PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " "The courtroom was again packed for day three of testimony for the State vs. Alison Dorsey Trial. The State rested its case on Thursday morning. The defense called six character witnesses to the stand on Thursday afternoon. Dorsey is on trial in the death of infant Luka Hodges at her private daycare in Massena on October 7, 2019.'
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STORY: "Defense Calls Character Witnesses and Biomedical and Mechanical Engineer to Stand in State vs. Alison Dorsey Trial," by Reporter Tom Robinson, published by Western Iowa Today (KSOM) on May 5, 2023.
GIST: "The courtroom was again packed for day three of testimony for the State vs. Alison Dorsey Trial. The State rested its case on Thursday morning.
The defense called six character witnesses to the stand on Thursday afternoon.
Dorsey is on trial in the death of infant Luka Hodges at her private daycare in Massena on October 7, 2019.
Diane Harrison is a lifelong friend of Ali. The two spoke daily. Harrison testified she had spoken to Ali twice on the phone on the morning of October 7, 2019.
Sarah Beth Jones lives near Massena and has three children, and her youngest child attended Alison Dorsey’s Daycare at 408 Pine Street in Massena. Jones is the Director of Nurse Supervision at Cass Health in Atlantic.
Jones’s child was attending Dorsey’s daycare on October 7, 2019.
Defense Attorney David Brooks asked Jones if she was one of the families that refused bone scans after Luka’s death.
Chase Wheatley is an FNB loan officer and a Massena Volunteer Fire Department member.
He and his wife had two preschool-aged children who attended Ali Dorsey’s daycare.
Three others took the stand on Ali’s behalf. Rob Ticknor testified he grew up next to Ali; she was like family. Ali babysat their kids.
Ticknor testified on the morning of October 7, 2019; he had called her at 10:33 a.m. to visit about a video Ali would produce in honor of Ticknor’s sister’s 500th college coaching career win in Volleyball.
He told the court he didn’t notice anything unusual about Ali during the call.
Michelle Williams and Cindy Gossman also testified on Alison Dorsey’s behalf on Thursday.
Their entire testimonies are posted below.
Cindy Gossman lives three miles south of Massena and is an LPN in Corning.
Michelle Williams is an EMT for the Massena Fire Department, CAM School Nurse, and ER Nurse.
Following the testimonies of the character witnesses, the Defense then called Chris Van Ee, a Ph.D. in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Van Ee said part of his studies included what levels of head acceleration can cause injury and what is relatively safe.
The studies included crash test dummies mimicking an infant or child falling from different levels onto different surfaces and shaking.
Dr. Van Ee reviewed the reports surrounding the death of two-month-old Luka Hodges. Van Ee said he interviewed various people associated with this incident, including parents, childcare providers, different things law enforcement had collected, including the autopsy report and photos, multiple depositions, and two medical doctors associated with the case.
Van Ee questioned why the neck is not affected in cases labeled as a shaken baby syndrome. He said according to reports, Luka did not suffer an injury to the neck area.
Prosecutor Monte Platz, during his cross-examination, questioned Van Ee about an impact site on Luka’s head, which would indicate a fall rather than a brain injury caused by shaking.
Testimony continues today at 9:00 a.m. at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse in Council Bluffs."
The entire story can be read at:
defense-calls-character-witnesses-to-stand-in-state-vs-alison-dorsey-trial
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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