Patricia Stallings: (Part 1): A 1991 Missouri case which I was not aware of until a tweet popped up on my laptop a day or two ago; I have no idea why it was posted so many years later but I'm glad that it was, as it involves a subject matter that is important to this Blog - an innocent mother charged with and convicted of the first-degree murder of her 3-month-old son and sentenced to life imprisonment. Here is the full tweet. (You will find down below the U.S. National Registry of Exonerations entry); The tweet: "25-year-old Missouri woman, Patricia Stallings, gave birth to a son named Ryan in April 1989. Three months later, Ryan became ill and was taken to the hospital, where doctors found a high level of ethylene glycol, a component of antifreeze, in his system. The doctors concluded that he had been purposely poisoned by his mother. Patricia was taken into custody after Ryan died from the illness. However, while in custody awaiting trial, she gave birth to another son named David on February 17, 1990. David was put into foster care but later developed the same symptoms that Ryan had before he died. He was diagnosed with a very rare genetic condition called Methylmalonic acidemia, which can mimic antifreeze poisoning. Patricia went to trial and was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, after the case was featured on the television program "Unsolved Mysteries," an experienced doctor decided to take a sample of Ryan's blood for further screening. The doctor found that Ryan had actually died from the same genetic condition as David. As a result, Patricia was released from prison and the case against her was dropped in September 1991."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: In retrospect, I wonder  if  the author of the recent tweet man  may have had in mind the recent exoneration of  Kathleen Folbigg, the  recently unconditionally  pardoned Australian woman convicted in 2003 of killing her four infant children. As Wikipedia tells us,  Ms. Folbigg maintained her innocence, claiming the four children had died from natural causes. Per Wikipedia: "Scientific and medical research suggesting the daughters might indeed have died of natural causes was rejected by a judicial inquiry in 2019. Subsequent research published in 2020 led ninety eminent Australian scientists and medical professionals, in March 2021, to petition the NSW Governor to pardon Folbigg. The petition succinctly demonstrated that all four deaths could be explained as the effects of very rare genetic factors. On 5 June 2023, Folbigg was unconditionally pardoned by NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and was released from prison."

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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

The tweet:

168278679897032704

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

National Registry of Exonerations entry: (Passage of the day)... "A Jefferson County Circuit Court jury convicted Stallings of first degree murder and assault on January 31, 1991 and she was sentenced to life in prison.  The following May, the Stallings case was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries,” which William S. Sly, professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at St. Louis University, happened to see. Sly conducted additional tests on Ryan’s blood, confirming that he died of MMA—not poisoning.  When Sly sent test samples containing methylmalonic acid to a group of commercial labs using the procedure used in Ryan’s prosecution, roughly half of the labs produced incorrect results.  Sly also showed that other indications of poisoning could have been the result of the treatments given to Ryan on the assumption that he had been poisoned. When (Prosecutor HL) McElory was informed of the results, he consulted with Piero Rinaldo, a renowned geneticist from Yale University, who persuaded him that Patricia was innocent."

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

REGISTRY OF EXONERATION ENTRY: By Michael S, Perry; Dated before June 2012. Last up-dated on May 16, 2020.  Contributing factors: False or misleading forensic evidence; Inadequate legal defence;

GIST: Patricia Stallings' infant child Ryan began to get sick on July 7, 1989 in Jefferson County, Missouri.  

She took him to the hospital for treatment and tests showed high levels of ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze, in his blood.  

The pediatrician who treated Ryan believed that he might have been poisoned by Patricia and the child was placed in protective custody.  

After a brief visit with his mother on September 1, 1989 Ryan was hospitalized again and authorities concluded that she poisoned him during the visit.  He died on September 4, 1989.  Stallings was arrested the next day.  

The main evidence against Stallings came from the lab tests that found ethylene glycol in Ryan’s blood, and evidence of crystalline structures in his brain that also indicated the presence of that compound. 

 Anti-freeze was also discovered in the basement of the Stallings home. 

 When she was arrested Stallings was pregnant with another child.

  Named David Jr., the baby was born in February 1990 and immediately placed in foster care.  

Soon thereafter, however, this child displayed the same symptoms Ryan had, even though he had no contact with Patricia. 

 David Jr. was diagnosed by a different hospital with Methylamalonic Acidemia (MMA), a rare genetic disorder that could have caused Ryan’s symptoms. 

 New tests were conducted on tissue samples from Ryan.  Results were the same as before except that one lab reported evidence of both poisoning and MMA.  

 

Stallings’ lawyer realized that Ryan may have died from MMA rather than poisoning, but offered no evidence to support that theory.  

As a result, the judge would not permit him to present this theory to the jury. 

The lawyer did tell the jury that Ryan could have died of natural causes—to which Jefferson County Prosecutor George B. McElroy III responded, “You might as well speculate that some little man from Mars came down and shot him full of some mysterious bacteria.” 

 

Stallings’ attorney also failed to call any of several character witnesses suggested by Stallings. 

A Jefferson County Circuit Court jury convicted Stallings of first degree murder and assault on January 31, 1991 and she was sentenced to life in prison.  

 

The following May, the Stallings case was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries,” which William S. Sly, professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at St. Louis University, happened to see. 

Sly conducted additional tests on Ryan’s blood, confirming that he died of MMA—not poisoning. 

 

When Sly sent test samples containing methylmalonic acid to a group of commercial labs using the procedure used in Ryan’s prosecution, roughly half of the labs produced incorrect results.  Sly also showed that other indications of poisoning could have been the result of the treatments given to Ryan on the assumption that he had been poisoned.  

 

When McElory was informed of the results, he consulted with Piero Rinaldo, a renowned geneticist from Yale University, who persuaded him that Patricia was innocent. 

 

Based on this new evidence, McElroy asked the trial court to order a new trial because of inadequate legal defense. Stallings was released on July 30, 1991. 

 

On September 20, 1991, McElroy announced that the charges were dismissed and he personally apologized to the Stallings family. The same day, David Jr. was returned to the custody of his parents. David Jr. died on September 17, 2013.

In 1993, Stallings settled a lawsuit against the labs and hospital for several million dollars."

The entire entry can be read at:

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3660

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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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;

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

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.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

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