QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I switched it to organic milk. I thought he was doing better, but he wasn't thriving." Tiffany Woods, who has already served 17 years in prison, said
STORY: "Mom Who Fed Baby Cow's Milk After Hurricane Katrina Recommended for Prison Release," by TooFab staff," published on August 21, 2023.
Woods was found guilty of causing her child's malnutrition death by feeding the infant cow's milk while fleeing Hurricane Katrina.
It has been reported that the Louisiana pardon board has now voted to release Woods after 17 years in prison for second-degree murder, per the Associated Press and the Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
The now 43-year-old has been serving a life sentence for the 2005 death of her son, Emmanuel, who was five months old at the time.
FacebookVIEW STORY
Woods, who has three other children, fed Emmanuel cow's milk instead of baby formula, causing his death from malnutrition, prosecutors said during her trial.
Emmanuel was born prematurely, a couple months before Hurricane Katrina, and was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality. However, according to the Advocate, Woods was not made aware of the severity of her son's condition when discharged from the hospital.
Woods and her family fled the hurricane, taking shelter 300 miles away. It was then that the troubles began.
"The formula he was taking, he wasn't swallowing. He was always throwing it up, and then we ran out of WIC (food) vouchers, so I decided to switch it ... I switched it to organic milk. I thought he was doing better, but he wasn't thriving," Woods told the parole board this week.
"My family wasn't around me," the mother said. "I didn't know whether they was alive or not. And I made poor choices and my son lost his life because of me.”
The prosecution said that Emmanuel was not taken to a doctor despite his severe health decline.
The CDC warns against introducing cow's milk to a child under 12 months of age.
Both Woods and the child's father, Emmanuel Scott, were convicted of second-degree murder in 2006.
Suzanne Ellis, who was part of the prosecution in the couple's trial, disagreed with Woods' potential release.
"I will go to my grave remembering this baby," she said, per AP. "This baby was the most pitiful thing I have seen in 26 years. Please do not give her an opportunity at release. Do not give her an opportunity to harm another child, because I am convinced that if she can, she will."
Whether or not Woods' sentence is commuted is up to Gov. John Bel Edwards."
The entire story can be read at:
https://toofab.com/2023/08/21/mom-who-fed-baby-cows-milk-after-hurricane-katrina-release/
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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