PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Why is it so hard for some prosecutors to let go of a shaken Bay Syndrome conviction - even when there is clear evidence pointing to a non-criminal medical cause of a child's death as in Texas, where the state is lusting to kill Robert Roberson - and in this case, where the conviction has been reversed by the state's district court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court? Something is terribly wrong in this picture. This is obscene.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Great North Innocence Project, which started investigating Kaiser’s case in 2020, says a team of experts concluded the medical evidence did not support the trauma diagnosis and instead identified a nontraumatic medical cause for his condition: blood clots in William’s brain veins known as cerebral venous thrombosis, a “serious medical condition that causes many of the same symptoms often attributed to [abusive head trauma].”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Kaiser filed for postconviction relief, which the district court granted in April 2022. That decision was affirmed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals last year and affirmed by the Supreme Court in March this year. “We do not affirm the reversal of a murder conviction lightly, and we make our decision realizing a new trial will cause renewed pain for William’s family,” Associate Justice Gordon Moore wrote in his Supreme Court opinion."
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STORY: "Stearns County man’s conviction for fatally shaking his baby was vacated. Now the county is trying him again," by St. Cloud's Reporter Jenny Berg, published by The Minnesota Star Tribune, on December 3, 3024..
SUB-HEADING: "After Robert Kaiser spent more than seven years behind bars, the court ruled his conviction was based on false evidence. But the prosecution says they can prove the case at a new trial. "
PHOTO CAPTION: "Robert Kaiser, who was released from prison after his second-degree murder conviction was vacated in 2022, speaks at a Great North Innocence Project event. Stearns County plans to bring him to trial again over the 2014 death of his infant son."
GIST: "Robert Kaiser had spent more than seven years behind bars when he was released on bail in the spring of 2022.
After being convicted of causing the death of his 2-month-old baby, Kaiser anticipated being in prison for at least five more years.
But Great North Innocence Project, an organization that works to free wrongfully convicted individuals, took on his case.
After finding the state’s experts gave false testimony that could have affected the outcome of the trial, the court vacated Kaiser’s conviction.
Two more courts, including the state’s Supreme Court, agreed.
So for more than two years, the 42-year-old Kaiser has been rebuilding his life — getting a job, mourning his parents who died when he was in prison, and visiting his son’s burial place in North Dakota when he’s granted permission by the court to leave the state.
When the court vacated the conviction, it granted Kaiser a new trial — if Stearns County prosecutors decided to bring the case to trial again.
They are now doing just that: Evidentiary hearings are scheduled for mid-December and a monthlong trial is slated to begin in April.
“We have reviewed the case and have been in consultation with our medical experts. We believe the evidence shows that Mr. Kaiser committed this crime and we believe we can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” Assistant Stearns County Attorney Josh Kannegieter said last week.
In Kaiser’s first trial, the jury acquitted him of one count of first-degree murder, but convicted him on two counts of second-degree unintentional murder in the 2014 death of his son, William.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
But according to the Supreme Court opinion, the state’s experts made false statements of medical fact to the jury: an ophthalmologist and forensic pathologist testified that macular schisis (found in William’s eyes) is only caused by abusive head trauma.
Later, during an evidentiary hearing, the ophthalmologist said it “would be incorrect” if he testified abusive head trauma is the only cause of macular schisis.
The Great North Innocence Project, which started investigating Kaiser’s case in 2020, says a team of experts concluded the medical evidence did not support the trauma diagnosis and instead identified a nontraumatic medical cause for his condition: blood clots in William’s brain veins known as cerebral venous thrombosis, a “serious medical condition that causes many of the same symptoms often attributed to [abusive head trauma].”
The prosecuting team has argued this “new interpretation” is not new evidence, “rather the same evidence in a different wrapper.”
During the first trial, the prosecution heard from many doctors who treated William at Children’s Hospital in August 2014, as well as William’s mother, who testified she observed a bruise on William’s chin that August and speculated it could have been caused by her sister’s handling of him during a previous visit.
Court documents state William was feeling unwell in August 2014 and taken to a doctor, who found abnormal lab results but that the mother left the clinic before doctors could complete all their tests.
The jury also heard William might have fallen from a stroller in late July 2014.
On Aug. 27, 2014, Kaiser was caring for William while the child’s mother was at work.
Court documents state William was pale, sweaty and fussy during the day and became nonresponsive in the evening.
He was brought to Children’s Hospital by air ambulance with seizure activity. The bruise on his jaw had grown and a doctor testified he saw the bruise as a sign of trauma because facial bruises are not typically an injury infants can acquire on their own.
Doctors also discovered William had healing rib fractures.
An ophthalmologist observed multiple hemorrhages in William’s eyes, particularly his left eye which the doctor described as probably the most extensive he’d seen in his career.
A neurologist who saw William on Sept. 2 said the seizures that weren’t being controlled with medications were likely a symptom of a brain injury.
Doctors also discovered William had developed bowel necrosis.
On Sept. 3, doctors found William’s neurological condition had deteriorated and he was moving toward brain death; they recommended he be removed from life support.
An autopsy showed a hemorrhage on the back of William’s head and multiple bruises, but couldn’t rule out if some of the injuries were caused by treatment at the hospital.
“Given the lack of any bruising, laceration or other sign of impact to the infant’s head, the state theorized Mr. Kaiser must have violently shaken William or slammed him into a soft surface,” leaders at Great North Innocence Project said in a statement earlier this year.
“At the trial, the state’s medical witness relied heavily on medical imaging, insisting to the jury that there was no other explanation for the infant’s neurological presentation.”
Kaiser filed for postconviction relief, which the district court granted in April 2022.
That decision was affirmed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals last year and affirmed by the Supreme Court in March this year.
“We do not affirm the reversal of a murder conviction lightly, and we make our decision realizing a new trial will cause renewed pain for William’s family,” Associate Justice Gordon Moore wrote in his Supreme Court opinion.
If a jury finds Kaiser guilty again, he could be sent back to prison but will get credit for time served, which includes more than two years in jail while he was awaiting trial and more than seven years in prison.
He was expected to serve about 11 years total in prison with the remainder of the balance on supervised release.
In a video posted to the Great North Innocence Project website, Kaiser says he wrote to more than four dozen legal groups across the country after his conviction.
“Prior to this, had I been outside as a normal person and seen me in the paper, I’d have thought he was a monster, too,” he said in the video. “I actually believed in the legal system, and if it hadn’t been for this situation, I wouldn’t have questioned that.”
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;
