PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This decision (The Jesse Harvey case) must be studied in the context of two other related Australian 'shaken baby' cases, which I have been following on this Blog: Jesse Venaccia and Joby Rowe. By way of background from previous (bolded) posts:
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AUSTRALIA: JOBY ROWE; JESSE HARVEY: "The Court of Appeal also heard that two other appeals against convictions for child homicide and assault have been filed by the same lawyers representing Vinaccia. Joby Rowe was found guilty of child homicide in 2018 over the death of his three-month-old daughter, Alanah. “Violent shaking with or without impact on a soft surface” was found to be the cause of death based on her internal injuries, with experts testifying there was no other “reasonable explanation”. Rowe denied mistreating the child. Jesse Harvey was convicted of recklessly causing serious injury to his seven-week-old son, Casey, in 2019. He claimed he did not shake or hit Casey, but said the baby bumped his head on the edge of a couch as Harvey sat down. The medical evidence held the child’s internal injuries were equivalent to a 10-metre fall or high-velocity motor vehicle collision."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "The Vinaccia appeal (above) , along with the Joby Rowe and Jesse Harvey appeals (below) represent a powerful, head-on attack on the so-called 'shaken baby syndrome.' Following closely in 2022. HL:
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: (September 13, 2023) : Jesse Harvey appeal decision): "Jesse Harvey "During the initial trial, Havey’s defence had suggested Casey’s injuries could have been caused by Mr Scott, which he rejected as a “load of bulls--t”. Handing down their findings, Justices Karin Emerton, Phillip Priest and Maree Kennedy found the verdict was not unsafe or unsatisfactory. “There is nothing to be said about unknown causes,” they wrote. “That submission is purely speculative. It ignores the substantial evidence of Dr Tully about the cause of the combination of injuries identified in Casey."
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STORY: "Jesse Harvey: Dad’s appeal against ‘shaking’ conviction for son’s injuries rejected: A father’s conviction over the “forceful shaking” of his seven-week old son — leaving him severely disabled — has been upheld," by Reporter Liam Beatty, published by news.com.au on September 13, 2023. (Liam Beatty is a court reporter with NCA NewsWire. He has previously worked in newsrooms in Victoria and Western Australia.)
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STORY: "A court has upheld a father’s conviction for seriously injuring his infant son, finding it “was open” for the jury to find him guilty.
Seven-week-old, Casey, was rushed to the Ballarat Base Hospital in April 2017 where extensive brain injuries were discovered.
He survived but is expected to remain severely disabled and dependent on carers for the rest of his life.
His father, Jesse Harvey, was found guilty two years later by a jury of recklessly causing serious injury to his son in a shaking incident earlier the same day.
He was jailed for eight years in May 2019.
Harvey returned before the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, where a panel of three judges rejected his attempt to overturn the conviction after conducting their own “independent assessment of the evidence”.
Harvey had argued the jury could not have excluded the possibility his son’s injuries were caused by an earlier, unknown incident of trauma, pre-existing medical conditions or “unknown causes”.
He challenged the expert testimony of forensic paediatrician Dr Jo Tully, who opined the injuries were caused by inflicted head trauma.
The court was told Harvey and his son had moved to Ballarat from South Australia just days before the injuries after his relationship with Casey’s mother ended.
The pair moved in with Harvey’s mother, Catherine Scott, and his brother, Peter Scott.'
“We are satisfied that it was open to the jury to be satisfied of guilt.""
The entire story can be read at:
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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