QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“All of the experts, all the doctors getting on the stand, saying this is not a case of trauma,” (Executive Director Tennessee Innocence Project) Gichner said. “This is not a case of abuse. I believe that proves innocence. I believe that proves Russell’s innocence, regardless of whether you can explain the causation of what actually happened.”
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SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“Is it appropriate to prosecute people under what we would argue is an outdated and inaccurate medical theory?” Gichner asked. “This was supposed to be a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that you don’t call something shaken baby syndrome until you rule everything else out,” Gichner added. “That is one of the big problems you see in cases, and it’s one of the big problems in the Russell Maze case, that not everything else has been excluded. You know we can rule out trauma from what we know about the medicine, but there are other medical diagnoses that exist to explain the symptoms and the presentation in this case.”
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THIRD QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Maze’s attorney told News 2 he has spent decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, and they are hoping to keep fighting for him in court. “The more time that goes on, the more science that we learned, the more that we learn about the medicine, it is just more and more proof that he is innocent and didn’t do this,” Gichner said. “We’re just hoping that we can keep fighting for him, and we’re just hoping that we get to have another day in court.”
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Monday, Maze’s attorneys filed an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, asking for two things. First, to allow the medical examiner to testify about his updated conclusion. “We are asking for the opportunity to allow Dr. Levy to come testify about his opinion, which is really foundational to the prosecution’s case and why Russell Maze was convicted in the first place,” Gichner explained. Second, they are asking for the court to reexamine the diagnosis itself."
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STORY: "Attorneys seek Tennessee Supreme Court appeal in decades-old Russell Maze case," by Reporter Karen Quisenberry, published by WKM. on December 23. 2025. (Katelyn joined the News 2 team as an MMJ in December of 2023. You can watch her report Monday through Friday during the afternoon newscasts.by: Katelyn Quisenberry);
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville man convicted more than two decades ago in the death of his infant son is asking for his case to be heard one more time.
Attorneys for Russell Maze have filed a petition with the Tennessee Supreme Court, making two distinct requests they say could change the outcome of his case.
“The theory was that in order to achieve these symptoms, it had to have come from shaking a baby or shaking an infant,” Executive Director of Tennessee Innocence Project, Jason Gichner, explained. “What we know now from science is that it is not really true.”
More than 25 years ago, Russell Maze was convicted of shaking his son Alex to death. Maze has maintained his innocence since.
Last year, Maze’s defense team returned to court, alongside the Davidson County District Attorney and medical experts, arguing that new scientific evidence points to his innocence.
“Every single medical expert using current science confirms Russell and Kaye Maze are actually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted,” Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk told the judge in 2024.
Even the medical examiner who initially testified that Alex had died from shaken baby syndrome has since changed his opinion, now saying the death was natural.
But the court ruled that the change was a “witness recantation,” not new evidence, and denied Maze a new trial last month.
“All of the experts, all the doctors getting on the stand, saying this is not a case of trauma,” Gichner said. “This is not a case of abuse. I believe that proves innocence. I believe that proves Russell’s innocence, regardless of whether you can explain the causation of what actually happened.”
On Monday, Maze’s attorneys filed an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, asking for two things.
First, to allow the medical examiner to testify about his updated conclusion.
“We are asking for the opportunity to allow Dr. Levy to come testify about his opinion, which is really foundational to the prosecution’s case and why Russell Maze was convicted in the first place,” Gichner explained.
Second, they are asking for the court to reexamine the diagnosis itself.
“Is it appropriate to prosecute people under what we would argue is an outdated and inaccurate medical theory?” Gichner asked.
“This was supposed to be a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that you don’t call something shaken baby syndrome until you rule everything else out,” Gichner added. “That is one of the big problems you see in cases, and it’s one of the big problems in the Russell Maze case, that not everything else has been excluded. You know we can rule out trauma from what we know about the medicine, but there are other medical diagnoses that exist to explain the symptoms and the presentation in this case.”
Maze’s attorney told News 2 he has spent decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, and they are hoping to keep fighting for him in court.
“The more time that goes on, the more science that we learned, the more that we learn about the medicine, it is just more and more proof that he is innocent and didn’t do this,” Gichner said. “We’re just hoping that we can keep fighting for him, and we’re just hoping that we get to have another day in court.”
The Tennessee Supreme Court could take several weeks or even months to decide whether it will accept the case for review. If the court agrees to hear the appeal, it would mark the next step in a decades-long fight over Russell Maze’s 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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