Sunday, August 27, 2023

Nurse Lucy Letby: UK: (H.L. Publisher's Note: Remember Susan Nelles?): The Independent (Reporter Holly Evans) reports on how true crime obsessives convinced Lucy Letby was innocent ‘broke reporting restrictions’ - and signals what could be the beginning of a movement aimed at proving her innocent in the killings of seven babies and the attempted murder of six other victims…"Since her conviction last Friday, the site has been littered with discussion breaking down her motives and the evidence, with many claiming that the serial killer nurse was innocent or misrepresented at court. The 33-year-old was handed a whole life sentence on Monday and will die behind bars after she was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill a further six victims. However, a few online conspiracy theorists continue to emerge and peddle theories that the evidence supplied to jurors was “inconsistent” or “circumstantial” while others have described the hospital as a “disaster zone” that was unfit for purpose."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  (Part 1): On learning about Nurse Lucy Letby's conviction, I immediately thought about Susan Nelles, a nurse at the Iconic Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. (As a young law student, I had been asked by The Toronto Star (later my employer) to join a team of reporters who were covering a public inquiry  that had been ordered into the deaths of the children at Sick Children Hospital.   By way of background, a wiki (link below) informs us that: Susan Marguerite Nelles (born in Belleville, Ontario)[1] was charged with murdering four babies in 1981, when she worked as a nurse at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. She was ultimately exonerated The hospital investigated the cause of infant deaths in the cardiac unit, using an experimental, inappropriate testing method. The test indicated that as many as 43 babies were poisoned with the heart medication digoxin. Police determined that Susan Nelles had been scheduled to work at the times that 23 of the deaths occurred. They arrested and charged her with the deaths of four babies. The deaths then stopped. However, Nelles had not been on duty for several of the infant deaths, because she swapped shifts with other nurses – who had access to the same medication. Although the deaths ended after Nelles's arrest, the hospital had introduced restrictions for access to digoxin and had implemented a policy that kept infants in intensive care longer. Total deaths between the two units remained identical. Nelles asked for legal counsel when she was arrested. This was interpreted by the investigating police officers to be an indication of her guilt, but the court later ruled that this should not be interpreted as evidence of guilt. The court also ruled that the Crown lacked evidence to convict Nelles. The government eventually paid for Nelles's legal costs after she sued the province's Attorney-General, Roy McMurtry for malicious prosecution.  A Royal Commission, led by Justice Samuel Grange, found that eight infants had been murdered. Although another nurse, Phyllis Trainor, fell under scrutiny, no one was charged. Moreover, the experimental test that detected digoxin may have given false results for other chemicals. In 1999, she received an honorary degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario at which she graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree in 1978. This honour, presented under her married name Susan Pine, was for her work in promoting integrity in the nursing field."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (Part 2): Years after the Inquiry had filed its report,  I wrote  a review in this Blog of a  book about  the tragic deaths of the children at Sick Kids, Dr. Gavin Hamilton,   a  retired radiologist, who provided what he  claimed was the real reason for the deaths of the unfortunate babies at the renowned hospital: A toxin found in natural rubber which is technically like digoxin, which was used in disposable plastic syringes and intravenous devices. Dr, Hamilton's book is called: ""The Nurses Are Innocent: The Digoxin Poisoning Fallacy." Indeed, he made a convincing case (to me, at least) that no children had been murdered at Sick Kids. Yet, if Susan Nelles had not had the good fortune of appearing before Judge David Vanek, a courageous judge known to carefully find the facts and apply the law - even in a high profile case involving a renowned institution -  she might well have been convicted by a jury because of the heart-tugging nature of the facts,  which include  all of these dead babies. Check out my initial post on Dr. Hamilton's book at:
http://www.amazon.ca/Nurses-Are-Innocent-Digoxin-Poisoning/dp/1459700570

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (Part 3): Finally, it is important to recognize that there are difference between the Letby and Nelles cases. Susan Nelles was discharged at her preliminary hearing (a committal to trial requires very little evidence), and therefore never went through a jury trial. Moreover, notes, which prosecutors claimed were incriminating in which a distraught Letby poured out her grief, may have played a role in her conviction. I couldn't help thinking about the Australian case of Kathleen Folbigg,  who was recently exonerated, after an Inquiry  in which she appeared to accept responsibility for the deaths of her  four children, concluded that such notes, reflecting grief, did not necessarily reflect guilt. (Or words to that effect!)

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  "A campaign to raise funds for Lucy Letby’s appeal has been launched in the US and claimed that the conviction “may represent the greatest miscarriage of justice the UK has ever witnessed”. Led by Sarrita Adams, a scientific consultant for biotech startups in California, the main aim of the campaign is “to ensure that scientific evidence is used responsibly in the criminal justice system”. The fundraising page of the ‘Science on Trial’ website is not currently open to donations but there is a “coming soon” button on display. Letby’s legal team have not revealed if they plan to appeal, with successful appeals in the case of whole life tariffs incredibly rare. Meanwhile, the hashtag #LucyLetbyInnocent has accrued millions of views, likes and comments on TikTok, with one user creating a video stating it is “statistically improbable” for all the deaths on Letby’s watch to be murder. Others have compared the case to Amanda Knox and Dutch nurse Lucia de Berk, both of whom wrongfully served prison sentences until their murder convictions were overturned. However, jurors found Letby guilty after 10 months of harrowing evidence and lengthy cross-examination, making her the most prolific child serial killer in modern history."


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STORY: "How true crime obsessives convinced Lucy Letby was innocent 'broke reporting restrictions," by Reporter Holly Evans, published by The Independent, on August 26, 2023.

SUB-HEADING: "In echoes of the attention given to the Nicola Bulley case online sleuths took a keen interest in the Lucy Letby trial."

GIST: "True crime enthusiasts and armchair detectives were once again the source of frustration for police during the trial of Lucy Letby, just months after causing difficulties during the search for missing mum Nicola Bulley.

Throughout the ten-month trial, several members of the public attended court and watched proceedings remotely from an annexe building alongside members of the press.


Despite strict restrictions on the naming of certain witnesses and Letby’s victims, the identities of a small few made it onto Reddit before they were reported and removed.


Since her conviction last Friday, the site has been littered with discussion breaking down her motives and the evidence, with many claiming that the serial killer nurse was innocent or misrepresented at court.


The 33-year-old was handed a whole life sentence on Monday and will die behind bars after she was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill a further six victims.


However, a few online conspiracy theorists continue to emerge and peddle theories that the evidence supplied to jurors was “inconsistent” or “circumstantial” while others have described the hospital as a “disaster zone” that was unfit for purpose.


The enormous public interest the case has generated echoes that of Nicola Bulley, who was reported missing in January while walking her dog in Lancashire.


A number of social media users visited St Michael’s on Wyre to take videos and pictures, while others broke into buildings and went through residents’ gardens to find the missing mum.


Police were forced to issue a 48-hour dispersal order to clear the village, with Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith stating that internet sleuths had been “playing their own private detectives” and risked “thwarting” the investigation.


Ms Bulley’s body was discovered over three weeks later in the River Wyre, with her death ruled as an accidental drowning at her inquest.


A campaign to raise funds for Lucy Letby’s appeal has been launched in the US and claimed that the conviction “may represent the greatest miscarriage of justice the UK has ever witnessed”.


Led by Sarrita Adams, a scientific consultant for biotech startups in California, the main aim of the campaign is “to ensure that scientific evidence is used responsibly in the criminal justice system”.


The fundraising page of the ‘Science on Trial’ website is not currently open to donations but there is a “coming soon” button on display. Letby’s legal team have not revealed if they plan to appeal, with successful appeals in the case of whole life tariffs incredibly rare.


Meanwhile, the hashtag #LucyLetbyInnocent has accrued millions of views, likes and comments on TikTok, with one user creating a video stating it is “statistically improbable” for all the deaths on Letby’s watch to be murder.


Others have compared the case to Amanda Knox and Dutch nurse Lucia de Berk, both of whom wrongfully served prison sentences until their murder convictions were overturned.


However, jurors found Letby guilty after 10 months of harrowing evidence and lengthy cross-examination, making her the most prolific child serial killer in modern history.


Sentencing her to life in prison, Mr Justice Goss said that her behaviour amounted to a “deep malevolence bordering on sadism” and that she had undertaken a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder”."


The entire story can be read at:


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Read the Wikipedia entry at:


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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;

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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.”


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

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