PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The new medical evidence Smith’s attorneys want to introduce is testimony from Dr. Saadi Ghatan, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He believes Chandler Smith didn’t die from shaking. Born premature at 36 weeks, Gwinnett County dispatch records show two weeks before Chandler’s death, Brandon called 911 after she thought the child “was coming in and out of a seizure.” Paramedics dismissed her concerns, saying the “baby was just having hiccups.” In an interview with investigators, Brandon praised Smith, calling him “Mr. Mom” who “takes good care of the baby.” Brandon changed her opinion about Smith’s innocence at his trial when the medical examiner explained he believed Chandler Smith died from blunt force trauma. “Those things just didn’t happen and those weren’t natural causes,” Brandon said. While Brandon hasn’t heard Dr. Ghatan’s testimony yet, she doesn’t think it will change her mind. “He has not examined Chandler,” she said. “He’s just saying whatever. I don’t know what his game plan is.”
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STORY: "Gwinnett County DA accused of misconduct, could be recused from murder case," by investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti, published on Atlantic News First on October 5, 2023. (Andy Pierrotti is an award-winning investigative reporter recognized with a George Foster Peabody, multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. Andy’s investigations have changed state laws, put people in prison, freed a man from jail and led to historic state fines. Most of Andy's stories focus on government accountability and consumer advocacy, with an emphasis on tracking viewers' tax dollars, safety, health and well-being. Andy is a proud graduate of the University of South Carolina. In 2018, USC honored him with the Distinguished Alumni Award. He’s also the first professional-in-residence to teach at USC’s College of Information and Communications.)
SUBHEADING: "Danyel Smith is convicted of killing his 2-month-old son, who died from blunt force trauma. Or did he?"
GIST: "A judge could soon decide whether to remove the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office from a case involving a man serving life in prison trying to get a new trial.
Danyel Smith is serving a life sentence for the murder of his infant son, Chandler, who died in 2002. He is currently seeking a new trial after his attorneys believe they uncovered new evidence that will prove his innocence.
Last month, Smith’s attorneys asked a judge to recuse the district attorney’s office from the case. During the hearing, they claim Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Christopher DeNeve tried to negotiate a plea deal without Smith’s lawyers present.
The plea offer included a rare opportunity for Smith’s immediate release if he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and agreed to write an apology letter to the child’s mother admitting guilt.
Smith declined the offer, saying he would not admit to something he did not do.
But Smith’s attorneys said DeNeve wouldn’t take no for answer.
In March, DeNeve called Smith’s fiancé, LaTasha Pyatt, and asked to meet as soon as possible. According to Pyatt, the prosecutor told her not to bring Smith’s attorneys because they were part of the problem.
Nervous about meeting, Pyatt secretly recorded the meeting with her phone.
“We’ve made a very fair offer. It’s a way for him to be out,” said DeNeve in the audio recording played during a hearing. “And I think he should consider it. And I strongly feel that Mr. Smith should take that into consideration because that’s a way to get out now … and I think it’s the best offer he’s going to get.”
Smith’s attorneys say the prosecutor violated rules of professional conduct by trying to negotiate a plea deal without his attorney’s present.
“They attempted to undermine me, my relationship with Mr. Smith,” said Mark Loudon-Brown, Smith’s attorney, who works at the Southern Center for Human Rights. “They attempted to undermine both of my co-counsels.”
In court fillings, DeNeve said he met with Pyatt because the state considers her a potential witness. Smith’s attorneys said that’s not what the audio recordings revealed. “Five time he talked about the plea offer,” said Christine Koehler, another attorney on Smith’s legal team. “Do you know how many times he mentioned her being a witness? Not once.”
Loudon-Brown and Koehler have asked Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor to recuse not just DeNeve from the case, but District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson’s entire office.
DeNeve said the meeting was completely appropriate. “Having listened to the recordings, I stand by it,” he said. “I stand by our actions. Everything that happened in that meeting was completely proper.”
Over the past year, Atlanta News First Investigates has followed Smith’s fight for a new trial so his attorneys can introduce new medical evidence they claim will prove his son, Chandler, didn’t die from shaking, but from trauma during birth.
Prosecutors told the Gwinnett County jury in 2003 it was a “shaken baby case.” The Georgia medical examiner ruled the boy’s death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma.
Smith was 28 and until then, had no prior criminal record. He’s maintained his innocence for more than 21 years.
“An innocent man is prison that needs to be home with his family,” said Pyatt, who met Smith eight years ago and who are engaged to be married. The two have never met outside prison walls.
Chandler Smith’s mother, Marsha Brandon, does not believe Danyel Smith deserves a second chance. For the first time since Smith’s trial, she’s speaking on the record about her former boyfriend’s attempts for a new trial.
“He didn’t give Chandler a chance at life,” Brandon said. “He doesn’t deserve a chance at a regular life.”
Brandon believes Smith killed their son in retaliation for asking him to move out of their shared apartment.
The new medical evidence Smith’s attorneys want to introduce is testimony from Dr. Saadi Ghatan, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He believes Chandler Smith didn’t die from shaking.
Born premature at 36 weeks, Gwinnett County dispatch records show two weeks before Chandler’s death, Brandon called 911 after she thought the child “was coming in and out of a seizure.”
Paramedics dismissed her concerns, saying the “baby was just having hiccups.”
In an interview with investigators, Brandon praised Smith, calling him “Mr. Mom” who “takes good care of the baby.”
Brandon changed her opinion about Smith’s innocence at his trial when the medical examiner explained he believed Chandler Smith died from blunt force trauma. “Those things just didn’t happen and those weren’t natural causes,” Brandon said.
While Brandon hasn’t heard Dr. Ghatan’s testimony yet, she doesn’t think it will change her mind. “He has not examined Chandler,” she said. “He’s just saying whatever. I don’t know what his game plan is.”
Batchelor is expected to rule on the request to recuse district attorney’s office by the end of October.
A hearing to determine if Smith will get a new trial isn’t expected to happen sometime next year."
The entire story can be read at:
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Award-winning Investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti takes you behind his investigation
Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First
Behind the Investigation: DA offers plea to man convicted of killing his infant son. But there’s a catch.
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Danyel Smith is serving a life sentence for murdering his infant son. He maintains his innocence, and recently turned down an effort to be released from prison.
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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