 2018

“It hasn’t even hit me,” Peiffer said after hearing of the verdict. “I screamed in my car. I just had to let it all out—I’ll probably cry for a month. It’s amazing.”

The past four years have traumatized Peiffer, she said. 

The police tried to imply at trial that her apartment was Dante’s murder scene, without investigating the apartment or swabbing it for DNA evidence, she said. 

Additionally, she said she’s spent more than $800 on calls to the York County Prison to keep in touch with Bowie.

“Four days before this happened, we were sitting on my couch smoking,” Peiffer said. “He told me ‘I met this chick… I care about this kid. Every time I see him there are new bruises.’”

Because of that conversation, and because of what she knew about Bowie, Peiffer said she knew he was not guilty from the beginning.

“I couldn’t not stick by Tyree, especially because of how I’m involved in it,” Peiffer said.

Peiffer said she’s sure Dante is looking down at Tyree and those involved in the case, now.

After the jury reached its verdict and was released, one juror approached Peiffer and gave her a hug.

“Please give Tyree a hug for all the jurors,” that juror told her. “We know we did the right thing.”

The case had garnered a following on social media that drew interest from people in amateur sleuth groups in other coutries. Many of them commented on social media in support of Bowie before, during and after the trial.

Bowie was trusted with babysitting seven nieces and nephews, according to his mother. And each and every time, he let them have junk food and sit on the kitchen island.

“Really Tyree?” Preston would said.

“They’re not hurt, mom,” Bowie would reply.

“And they were safe,” Preston said. The children loved Bowie, she said.

Sarah Mullinix, Leah’s sister and Dante’s aunt, never believed Bowie was guilty. She testified in the trial—although she had to return home four hours away and was not present for the verdict. Still, she was happy and relieved to hear Bowie was acquitted.

“I think Tyree was trying to help my sister and Dante,” Sarah said. “Now they need to go after the ones who were abusing my nephew.”

Her nephew died covered in bruises, partially healed wounds and a sexually transmitted disease that Bowie didn’t have.

“I love my little sister, but I’m not stupid,” Sarah said. “She was with Dante 24/7 and she knows who did [expletive] to Dante.”

Mullinix, Peiffer and others who commented on social media railed against the York city police and York County District Attorney’s office, who put the case together against Bowie.

 Sarah said she wants justice for Dante—That includes accountability for her sister, Children and Youth, the York County District Attorney’s Office and the York City Police Department.

“It is sad when you cannot even trust the criminal justice system,” Sarah said.

All prosecutors would offer as a comment to PennLive after the jury’s decision was: “We respect the jury’s verdict.”

The York County District Attorney’s Office and York City Police Department did not respond to PennLive’s queries over the status of the investigation into Dante’s death. 

It is unknown if they intend on closing the case or continuing to investigate to find who hurt Dante.

“I just had to know that God was gonna be in there,” Preston said. “God knows all. God knows who did this to this baby. And God knows my son didn’t do that. That’s all I had to go on.”

Friends and family also cheered for Farley Holt, the lawyer who represented Bowie throughout the trial. 

As they gathered outside the York County Prison Friday afternoon in anticipation of Bowie’s release, they cheered things like “Holt for President!” and celebrated him as a compassionate man.

Holt, who cried tears of joy as Bowie was acquitted, said, “Finally, after all this time, justice is starting to be done for Dante.""

The entire story ca be read at:

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/12/my-son-didnt-do-this-friends-and-family-react-to-not-guilty-verdict-in-abused-boys-death.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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: "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;

---------------------------------------------------------

Discredited former Tennessee Chief Examiner Charles Harlan - and his assistant medical examiner: his wife: Dr. Gretel Harlan; Exonerees Joyce Watkins and Charlie Dunn; As Ashley Penham reported in Main Street Nashville on November 15, 2021: The main evidence at trial linking the couple to the crime was from Dr. Gretel Harlan, assistant medical examiner. Harlan testified that Brandy’s injuries had to have occurred in the nine hours she spent with Watkins and Dunn. Harlan had initially said these injuries occurred within 24-48 hours of Brandy’s death. Yet in the hallway before testifying at the trial, she changed her opinion to say they had to have occurred while the girl was in the care of Watkins and Dunn, court documents say. Harlan’s husband, Dr. Charles Harlan, was the state’s chief medical examiner at the time. He approved the autopsy report. It was the opinions of the Harlans that made up the case against Watkins and Dunn, the Tennessee Innocence Project wrote. Yet the Harlans were later subject to professional discipline for serious misconduct, including Charles Harlan’s falsifying of an autopsy report. Charles Harlan’s medical license was permanently revoked in 2005, and Gretel Harlan was reprimanded and fined. She retired her Tennessee license in 2005. There are ongoing appeals with two other men on death row who were convicted by faulty testimony from Charles Harlan, the CRU report said."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  A recent post (link below)  shed light on  Tennessee Chief Medical Examiner Charles Harlan, now deceased, who left  a  nightmarish trail of wrongful convictions behind him. The post, entered around the wrongful Chris Burgess prosecution, raised a very serious concern over Harlan's conduct and ability. Indeed, the article it was based on was headed: "‘Disgraced doc’s evidence sent man to prison. No one knows how many others are like him," - and it referred to "the recent  exoneration of a Nashville couple  imprisoned for decades in the death of a young relative," who were also victims of Charles Harlan. That couple is Joyce Watkins and  Charley Dunn. A 'Main Street Nashville' story - subject of this post - fills in some of the gaps in our knowledge of Charles Harlan and the untold harm he caused - some of it still out there and crying out to be corrected -  and on the harm caused by his discredited assistant chief examiner: His wife Gretel. Harlan's cases - indeed both Harlan's  - clearly cry out for review. (And not just the cases of those  individuals who are still behind bars.)

Harold Levy: Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog

Previous post: (Chris Burgess);

5121357686551757203

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In a 1994 hearing on Watkins’ and Dunn’s innocence, Gretel Harlan said her medical terminology used in the trial was wrong but still placed the time of the injuries within the time frame the girl was with Watkins and Dunn. Now, the TIP (Tennessee Innocence Project)  and CRU have new scientific evidence about pediatric head trauma backed by the current state medical examiner that shows that the girl’s injuries could have occurred days before she was with Watkins and Dunn. “If Judge Wyatt knew in 1994 what we know now through new scientific evidence and discovery of the investigative report on the bedsheet, Ms. Watkins and Mr. Dunn would not have spent the next two decades in prison,” the TIP filing said. Wednesday’s filings were made under state law that allows post-conviction hearings of actual innocence when new scientific evidence has arrived."

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STORY: 'Prosecutor': Couple convicted of 1987 rape and murder are innocent, Main Street Nashville (Reporter Ashley Penham) reports, on November 15, 2022.

GIST: "In 2015, Joyce Watkins was released from a life prison sentence on parole. That same year, Charles Dunn died in prison from cancer while serving a life sentence for the same crime.

Watkins and Dunn had spent 27 years imprisoned for the 1987 murder and rape of a 4-year-old girl in Nashville.

Now, the Tennessee Innocence Project and prosecutors from the Conviction Review Unit say that faulty medical testimony and a misrepresentation of evidence to the jury caused Dunn and Watkins to be wrongfully convicted.

They are innocent, court documents filed Wednesday show.

In May 1987, 4-year-old Brandy Brooks from Georgia was visiting family in Fort Campbell with her mother. She asked if she could stay with her great-aunt Rose Williams for a few weeks. She ended up staying until June 26.

While staying with Williams, Brandy started experiencing medical problems such as random vomiting, urinary incontinence and even going unconscious after choking on peanut butter. She was never taken to get medical attention.

At one point, an anonymous call was made to Kentucky Social Services after someone at a Bible camp saw welts on her back and a swollen hand. Williams told an investigator that Brandy was back in Georgia. She also called a week later to say that she had been taken to the doctor and was fine.

Both of these statements were false.

The last week of June 1987, Williams began calling Watkins, her sister, to come take Brandy. Her calls became more frantic so finally Watkins and her boyfriend Dunn drove to Fort Campbell late Friday night to bring the girl to Nashville.

When Dunn and Watkins arrived home around 1:30 a.m., Watkins noticed blood in Brandy’s underwear and her black eye. She called Brandy’s mother in Georgia, and the family collectively decided to wait for the morning to figure out what action to take.

The next morning, after noticing Brandy was acting strange, Watkins decided to immediately take the girl to Memorial General Hospital.

That afternoon, she was transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and put on life support.

Sunday morning, she died.

While the investigation initially focused on what happened to Brandy in Kentucky, it shifted to Dunn and Watkins after the medical examiner said the head trauma occurred while Brandy was in their care.

The next year, Dunn and Watkins were on trial.

The main evidence at trial linking the couple to the crime was from Dr. Gretel Harlan, assistant medical examiner.

Harlan testified that Brandy’s injuries had to have occurred in the nine hours she spent with Watkins and Dunn.

Harlan had initially said these injuries occurred within 24-48 hours of Brandy’s death. Yet in the hallway before testifying at the trial, she changed her opinion to say they had to have occurred while the girl was in the care of Watkins and Dunn, court documents say.

Harlan’s husband, Dr. Charles Harlan, was the state’s chief medical examiner at the time. He approved the autopsy report.

It was the opinions of the Harlans that made up the case against Watkins and Dunn, the Tennessee Innocence Project wrote.

Yet the Harlans were later subject to professional discipline for serious misconduct, including Charles Harlan’s falsifying of an autopsy report.

Charles Harlan’s medical license was permanently revoked in 2005, and Gretel Harlan was reprimanded and fined. She retired her Tennessee license in 2005.

There are ongoing appeals with two other men on death row who were convicted by faulty testimony from Charles Harlan, the CRU report said.

Court documents show other issues such as minimal investigative efforts by Fort Campbell investigators, false evidence that Watkins washed Brandy’s sheets and inflammatory statements by the prosecution.

In a 1994 hearing on Watkins’ and Dunn’s innocence, Gretel Harlan said her medical terminology used in the trial was wrong but still placed the time of the injuries within the time frame the girl was with Watkins and Dunn.

Now, the TIP and CRU have new scientific evidence about pediatric head trauma backed by the current state medical examiner that shows that the girl’s injuries could have occurred days before she was with Watkins and Dunn.

“If Judge Wyatt knew in 1994 what we know now through new scientific evidence and discovery of the investigative report on the bedsheet, Ms. Watkins and Mr. Dunn would not have spent the next two decades in prison,” the TIP filing said.

Wednesday’s filings were made under state law that allows post-conviction hearings of actual innocence when new scientific evidence has arrived.

Watkins, now 74, is still living with the consequences of this conviction as a registered sex offender. Her parole officer said she was within the “top five percent of offenders” for her willingness to comply with supervision.

Now, Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton will decide whether to vacate the convictions. A hearing is expected in December.

”What is clear is that Joyce Watkins and Charles Dunn neither committed and Aggravated Rape of Brandy, nor did they take any actions that caused her death,” the CRU report says. “The case against them was purely circumstantial and failed to exclude other reasonable theories or possible perpetrators.”"

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.mainstreet-nashville.com/townnews/law/prosecutors-couple-convicted-of-1987-rape-murder-are-innocent/article_722d92b0-4369-11ec-bd1f-a35f577c2a9a.html

----------------------------------------------------

National Registry of Exonerations: (Lengthy entry by Maurice Possley. Published on January 1, 2022, Contributing factors include 'false or misleading forensic evidence.'

"The CRU (Conviction Review Unit)  report also said that the credibility of both Dr. Gretel Harlan and her husband, Dr. Charles Harlan, was in question.

“Despite Gretel Harlan's chief assignment to the case and it being her who testified in front of the jury, the autopsy report indicates Charles Harlan was present and he himself conducted the autopsy. There are numerous references throughout Gretel Harlan's testimony referring to what ‘he’ did or what ‘we’ did in performing the autopsy. Clearly the two doctors Harlan collaborated in the autopsy and assessment of [B.B.’s] injuries,” the report said.

The report noted that since the convictions, Drs. Charles and Gretel Harlan have been the subject of “intense investigative scrutiny and disciplinary hearings that yielded truly bizarre and unsettling findings.”

In May 2005, following two years of hearings, Tennessee permanently revoked Charles Harlan's medical license, citing 20 counts of misconduct while serving as medical examiner. 

“The facts of these transgressions border on ghoulish: Charles Harlan once replied to a bank's request for proof of a client 's death that ‘M.L. is dead. She is green and has maggots crawling on her.’ In another case, a tenant renting a house from the Harlans discovered body parts in a jar and tissue samples in a chocolate box. Gretel, for her part, once explained while testifying that the tissue samples belonged to her two pet dogs upon whom she had performed an autopsy,” the CRU said.

In 1993, Davidson County Medical Examiner Dr. Julia Goodin prohibited the Harlans from conducting private autopsies on the side, which had caused a backlog of county autopsy cases. “Dr. Harlan violated this policy and performed private autopsies without permission, for which he was suspended without pay,” the CRU report said.

In 1995, Dr. Charles Harlan was barred from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory, and his contract as state medical examiner was terminated, although he retained private contracts with various Tennessee counties. “Dr. Harlan falsified an autopsy report in the 2001 case of James Suttle, accused of first-degree murder. Suttle claimed his cousin, Stevie Hobbs, had suffered a seizure and fallen through a glass table, but Dr. Harlan insisted that Hobbs had been stabbed to death, opining that the stab wounds had occurred shortly before death,” the CRU report said. Suttle was acquitted after a defense forensic expert demonstrated the instrument would have had to tum along a right angle inside Hobbs's body, a medical impossibility.

The CRU report said the Suttle case sparked a review of Dr. Charles Harlan's cases that revealed serious misconduct. 

--Dr. Harlan had falsely identified a body as belonging to an escaped convict, Bruce Allen Littleton, who was discovered alive two years later in connection with another crime.

--Dr. Harlan also determined that two children had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome when, in fact, a parent had murdered them. 

--Dr. Harlan listed a 10-year-old's cause of death as natural when the child weighed only 18 pounds, a clear case of neglect. 

--Dr. Harlan also allowed his dog into the autopsy room on one occasion; the dog consumed some of the remains of a murder victim. 

-- Harlan's testimony in the death penalty cases of James Dellinger and Gary Sutton “proved definitive when he testified that rigor mortis could persist 72 hours after death, a crucial fact that, if false, would have cleared the defendants. The testimony established their guilt and placed them on Death Row, but subsequent medical experts have weighed in and established that Dr. Harlan's testimony regarding rigor mortis was entirely unfounded and impossible. Dellinger and Sutton's appeals are ongoing.”

The CRU report said that an “Ohio State Medical Board investigation found that anatomical samples from the Davidson County Medical Examiner's Office were discovered inside the Harlans' home. The renters found autopsy files containing graphic crime scene photos, as well as blood smears from Nashville Memorial Hospital that should have been discarded. The Tennessee Department of Health initiated formal proceedings against Dr. Gretel Harlan for these infractions, offering a settlement agreement documenting 48 violations and proposing a fine of $2,400 plus costs. Following this reprimand, Dr. Gretel Harlan retired her Tennessee license in 2005 and moved to Ohio, whose medical board initiated a parallel investigation. The Board described the Tennessee reprimand as ‘very unusual’ and noted that while Dr. Charles Harlan bore some responsibility for the material found in the home, Dr. Gretel Harlan was also culpable.”

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----------------------------------------------------

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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: "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;

---------------------------------------------------------

Tyree Bowie: Pennsylvania: Verdict! Not guilty of all charges in the killing of 2-year-old Dante, Mullinix while baby-sitting him four years ago, The York Daily Record (Reporter Katia Parks) reports..."Friday's verdict ended four weeks of testimonies, cross-examinations, and viewing of evidence. Attorneys faced off Thursday in closing arguments. Bowie denied harming the toddler, insisting that Dante Mullinix choked on a Teddy Graham cookie in his car. The rebuttal was supported by a medical opinion that backs up the defense. Bowie had faced charges of first- and third-degree murder, as well as a felony count of endangering the welfare of a child."

STORY: "Jurors find Tyree Bowie not guilty of all charges in the death of 2-year-old Dante Mullinex, The York Daily Record (Reporter Katia Parks) reports.

GIST: "Jurors returned a verdict Friday in the trial of Tyree Bowie, finding the York City man not guilty of killing a 2-year-old boy while babysitting him four years ago.

Friday's verdict ended four weeks of testimonies, cross-examinations, and viewing of evidence. Attorneys faced off Thursday in closing arguments.

Bowie denied harming the toddler, insisting that Dante Mullinix choked on a Teddy Graham cookie in his car. 

The rebuttal was supported by a medical opinion that backs up the defense.

Bowie had faced charges of first- and third-degree murder, as well as a felony count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The trial was overseen by Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder.'

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/local/2022/12/30/tyree-bowie-found-not-guilty-of-2018-death-of-2-year-old-dante-mullinix/69766167007/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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: "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;

---------------------------------------------------------

Tyree Bowie: Pennsylvania: Jury begins deliberations after his lawyer argues that the boy's mother - not the man charged in his death - should be on trial, PennLive (Reporter Jonathan Bergmueller) reports..."A defense attorney in a criminal trial does not need to prove who actually committed the crime. They merely need to cast reasonable doubt over accusations their client did the crime. Yet after four weeks of testimony, attorney Farley Holt said he felt he upheld his promise to prove his client, Tyree Bowie, not only did not kill 2-year-old Dante Mullinix in York — but that Leah Mullinix, the boy’s mother, did. “If there ever has been a case where there’s reasonable doubt, this is the case,” Holt told jurors during closing arguments Thursday."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Holt maintains that Leah Mullinix, a woman Bowie met three weeks prior to Dante falling unconscious, routinely abused the boy and lied about it. She beat the boy, Holt said, put makeup on him to cover injuries, and then left him in Bowie’s care where the boy choked on an animal cracker and later died. According to the defense, choking on the animal cracker deprived Dante’s brain of oxygen, which exacerbated a subdural hematoma — ripping of blood vessels in his brain that caused bleeding. Holt lambasted the York City Police Department’s investigation into the death, criticizing them for gathering only what they felt they needed to prove Bowie killed Dante, and not necessarily all the facts that could construct the truth of what occurred. “I don’t need them, he’s already guilty,” Detective-Sergeant Kyle Hower told acquaintances who offered possible evidence that could help Bowie’s defense. “Arrogance and incompetence is what led us here,” Holt said of Hower. The prosecution “is going to say Leah is not on trial here. And they’re right. But she should be.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Boy's mother - not the man charged in his death - should be on trial, lawyer says," by Reporter Jonathan Bergmueller, published by PennLive  on December 30, 2022.

GIST: "A defense attorney in a criminal trial does not need to prove who actually committed the crime.

They merely need to cast reasonable doubt over accusations their client did the crime.

Yet after four weeks of testimony, attorney Farley Holt said he felt he upheld his promise to prove his client, Tyree Bowie, not only did not kill 2-year-old Dante Mullinix in York — but that Leah Mullinix, the boy’s mother, did.

“If there ever has been a case where there’s reasonable doubt, this is the case,” Holt told jurors during closing arguments Thursday.

Holt and his counterpart, prosecutor Tim Barker, spent Thursday sparring one last time during closing arguments in the trial against Bowie, 43, who Barker said mortally wounded the boy the evening of Sept. 6, 2018.

A jury will enter the York County Courthouse Friday morning to begin deliberations.

Holt maintains that Leah Mullinix, a woman Bowie met three weeks prior to Dante falling unconscious, routinely abused the boy and lied about it. She beat the boy, Holt said, put makeup on him to cover injuries, and then left him in Bowie’s care where the boy choked on an animal cracker and later died.

According to the defense, choking on the animal cracker deprived Dante’s brain of oxygen, which exacerbated a subdural hematoma — ripping of blood vessels in his brain that caused bleeding.

Holt lambasted the York City Police Department’s investigation into the death, criticizing them for gathering only what they felt they needed to prove Bowie killed Dante, and not necessarily all the facts that could construct the truth of what occurred.

“I don’t need them, he’s already guilty,” Detective-Sergeant Kyle Hower told acquaintances who offered possible evidence that could help Bowie’s defense.

“Arrogance and incompetence is what led us here,” Holt said of Hower. The prosecution “is going to say Leah is not on trial here. And they’re right. But she should be.”

Barker focused on constructing a timeline of the events of Sept. 6, through witnesses and video taken at the locations Dante, Leah and Bowie visited in the hours before he collapsed. He sought to highlight different times where Dante appeared to be uninjured to prove Bowie was the only person in a position to inflict fatal injuries.

Dante did not show obvious signs of injury until after the last visit he and Bowie made to Rutters, according to Barker. So if he did have injuries before then, Bowie was the only person who could have seen them, and was negligent for not getting the boy help, Barker said.

Holt and Barker discussed the testimony of medical experts in the trial, both shifting the facts of those statements to suit different narratives.

Holt said forensic pathologist Wayne Ross, child abuse expert Lori Frasier and forensic pathologist David Fowler all agreed with his narrative that Dante suffered from subdural hematoma, an injury where the blood vessels connected to the brain sheer and break, which is exacerbated by hypoxia—a lack of oxygen. According to Holt, the lack of oxygen from choking on the animal cracker sent Dante into cardiac arrest.

However, Barker said Dante suffered from a brain injury known as diffuse axonal trauma, which is when the head suffers a significant enough blow to cause a shockwave through the skull, based on testimony from prosecution witnesses Frasier and Ross. He said Ross and Frasier pointed to strangulation as Dante’s cause of death.

“There would not be a scenario where the child would have these injuries and would still be walking around,” Frasier told the jury. “The brain injury happened after he was seen at Rutters. No questions.”

Additionally, Fowler, the medical expert Holt brought to the stand, shifted his own findings after hearing testimony from the trial, saying it was possible Dante could have choked on an animal cracker.

Holt reviewed Leah’s testimony and said she seemed to recollect the events of Sept. 6 perfectly for prosecutors, but on cross-examination, her testimony was filled with “I don’t know,” and “I don’t remember.”

In the months before Dante died, Leah left Adams County, where she and Dante had been staying, to go to York County, Holt said. She left without informing any case workers involved with Dante, and without telling the therapist who was helping her with anger management problems, according to Holt.

“He’s on my last nerve. I’m about to snap,” Leah once wrote to Bowie in a Facebook instant message.

“She did snap!” Holt said, describing that Leah was living with no phone, no money and a sister trying to take Dante away from her with an emergency custody hearing in Adams County. She also had been reported by people at the domestic abuse shelter where she was staying for not getting Dante medical care for a herpes infection and more. “This didn’t happen overnight,” Holt said.

Leah never cared for Dante unless she could leverage him as a pawn to reel in people to give her help, according to Holt. Dante was riddled with bruises — yet Holt said Leah did not want to take the boy to the hospital for fear if they discovered the injuries, she would get in trouble.

So, she either refused to take him to the hospital, or covered up his injuries with makeup, Holt said. And the fact prosecutors never called anyone from Children and Youth Services to testify is telling of their case, he said.

Barker agreed that Leah Mullinix was an awful mother. In fact, he said she probably confessed to endangering the welfare of her child on the witness stand 300 times over four days of testimony. But he said all the evidence, in his view, points toward Bowie as the killer.

Barker focused his closing message solely on the events of Sept. 6, about which he said Bowie routinely lied. According to Barker, Bowie’s story about what happened the day Dante was hospitalized changed between his first police interview on Sept. 7, when the boy was still alive, and the second interview Sept. 19, five days after Dante died.

Bowie first said he visited his mothers’ house with Dante the night of Sept. 6, before backtracking that statement, Barker said. Barker then pointed out Bowie never mentioned the makeup or accusations of abuse, nor did he mention during his first interview with police that Dante’s eyes were rolling back into his head.

And then, his story about whether he had the car seat changed, Barker said.

The bruises that covered Dante’s body the night he arrived at the hospital unresponsive were caused over a long period of time, Holt said. However, the more severe, newer bruising was caused by Leah while Bowie was in the bathroom earlier that night, according to Holt.

Bowie went to the bathroom for 15 minutes to talk to another woman on Sept. 6, and while he was inside, he heard a thump and yelp. When he left the bathroom, he saw Dante standing in front of Leah with his head up, and saw Leah put an object away, Holt said.

That object was a bottle of makeup, according to Holt.

When Leah asked Bowie to take her to the hospital later on Sept. 6,and watch Dante for her, she did not actually have a migraine, according to Holt. He said a migraine would have put her in immense pain and she would not have been able to drive, sit directly under a light or use her phone, Holt said.

Instead, Leah was using the excuse of a migraine to get away from Dante, whom she did something to and needed to get away from.

“If she didn’t do anything to the kid … why would you have an exchange between her and Holiday saying: ‘They can’t charge you with murder. You weren’t there and I wasn’t there.’” Holt said, referring to Hector Rivera, a former acquaintance Leah stayed with who goes by the name Holiday.

Holt said the linear bruise on Dante’s jaw was caused by the boy falling out of the car when Bowie and Dante returned to the apartment where he was staying later in the night. However, Barker argued the bruising could have been caused by Dante being choked out by Bowie.

There was no evidence Leah Mullinix ever put makeup on Dante, according to Barker. In fact, he said no swabs from anywhere inside Bowie’s car matched the composition of any kind of makeup. However, Holt maintained that apparent smears on Dante’s face in some photos taken Sept. 2, while the two were at a hospital visit for Dante’s herpes infection, were consistent with smudged makeup, which was being used to hide bruising.

“You murdered me,” Barker began imitating what Dante would say if he were alive and able to talk. “You committed murder of the first degree. You have beaten me, you strangled me, you suffocated me, you slammed me to the ground, you gave me brain injury, you made my hypoxic and you made me dead and you intended to do so.”

But Holt said Dante would identify his real killer, Leah, were he able to speak.

“If [Dante] could say words, he would say, “Mommy hurts me, Mommy beats me,” Holt said.

After hearing jury charge instructions, the York County Jury will begin its deliberations Friday morning.

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/12/defense-lawyer-describes-investigation-into-death-of-neglected-boy-arrogance-and-incompetence.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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;

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