DEEP BACKGROUND: A good start is CBC News Reporter Rachel Ward's story at the link below, headed, "B.C. Court of Appeal quashes conviction of woman in toddler's death, calling it 'miscarriage of justice - and the sub-heading, "Tammy Bouvette, 39, fell into addiction and became homeless after 2d-degree murder charge win 2011. (April 12, 2023.) Rachel is and outstanding journalist on the CBC's 'Fifth Estate.' The story makes clear that Ms. Bouvette pleaded guilty in 2013 to a lesser charge without the Crown disclosing it had evidence that raised questions about the case's pathology evidence - - and that since the police originally believed the death to be a tragic accident, the opinion of Dr. Evan Matshes, the Calgary medical examiner at the time who performed the toddler's autopsy, told prosecutors he had identified bruising that was "typical of child abuse" and said there "no benign" explanation for some of her injuries, was the most important part of the prosecution's case. Here's where it get's really interesting. As, Rachel Ward reports, "During Bouvette's prosecution, the forensic pathologist's opinions would come under scrutiny in Alberta, where the Justice Ministry ordered an external panel of three expert forensic pathologists review a selection of his death investigations, including that of Iyanna Teeple. Those experts wrote a report called a "peer review" in which they said Matshes's opinions on the toddler's death regarding intent and child abuse were unreasonable. The independent medical experts concluded that in their opinion, Matshes had arrived at "unreasonable" conclusions in 13 death investigations, several of which involved criminal matters. Matshes, who by that time had left his Calgary medical examiner job, sued the Alberta government for defamation in a lawsuit that remains before the court, and separately challenged the panel's report in court. An Alberta Court of Queen's Bench justice ruled in 2014 that the panel's review was not fair to Matshes and that he had not been given enough time to respond or provide additional materials. Just one problems! Per Rachel Ward: "The Fifth Estate reported that multiple defendants facing murder charges alleged they were not shown the peer review that raised questions about evidence in their cases. In response to The Fifth Estate investigation, the BC Prosecution Service appointed special prosecutor Marilyn Sandford to investigate its role in the Bouvette case. Sandford announced in 2021 she had uncovered a likely miscarriage of justice, and recommended Bouvette appeal her conviction. Even though that independent expert peer review had ultimately been set aside by the court, Bouvette's lawyers argued in her appeal the failure to provide it to her defence was the problem. "The failure to disclose in this case is nothing less than egregious," they wrote. The Court of Appeal panel of justices agreed, and said that it was not impugning Matshes's professionalism, but rather made its decision on the Crown's failure to disclose the report and other evidence. Bouvette was "unaware of the results of the external peer review overseen by Alberta Justice, and the possibility that the review could be the source of an alternative opinion refuting the damning one offered by Dr. Matshes, or at least undermining the reliability of the Crown's key witness," the justices wrote."
thttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bouvette-court-of-appeal-decision-1.6807800
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 2021, a special prosecutor from the BC Prosecution Service found that there may have been a miscarriage of justice since there was a strong case that Bouvette did not receive disclosure of significant and relevant materials."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Bouvette's lawyer is seeking an acquittal in the case rather than the Appeal Court's order for a stay of proceedings as remedy.
An acquittal declares a defendant has been found not guilty by the court, while a stay means the Crown has dropped its charges but does not determine guilt or innocence."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Dr. Evan Matshes, the Calgary medical examiner at the time who performed the toddler's autopsy, told prosecutors he had identified bruising that was "typical of child abuse" and said there "no benign" explanation for some of her injuries. That medical opinion changed the course of the investigation, Bouvette's legal team argued in their appeal. "With respect to Dr. Matshes, his opinion was the most important part of the Crown's case," the appeal states."
STORY: Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear case of B.C. babysitter in toddler's death, Canadian Press story published by CTV News, on December 22, 2023.
GIST: "The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the case of a British Columbia woman whose conviction in the drowning death of a toddler was quashed earlier this year.
Documents show that the court has granted the application for leave to hear the case of Tammy Bouvette, whose criminal negligence charge was thrown out by the B.C. Court of Appeal in April.
Bouvette's lawyer is seeking an acquittal in the case rather than the Appeal Court's order for a stay of proceedings as remedy.
An acquittal declares a defendant has been found not guilty by the court, while a stay means the Crown has dropped its charges but does not determine guilt or innocence.
Bouvette was originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in 2011 for the bathtub drowning death of a 19-month-old girl she had been babysitting in Cranbrook, B.C.
The B.C. Court of Appeal found the Crown failed to disclose several items of key evidence to Bouvette's lawyers, depriving her of the "opportunity to make an informed decision about how to plead."
The Appeal Court ruling called the original conviction "the product of a miscarriage of justice" despite not finding bad faith or malice in the Crown's failure to share the evidence.
In explaining its order for the stay, the Appeal Court said to retry Bouvette's case would be "unjust."
"It would amount to punishing the appellant again for succeeding in having her guilty plea and conviction quashed," the decision said, noting Bouvette had already served her whole sentence for criminal negligence.
The Appeal Court also said Bouvette relapsed in her battle with addiction after being charged, losing custody of her children while getting assaulted in jail for being perceived as a "baby killer."
Bouvette was babysitting Iyanna Teeple when the toddler was found unconscious and not breathing in a bathtub. The child was flown to a Calgary hospital but later died.
In 2021, a special prosecutor from the BC Prosecution Service found that there may have been a miscarriage of justice since there was a strong case that Bouvette did not receive disclosure of significant and relevant materials.
The review found that Bouvette's Charter rights may have been breached, eventually leading to the quashing of the conviction."
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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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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