POST: "Jesse Harvey and the curse of SBS', published by Andrew L. Urbin, on his Wrongful Convictions Report, on November 2, 2025. (Wrongful Convictions Report explores and exposes wrongful convictions and potential miscarriages of justice (mostly) in Australia. WCR’s research goals include the establishment of a reliable database of wrongful convictions and an overview of identifiable reforms that would reduce the likelihood and incidence of such errors in the criminal justice system.)
GIST: :Just as we were publishing a thorough debunking of the junk science behind Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) in 2019, a 21 year old father in Victoria, Jesse Harvey, was sentenced to six years jail for the murder of his baby son by shaking him to death. Wrongly, as it turns out, but that is a typical SBS story.
Jesse Harvey has served his sentence and speaking out, maintaining his innocence. The final episode of Diagnosing Murder (podcast) interviews Harvey for the first time. He said he was speaking out because “I spent the last six years in jail for something I didn’t do. I lost my son. And these people need to be held accountable because it’s going to continue to happen.”
Casey’s death certificate, obtained by this masthead’s investigative podcast, Diagnosing Murder, reveals a South Australian coroner concluded the boy’s cause of death was “aspiration and tracheitis [choking] on a background of acquired brain injury with epilepsy and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy” – a serious congenital heart condition.
Diagnosing Murder is investigating shaken baby syndrome. A list obtained by the podcast shows the diagnosis has played a role in jailing well over 100 people in this country since 1995. The podcast raises questions about whether the diagnosis is based on reliable scientific evidence.
In Harvey’s trial in 2019, child abuse specialists from the Victorian Forensic Paediatric Medical Service (VFPMS) acknowledged Casey had a heart condition, including a heart murmur, based on the findings of a Royal Children’s Hospital cardiologist.
They said the enlargement of the seven-week-old’s heart was “moderate” and that it was unlikely to have anything to do with what had caused his brain injury.
But in a report produced at the request of the Diagnosing Murder podcast, forensic pathologist Stephen Cordner observed five problems with the prosecution’s medical evidence against Harvey that “seem not to have been explored, or were insufficiently explored” at his trial.
In response to questions about the case, the Royal Children’s Hospital said it would be inappropriate to comment.
At the trial, it was revealed that baby Casey spent three days in hospital in the lead up to the seizure that his father saw. He was treated for an infection, fever, irritability, poor feeding and vomiting. A lumbar puncture showed blood in his cerebrospinal fluid.
However, asked at the trial about this, the expert doctor said Casey’s illness did not show a medical cause for his seizure. It was “a separate thing from what occurred [the alleged shaking],” they said.
It’s a tragic story that damns those who accept the junk science, compounded by the death since of both the young son and Jesse’s mother. SBS is another dark corner of the criminal justice system which is left unattended by those who are in a position to put it right."
The entire post can be read at:
https://wrongfulconvictionsreport.org/2025/11/02/jesse-harvey-and-the-curse-of-sbs/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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