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PETITION: WRONGFUL CONVICTION : EXONERATE MICHAEL SONTOYA:
https://www.change.org/p/wrongful-conviction-exonerate-michael-sontoya
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FOX9 segment on The Sontoya case: "Ramsey Co. murder case under review: Woman's effort to free husband."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo2jlK6immM
Announcer: "Fox's Mike Manzoni talked with a St. Paul woman, who is fighting to free her husband after a murder conviction sent him away for life. And Mike, she's so convinced he's innocent that she moved here and married him. Mike: She says that this is one of the seven cases now under review. She got involved when he reached out on line for legal help. She is a certified death investigator and says that what Dr. McGee found during the victim's autopsy just doesn't make sense."
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BACKGROUND: "The Brief": A Ramsey County murder conviction is one of many cases coming under scrutiny for its reliance on the testimony of a controversial former chief medical examiner. Former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael McGee's work is being scrutinized after other convictions were overturned based on errors in found by other experts. Michael Sontoya was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend in 2008." (FOX9 News:);
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Sontoya is represented by attorney James Mayer, the legal director at the Great North Innocence Project, a Minneapolis-based advocacy organization that specializes in wrongful convictions. In May, it was revealed during a court hearing that a 113-page file from the medical examiner’s office was never made available to either prosecutors or Sontoya. The court ordered that the file be turned over to Sontoya’s attorney. The contents of the file are not publicly known.
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "In addition to the seven homicide cases under review, the attorney general’s office is reviewing 11 of its cases that involved Dr. McGee. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office would not confirm whether Sontoya’s case is one of the seven under review."
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STORY: "2009 murder case is 1 of 7 under independent review," by Reporter Mike Manzoni, published by Fox9 KMSP, one September 13, 2024.
SUB-HEADING: "Woman works to clear husband's murder conviction."
SUB-HEADING: "A woman who worked as a certified death investigator is disputing the testimony of a controversial former chief medical examiner that led to her husband being sentenced to life in prison. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni has the story."
GIST: "A 15-year-old Ramsey County murder case is one of the seven that an independent panel of medical experts will review for possible errors, according to the wife of the man convicted.
Michael Sontoya, 47, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for sexually assaulting and murdering his girlfriend, Gabriela Romo, 31, in St. Paul in September 2008.
Dr. Michael McGee, the controversial former chief medical examiner, performed the autopsy on Romo, finding that she bled to death from a 14-inch laceration that stretched from her pelvis to her abdomen.
Prosecutors in Ramsey County are reviewing seven cases linked to former medical examiner Dr. Michael McGee, as his past cases are coming under scrutiny for errors found by other experts.
Isabella Sontoya, a certified death investigator from Canada who met Sontoya during his unsuccessful appeals process and married him in 2022, doubts the autopsy report.
She pointed out that court documents show paramedics found little blood on Romo’s clothing and thought she suffered a cardiac arrest. In his testimony, Dr. McGee refuted Sontoya’s claim that Romo dressed herself after the two had sex, arguing that there would have been more blood on her clothing.
"I can’t unsee the truth," she said. "You would think there would be a lot more evidence stacked against him than one medical examiner’s testimony."
Sontoya is represented by attorney James Mayer, the legal director at the Great North Innocence Project, a Minneapolis-based advocacy organization that specializes in wrongful convictions.
In May, it was revealed during a court hearing that a 113-page file from the medical examiner’s office was never made available to either prosecutors or Sontoya. The court ordered that the file be turned over to Sontoya’s attorney. The contents of the file are not publicly known.
Convictions in question
FOX 9 first uncovered questions about Dr. McGee’s work in 2010, more than a decade before prosecutors started reviewing his work for possible errors.
At least two murder convictions that relied on his testimony have been overturned, including one involving a man who was convicted of beating his infant daughter to death. A half-dozen experts later determined that she accidentally suffocated in her sleep.
In addition, the death sentence of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., who was convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and murder of Dru Sjodin, 22, was commuted to a life sentence after concerns over Dr. McGee’s work on the case surfaced.
What comes next
In addition to the seven homicide cases under review, the attorney general’s office is reviewing 11 of its cases that involved Dr. McGee.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office would not confirm whether Sontoya’s case is one of the seven under review.
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;
