Mullins-Johnson: Vows To Be A Thorn In The Side Of Justice;

William Mullins-Johnson has displayed his inspiring resilience in an address he recently gave to the Manitoulin-Northshore Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Service conference.

Mullins-Johnson's address appears in today's Sudbury Star under the heading "Island group hears from MD's victim", as reported by Margo Little;

A Sault Ste. Marie man wrongfully convicted in the death of his four-year-old niece in 1993 pledges to be a thorn in the side of the Canadian justice system.

"William Mullins-Johnson spent more than a decade in prison before being acquitted in 2007," the story begins.

"I did go through 12 years of hell when I was in jail," he told delegates to the Manitoulin-Northshore Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Service conference Friday. "And in many ways I'm still going through hell," it continues.

"Mullins-Johnson shared his traumatic ordeal with a gathering of community volunteers trained to assist victims of tragic circumstances. The theme of the 9th annual VCARS forum held April 17-18 was "Through the Eyes of a Victim."

His nightmare started on June 27, 1993, when Valin Johnson's lifeless body was found in her bed around 7 a.m. Mullins-Johnson had been staying at his brother Paul's place while attending school and working at an electrical equipment warehouse. By 6:30 p.m., Mullins-Johnson had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

The prosecutors relied heavily on expert witness Dr. Charles Smith, then regarded as Ontario's leading expert on child deaths.

Smith had conducted more than 1,000 autopsies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Eventually, a coroner's review of Smith's work would reveal questionable findings in 20 child autopsies. Thirteen of the 20 resulted in criminal convictions - including the Mullins-Johnson case.

Despite protestations of innocence, Mullins-Johnson was convicted in September 1994 after a two-week trial and sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole for 25 years. If prison authorities expected him to accept his fate, they would be proven wrong.

Since he had been labelled a child sexual offender, his life was in danger every moment. In prison hierarchy, child molesters, or "skinners," are viewed as "scum."

"Just the accusation destroys your life. It literally destroyed me," he said. "I went through an emotional breakdown in prison. I suffered insomnia, my head was churning and I couldn't sleep. I would have strung myself up or slit my wrists if it wasn't for a native elder I met there."

With the help of his spiritual advisor, he was able to shed some weight and set aside the pot and pills he had been taking. Through native sweat-lodge rituals, weight-training and exercise he grew strong enough to educate himself about his case and the inner workings of Canadian prisons.

Recognizing that knowledge is power, he started reading sociology and criminology. By January 2005, the association for the wrongly convicted took an interest in his battle for freedom.

"A major turning point came in February 2005 when the results of a review of the forensic file were released. The report authored by Dr. Michael Pollanen confirmed there was no positive medical evidence that Valin Johnson was murdered.

Also, there was no positive medical evidence that the child was sexually assaulted at any time.

The Pollanen conclusions were backed up by Dr. Bernard Knight of Wales as well. He confirmed there was no evidence of a homicide or of sexual injury."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

Human Failings And Dr. Smith: Good Questions Asked By The Sudbury Star About The Gagnon Case;

Several of this Blog's readers have drawn my attention to a probing editorial that appears in todays's Sudbury Star; (My thanks to them);

It runs under the heading: "Human Failings and Dr. Smith";

"Sudbury Star reporter Denis St. Pierre's exhaustive narrative Friday and Saturday of the nightmare that Lianne Gagnon and her family endured over the death of her 11-month-old son unveiled one astonishing development after another," the editorial begins.

"Just reading about what Gagnon and her family went through was draining. Imagine suffering as they did," it continues.

"There are lessons buried in all this - of oversight, and of human failing.

Dr. Charles Smith's story is now well known. Once an esteemed pediatric child pathologist who vigorously - even belligerently - pursued cases in a manner that was beyond his mandate, he has been thoroughly impugned as an incompetent, under-trained doctor who ignored facts, bullied investigators and lied under oath.

He left a trail of persecuted innocents in his wake, sending some people to jail - a Sault Ste Marie man for 12 years - and subjecting Sudbury's Gagnon family to a dreadful experience.

A panel of outside experts concluded Smith made errors in 20 of 45 criminal investigations into suspicious child deaths from 1991 to 2001.

Gagnon's 11-month-old son Nicholas died in December 1995. She has always maintained he hit his head on a table and stopped breathing shortly thereafter.

The case was reviewed by a pathologist and a coroner and was investigated by the local police, but no charges were laid.

Eighteen months later, in came Smith.

He concluded - incorrectly - that the child had multiple injuries and that Gagnon likely killed her son.

Gagnon, then a 21-year-old Laurentian University student, was subjected to a grueling interrogation by local police, her conversations with intimate friends were eavesdropped twice and her son's body was disinterred.

Despite all this, police concluded after a second six-month investigation that there was no case for criminal charges.

Yet Smith went ahead and contacted the Children's Aid Society, telling officials he was "99-per cent sure" Gagnon killed her son.

The CAS then decided to take custody of Gagnon's second child.

No one can imagine the anguish the Gagnon family went through, dealing with the death of a child and the merciless legal pursuit that followed.

Smith now says he was simply incompetent, tearfully offering apologies to his victims during an inquiry last week.

The police say they were led down the wrong path by a respected pathologist.

But the only real innocent one here is Gagnon.

The lessons involved include the medical community, police and child-welfare authorities. How did Smith, without training in pediatric forensic pathology, achieve virtual star status in that field?

How were his mistakes missed for a decade?

The medical community must become better accustomed to scrutinizing their own.

Even the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons didn't stop Smith's carnage.

Why were the Sudbury police so quick to ignore the conclusions of the two initial doctors and their own investigation on the presumption that Smith was so much better?

Do they grant anyone else infallibility status? Are the police subject to tunnel vision once they've made up their minds, the characteristic that is known to lead to wrongful convictions?

In Gagnon's case, though no charges were laid, lead investigator Insp. Bob Keetch, who was then a sergeant, testified the police chief at the time, Alex McCauley, was adamant that Gagnon was guilty even after the second investigation resulted in no charges. (McCauley has denied this.)"

These are all good questions;

Kudos to the Sudbury Star - and reporter Denis St. Pierre - for asking them.

See this Blog's series: Interrogation of an innocent mother: Parts one to fourteen; January, 2008.

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;