PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Gasser's attorney, Mike Schneider, filed a motion prior to a Monday hearing, requesting that the court order DFPS to produce long-overdue documentation, which is expected to demonstrate the medical abuse case was based on sworn affidavits “peppered with false and misleading statements to the court.” He also asked that DFPS be sanctioned for failing to produce the documents according to a March 7 deadline. Gasser was arrested in Aug. 2023, on allegations that around February 19, 2023, Gasser did intentionally and knowingly provide false medical history to a medical provider in an attempt to obtain a prescription for the drug Megace, and then caused the medication to be administered to the three-year old victim, causing her adrenal gland to cease producing insulin, protracting the loss of a bodily function. This Felony I offense was listed as Injury to a child/elderly/disabled person with intent to cause significant bodily injury. A second charge of Exploitation of a child/elderly/disabled person, a Third Degree Felony, was lodged against Gasser after evidence was presented that she had created a GoFundMe account to raise money to take the victim to Cleveland, OH, to obtain unnecessary treatment.
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STORY: "Court orders DFPS (The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services) to release evidence in Gasser 'Munchausen by Proxy' case, published by The Henderson News, on March 26, 2024."
GIST: "The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has been ordered by a Rusk County court to produce previously withheld evidence in the purported Munchausen by proxy case against Tatum resident Jessica Gasser.
Gasser's attorney, Mike Schneider, filed a motion prior to a Monday hearing, requesting that the court order DFPS to produce long-overdue documentation, which is expected to demonstrate the medical abuse case was based on sworn affidavits “peppered with false and misleading statements to the court.” He also asked that DFPS be sanctioned for failing to produce the documents according to a March 7 deadline.
Gasser was arrested in Aug. 2023, on allegations that around February 19, 2023, Gasser did intentionally and knowingly provide false medical history to a medical provider in an attempt to obtain a prescription for the drug Megace, and then caused the medication to be administered to the three-year old victim, causing her adrenal gland to cease producing insulin, protracting the loss of a bodily function. This Felony I offense was listed as Injury to a child/elderly/disabled person with intent to cause significant bodily injury.
A second charge of Exploitation of a child/elderly/disabled person, a Third Degree Felony, was lodged against Gasser after evidence was presented that she had created a GoFundMe account to raise money to take the victim to Cleveland, OH, to obtain unnecessary treatment.
DFPS has agreed to allow daily unsupervised visits between Gasser, her husband, and the alleged victim, their 3-year old daughter Elowen, with the expectation that the couple will be allowed to move back home by April 7. After she was removed from Gasser's custody, the child was taken into foster care where she lost "a dangerous amount of weight," and was eventually given over to the custody of a grandparent and an aunt.
Schneider, a retired Texas state district judge, said, “We’re grateful that the Gassers can begin rebuilding their family, but the state’s refusal to turn over evidence raises more troubling questions about the conduct and credibility of DFPS, healthcare providers and law enforcement personnel in this case – especially now that there’s strong, independent new evidence that destroys the original allegations and validates Jessica’s original medical concerns for her child.”
"Independent medical experts, comprehensive forensic psychological evaluations, and other evidence in the case now refute the so-called Munchausen syndrome by proxy allegations made against the Gasser family and validate Jessica’s fears of the child’s medical condition," Schneider said in a Tuesday afternoon press release. "Affidavits disputing the medical abuse allegations were provided to the state and the court. Even DFPS now admits the allegations of medical neglect of the child by her mother have been 'ruled out.'"
A pretrial hearing in the case is set for early May.""
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:
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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-12348801
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MORE VALUABLE WORDS: "As a former public defender, Texas' refusal to delay Ivan Cantu's execution to evaluate new evidence is deeply worrying for the state of our legal system. There should be no room for doubt in a death penalty case. The facts surrounding Cantu's execution should haunt all of us."
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett; X March 1, 2024.
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