THE KERAN HENDERSON CASE: PART NINE; BRITISH MP JOHN HEMMING REACTS TO CONCERNS EXPRESSED BY ONE OF THE JURORS;

British MP John Hemming issued a news release on December 17, 2007, in response to concerns expressed by one of the Henderson trial jurors.

Hemming's headed his release: "UK Gov Must Review “Expert” Medical Evidence; Juror Claims Keran Henderson is innocent - response; Contact: John Hemming MP."

"John Hemming MP, Chairman of Justice for Families, has responded to a juror’s claims that Keran Henderson is innocent with a call for the government and the judiciary to review the use of medical expert evidence," the release began;

"“It was revealed today,” he said, “that there is a juror from Keran’s trial who believes that she is innocent. Her case has been taken up by the Angela Cannings Foundation who believe that a miscarriage of justice has occurred," it continued;

"“This makes it clear that the way in which our courts use expert evidence and particularly medical expert evidence has insufficient intellectual rigour. Evidence which is clearly unreliable and based upon pet theories without proper research groundings is accepted as fact in court.”

“Very often doctors make incorrect diagnoses. That comes with the territory. However, when we are asking medical expert witnesses to diagnose innocence or guilt we need more certainty than is the case for most medical treatment. The effects of a false diagnosis of guilt in court generally cause far more damage than a false diagnosis for ordinary treatment.”

“I have written to the Lord Chief Justice about this and also been in touch with Lady Scotland. The current situation results in court decisions being based upon shifting sands and innocent people end up in a quagmire as a result.”"

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

INNOCENT MAN PLEADED GUILTY TO LESSER OFFENCE TO ESCAPE ALMOST CERTAIN CONVICTION AT HANDS OF CHARLES SMITH; JUSTICE SYSTEM'S "DIRTY LITTLE SECRET";

We know from the Goudge Inquiry that several innocent individuals pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit - or did not contest certain charges - in order to avoid what their lawyer's described as the almost certain risk of being convicted of murder by the lethal testimony of Dr. Charles Smith;

Globe and Mail Justice Reporter Kirk Makin focused on the issue of lawyer's who help clients plead guilty to offenses they may not be guilty of for collateral reasons in a story which appears today under the heading: "Reopens troubling debate about role lawyers play in arranging guilty pleas for clients who may be not guilty."

"In light of overwhelming evidence from then-respected pathologist Charles Smith, lawyer Robert Graydon knew that his client, Richard Brant, would be a fool to pass up a Crown offer of just six months behind bars for the shaking death of his two-month-old baby, Dustin," Makin's story begins.

"However, there was one serious obstacle to Mr. Brant accepting the plea bargain. The mourning father insisted he had done absolutely nothing to cause Dustin's death - in direct contradiction of findings by the now-discredited Dr. Smith," the story continues;

"After several anguished conversations with Mr. Graydon - now an Ontario Court judge - Mr. Brant said he would concede to having jostled Dustin accidentally during a physical struggle with his wife, according to an affidavit filed in the Ontario Court of Appeal.

By asking the appeal court last week to reopen and overturn his 10-year-old conviction, Mr. Brant also reopened a troubling debate about the role lawyers play in arranging guilty pleas for clients who may be innocent. In Mr. Brant's case, it is very hard to see how his lawyer could have known whether his client was innocent, but he did know the strength of the evidence against him. Judge Graydon declined to be interviewed on the topic.

"I think it's a dirty little secret," University of Windsor law professor David Tanovich, a veteran defence lawyer, said of the role of defence counsel in such cases. "Very few people talk about it."

Michael Code, a defence lawyer who teaches ethics at the University of Toronto law school, said lawyers cannot be party to a client they know is innocent pleading guilty, yet they often feel a tremendous temptation to help a client procure a light sentence.

"It is the hidden underbelly of the justice system, and it does need to be talked about and dragged into the open," Prof. Code said.

Experts say two categories of defendant engage in these so-called pleas of convenience. The first are those who face testimony from a virtually unassailable Crown witness, such as Dr. Smith. The second are those who are denied bail pending a trial.

"They don't want to spend the time in the cramped and overcrowded cells," Prof. Tanovich said. "They want to plead guilty because they can get out right away with time served."

Andras Schreck, a Toronto defence lawyer, said many defendants jump at the chance to end proceedings and go home. "How many people are going to say no to that?" he asked. "I would think that it probably happens hundreds of times a day."

Mr. Schreck said the solution to these pleas of convenience is simple: "Just don't deny bail as often."

For an accused person facing a serious charge, the worry of being found guilty after a trial provides a powerful inducement to accept a bargain-basement offer from the Crown.

Typically, defence lawyers convey these offers using "a whole bunch of nods and winks" in order to skirt ethical boundaries, Prof. Code said: "It won't be a proper discussion. It will be a plea of convenience in disguise."

"Personally, I never do it," Mr. Schreck said. "But some other lawyers will say: 'Look, you really should plead guilty. I'm not going to act for you if you don't.' "

Notwithstanding two significant high-court decisions that brushed over the issue, the courts have remained strangely silent about the role of lawyers.

In a 2003 case - R. v. Taillefer and Duguay - the Supreme Court set aside a guilty plea in a murder case in which one of the defendants pleaded guilty to manslaughter just to end the legal proceedings. "Yet remarkably, nothing was said about whether this was ethical or not," Prof. Code said.

In a 1995 ruling in the case of R. v. S. K., the Ontario Court of Appeal stressed that defence counsel must be careful not to "mislead" the courts about plea bargains, but it went no further.

Mr. Schreck said the role of Crown prosecutors also cries out for scrutiny. "It happens far too often, where the Crown realizes their case is weak and, instead of withdrawing the charge, that they try to induce a guilty plea," he said. "If you do have a case, don't go offering a ridiculously lenient sentence."

In Mr. Brant's case, his ultimate six-month sentence for aggravated assault was a far cry from the six- to eight-year manslaughter sentence he would likely have gotten had he lost at trial.

In an affidavit to the Court of Appeal last week, Mr. Brant recalled: "For many months, Mr. Graydon told me it was in my best interests to plead guilty. He said he would tell the court that Dustin's injuries had been caused during a struggle with Mary on the Friday evening. He urged me to accept the offer."

In fact, Mr. Brant emphasized, he did nothing that could have caused Dustin's death.

"There are no easy answers to this," Mr. Schreck said. "But right now, we are all turning a blind eye to the problem - which is not a good starting point.""

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

UP-DATED COMMENTS ON CBC DOCUMENTARY "A DEATH IN THE FAMILY; INCLUDING A LETTER FROM WILLIAM MULLINS-JOHNSON;

"THANK YOU TO THE FIFTHE ESTATE AND THE CURRENT FOR THE TREMENDOUS TREMENDOUS JOB THEY DID ON BOTH DOCS...

MY FAMILIY IS HEALING, ONE DAY AT A TIME....PLEASE DON'T FORGET THE OTHERS THAT HAVE LOST IN THIS....JEAN AND JOHN, VALIN'S SIBLINGS....FOR SO LONG JEAN WAS CONDITIONED TO BELIEVE THIS AND NOW...WELL...CHAOS FOR HER AGAIN AND JOHN....

ALSO OUR OTHER BROTHER'S LESLIE AND DARRELL...LESLIE IS THE OLDEST AND DARRELL THE YOUGEST....THEY TOO WERE MISLED BY THE "PROFESSIONALS" OF THAT TIME. THEY ARE PART OF THIS FAMILY TOO AND WERE AFFECTED AS MUCH AS ANYONE....THINGS ARE LOKING UP THOUGH...DURING CHRISTMAS OF 08 WE SPENT CHRISTMAS WITH MA (MOM)...THIS WAS THE FIRST CHRISTMAS IN OVER 25 YEARS WE SPENT ALL TOGETHER....IT IS NOW 09 AND JUST BEING HOME IS MAKING THE STRUGGLE THAT I FACE NOW WORTH WHILE;"

WILLIAM MULLINS-JOHNSON | | POSTED JANUARY 11, 2009 12:09 AM;

MESSAGE TO THE CBC FROM WILLIAM MULLINS-JOHNSON FOLLOWING BROADCAST OF "A DEATH ON THE FAMILY."

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A previous post contained some of the comments initially received by the CBC following broadcast of this fine television documentary; The CBC has received numerous more comments since then; Here are some of them:

COMMENTS
The Mullins-Johnson story raises so many questions:
How can the tunnel vision of a man like Dr. Rasaiah, who, for reasons of his own, thinks the worst, ever lead to a story that feeds on itself? This is not an isolated incident. Remember the Truscott story?
How and where were Dr. Rasaiah and the now infamous Dr. Smith trained? Do they need to go back to school? How responsible are those who hired them?
What is being done about the terrible judgements they made? What about the myth of "experts" over people with common sense in courts?
What help has been or can be given the victim and his family? Can one ever recover from a prison sentence of the worst kind?
Could the fact this family was aboriginal have accounted for justice having gone so terribly wrong? One only needs to look at the cases of Leonard Peltier and John Graham to know justice can very easily go very wrong for aboriginals. Even today I would wager from what I have seen that looking a bit Indian is never a great advantage in a court room in Canada.
Congratulations to Gillian Findlay and Fifth Estate researchers for a thought provoking - albeit shattering - piece of journalism.

J. A. Wade | | Posted January 13, 2009 12:38 AM


It's terrible that this program did all it could to try to take away all the credibilty of Dr. Rasaiah instead of showing both sides of the story. If you read Dr. Rasaiah's documents and letters that are found at the end of page 3 of the timeline (which for SOME reason seemed to be overlooked on the program), he shows how he supports his finding. His letters also show how "the expert" Dr. Knight (who by the way made his findings by pictures only) contradicts himself many times in his findings and his own past research and texts. How come none of this was brought up in the program?
Dr. Rasaiah did everything right, and did things the way he should have. He is an expert pathologist, and well respected in the medical community across Canada and the U.S. During the investigation he sought the advice of other experts such as abuse experts, ect...
To me, that is someone doing everything in his ability and using all available resources to get the proper result.
People should examine all the documents themselves instead of just watching a TV program intended to pull at people's heart. Dr. Rasaiah provided the facts that he found, and let the police and justice system take it from there, which is all you can ask of a man.
The best statement made in the whole TV program was when Gillian Findlay ambushed him at the hospital, and Dr. Rasaiah asked her "Who's looking out for little Valin?" Ms. Findlay had no answer to that, because she obviously didn't care about that side of the story!
Please people, read Dr. Rasaiah's letters, and form your own opinion rather than listening to a TV program!

Tim | | Posted January 12, 2009 09:35 PM


Like most of the other commenters, I was also deeply moved by this piece and can only wonder how many others are suffering a similar fate - locked up for crimes they did not commit. It also makes one wonder how he/she would react in a smilar situation - having a family member accused, and then convicted, of a crime against another family member. How can you take sides in that case? So awful.

My heart goes out to Bill and all involved in this tragedy. But I especially hope that Valin's sister, Jean, is or does participate in some sort of therapy to help her to accept the fact that her uncle is innocent and she certainly should not want him dead. This sentiment just seemed so illogical to me - yes, it is understandable that one would feel pain and trepidation in restoring this relationship, but to be unable to comprehend that the system failed and Bill did nothing wrong and to still wish him harm is just unbelievable.

s | Ottawa | Posted January 12, 2009 06:41 PM


I was very impressed on how the program was put together and also the photos , but one thing there is also 2 other people in the family that also suffered through this too, was not impressed with the niece's comment it sounds like that she does not understand how the system can fail and just convict someone for a crime that never happen, hopefully if she watch this program she will come to terms that her once a favorite uncle she will let him back into her life. Also i am very impressed that bill is going on with life i know that it is hard but he and his family are coping with this. There should be justice for the people who put an inocent man behind bars for 12yrs for a crime he never committed.I pray that the family can ALL find it in their hearts to put all the bad memories behind them. Remember - He Did Nothing Wrong! The system FAILED.It makes us wonder can we ever trust the SYSTEM ever.

Anonymous | ontario | Posted January 12, 2009 07:54 AM


I have always been aware of this story. And as i randomly flipped through the channels im glad i came across the fifth estate. Of course i cried, and all i want to do is give Bill a big hug. Family is so important and this case of wrongful conviction tore the family apart and cut an Innocent 22 year old's life short. And i feel for the whole family because i dont know what i would do without mine.
CBC, fifth estate. thank you for your programming and putting this very important story, that all Canadians should watch/hear, on air.

Hillary | Ontario | Posted January 12, 2009 12:13 AM


I enjoyed very much your program and, basically, if you change the names, the story of William Mullins Johnson is very similar to that of Michel Bérubé for whom I have fighting for more than 2 years now and who is still in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Michel Gauthier

Michel Gauthier | QC | Posted January 11, 2009 04:45 PM


your from my rez and l couldnt help crying seein it l dont know how u deal with ur family turning ur back on you and how u deal with it now my heart goes out to you l truly hope u and pauly can find each back together how it use to be ur bro been mess up since it happend l dont know how u deal with it after and now my wishes goes out to you and pauly plz keep ur head up and tell ur bro the same

lynn hodgson | | Posted January 11, 2009 02:46 AM


Thank you to the fifthe estate and the current for the tremendous tremendous job they did on both docs...

My familiy is healing, one day at a time....please don't forget the others that have lost in this....Jean and John, valin's siblings....for so long jean was conditioned to believe this and now...well...chaos for her again and john....

Also our other brother's Leslie and Darrell...Leslie is the oldest and Darrrell the yougest....they too were misled by the "professionals" of that time. they are part of this family too and were affected as much as anyone....Things are loking up though...During Christmas of 08 we spent Christmas with Ma (mom)...this was the first Christmas in over 25 years we spent all together....It is now 09 and just being home is making the struggle that i face now worth while


william mullins-johnson | | Posted January 11, 2009 12:09 AM



I heard the uncle say that the little girl went to bed early WITH A FEVER after falling asleep on the couch about 7:30 pm.

She was found dead in the morning with a purple face and covered with bruises inside and out.

A classic story which could also be case of a fatal meningococcal septicemia with the commonly associated widespread purpura [overwhelming infection and bruising due to multiple leaking blood vessels damaged by the bacteria and its toxins].

A baby from an aboriginal family in my practice died like this years ago in less than 8 or 10 hours inspite of all the best care of multiple specialists.....

Both heart breaking deaths for all left behind......

anonymous family physician | Ontario | Posted January 9, 2009 10:49 PM


For many years I have been involved in providing restorative practice process for families and persons who either as victims or offenders have experienced painful and destructive behaviours. The events of 'Death in the Family' cry out for a professionally guided circle to support and encourage all those involved to seek a healing resolution to their sitution.
Some effort should be made to address those to whom the Pathologist, Dr. Rasaiah, is responsible for his credentials to practice, in order that he might be invited to gain some insight into the closed nature of his attitude. He does not seem to be able to learn from his mistakes.
Thanks to those who produced a most worthwhile program.

Ron | Ontario | Posted January 9, 2009 07:41 PM


How many more innocents are in jail at this very moment and how many lawyers, police, pathologists and others know it?
Thanks for the story and for the reminder that not all the creeps are in jail.

John Willette | Ontario | Posted January 9, 2009 02:59 PM


what an incredible story of courage, by Bill and his family, this was a very emotional story that leaves you thinking can there ever be peace for this man and his family........hoping them all the best

alan greco | | Posted January 9, 2009 10:47 AM


I'm glad to know the brother Paul has finally come to believe Bill didn't commit any crime against his family, the scene at the grave site was so sad it brought me to tears.

As was the case with Guy Paul Morin, David Milgard and Steven Truscott, I hope Bill and his family are, at the very least financially compensated in an effort to assist in Bill's transition and the families healing.

Obviously, this will not bring the child back and may she rest in peace, unfortunately as a result of the blatant incompetence on so many levels, those involved need to be held accountable.

I pray that in time this family can come together and heal.
Thank you "The Fifth Estate" for bringing this event to light. Painful to watch but so very necessary.

Sincerely,

Patricia

Patricia Lauretti | | Posted January 9, 2009 09:04 AM


The Fifth Estate's documentary of " A Death in the Family " - A Tribute to a Fallen Angel - Valin Lynn Johnson - was deeply moving. What words, cases of miscarriages, or thoughts could one use to adequately articulate the devastation that this family has had to endure, and, yet, continues to have to deal with the most precious of losses - a child, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter. I can only hope that the Creator will guide your family[s] and walk with you during your healing journeys!
My deepest condolences to Kim, Paulie, John Jr., and, mostly, to Jean. Billy, I wish you well and I hope that you can now resume your life with renewed hope & serenity. A sincerely hope that Leslie, Darryl and my hero, Laureena - MOM -, can rebuild their lives and their relationships! Lastly, to the extended family, I hope that you too can now begin your healing processes and move, positively, forward with your lives!

BAAMAAPII

Edward Agawa | | Posted January 9, 2009 01:12 AM


What an incredible miscarriage of the Justice System. The pain, humiliation and shock that this man had to endure is beyond imagination. I cried several times throughout this program in disbelief that anyone would have to suffer as much as Mr. Johnson did. I will light a candle tonight and say a prayer for Bill, Valin and this entire family for all the unnecessary pain they had to endure at the hands of the Justice System.

Brenda Wardell | | Posted January 8, 2009 10:48 PM


I agree that the system probably failed but we must all be very careful not to be led by emotion. There is no doubt that this is a very emotionally charged story; the loss of a child was just the beginning of the heartache this family faces. There is one thing that strikes me everytime I hear of a wrongful conviction and that is that the truth will now, never be known. That little girl's body carried evidence of the manner of her death & that evidence is now gone. If there had been more care, less ego, more accountability, there would not now be the doubt that plagues a family, a community & a nation. My heart aches for these people,but my primary emotion is anger. I am angry that Valin's death was used by certain people to further their own agenda. If her uncle was guilty or if he was not; if this was murder or if it was mishap, we will never now know with any certainy. The mishandling of the case by those who are in a false position of power, is criminal. There need to be checks, balances. Please, don't let this be in vain.

M. Davidson | | Posted January 8, 2009 10:35 PM


Thank you for broadcasting this story in such an open interesting way. I am glad that all sides of the family were allowed to share their feelings. What a tragedy. A beautiful family picking up the pieces of their lives that were so cruelly shattered wrongly. It is difficult to trust the system when something like this happens. Lorena my heart is with you and Bill you deserve peace now in your life. Paul peace will come to you and you have a lovely place to talk to Valin whenever you need to.. Kim my utmost respect for holding your family together in the roughest of times. Jean, Protect young Valin and take care of you beautiful babies knowing your sister is looking down and smiling at all that you have become in your life. You are an awesome mom. My condolences on the loss of your Valin. May her soul rest in peace until the rest of your family is reunited with her. She will be guiding you throughout your lives and looking down and loving all of you. Maybe her love for all of you will help with your healing journey. Stand tall we love you.

Marian | | Posted January 8, 2009 09:44 PM


I know we have a shortage of staff in our local hospital, and as well it is hard to retain doctors of all types here in the Sault, but we cannot afford to have such irresponsible people working in our hospitals. Why does Dr. Bhubendra Rasaiah still have a job at the hospital is what I would like to know. My best to Bill and the family for being so strong along this journey. I will pray for the healing of the entire family!!

Lisa | | Posted January 8, 2009 07:43 PM


I feel sorry for Mr Mullins-Johnson, for the long road he has travelled and which he will continue to travel as he struggles to recover from his wrongful conviction. I was especially moved when he admitted his drug abuse problem and his difficulty in facing the role of "wrongfully convicted poster boy". Know this Bill, we admire you for surviving the journey and always sticking to the truth that you did not kill your niece. Nothing more and nothing less.
As for his surviving niece, I hope she never finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time as her uncle did, or she may finally come to realize that not all people who go to jail do so because they did something wrong.

R Dale | Ottawa | Posted January 8, 2009 02:11 PM


I cried too.
I sure admire Bill's strength in such incredibly bad circumstances, especially his resolve not to accept a bogus plea for a crime he did not commit. 12 years must seem like a lifetime.
I completely understand his comments at the end when he says the pressure to be a poster boy for the wrongly convicted is too much.
Give this man and his family any support they need, but otherwise, leave them in peace.
Peace to you and your whole family, Bill. Take care.

Rob | | Posted January 8, 2009 12:38 PM


How this family has suffered needlessly because of what I would term incompetent medical professionals.
I would like to see a full investigation into the doctor who is still practicing at the Sault St. Marie
hospital who performed the autopsy on the little girl Valin. Who knows how many other deaths have been wrongly
reported by him? Someone should be held accountable for the actions of this doctor.

Roberta Dalman | Winnipeg | Posted January 8, 2009 10:14 AM


This was a riveting documentary that brought me to tears and broke my heart. I'm not the praying type, but tonight I said a prayer for Bill. I hope that every pathologist, prosecutor and judge watches this piece to remind themselves that the work they do comes with awesome responsibility. Alas, the justice system is a human system, and it is bound to fail again; indeed, there are certainly many more like Bill in Canadian prisons at this very moment.

Anonymous | | Posted January 8, 2009 01:50 AM


It is truly heart breaking to see this kind of miscarriage of justice in our times. It hearkens back the lynch mobs in the south when a finger was pointed at a local black man for whatever crime might have been done by whom ever. It was wrong then and still is so difficult to comprehend. I would like to think it was a lack of skill on behalf of the expert witnesses but clearly it is just the opposite. Dr Smith was a man in love with the fame and the bright lights of the media attention he received for his testimonies. In all the aspects of this case it is the ego of many of the individuals that caused so much doubt to be put in the hearts and minds of so many. Why can't more be done for this family to help them find the healing and the quality of life the need and deserve. Forget financial compensation we have seen what that's does, let the payout be in helping these people find their way back of life. Therapists, educators, clergy whatever is needed to heal and help them find a new path NEEDS to be for Bill, Paul and the rest of those involved or truly the injustice will only continue for all.

Michael J Sturm | | Posted January 8, 2009 12:37 AM


What an incredibly moving and emotional story. All we can do is hope for the best of the family and everyone involved now and in the future. Good for the CBC and Fifth Estate to bring to light this and many other stories that deserve public attention.

PS - AG you make us all proud!

Stephanie | Alberta | Posted January 8, 2009 12:14 AM


Bill must possess exceptional inner strength to have been able to live through this nightmare and yet still act as honourably as he has.

The scene with Bill and Paul at Valin's gravesite was particularly touching, and provides some hope that these two brothers can recapture the special bond that they shared for so many years.

It was disappointing to view pathologist Dr. Bhubendra Rasaiah's attitude near the end of the program: not even the slightest hint of remorse for his role with the initial investigation.

Finally, that it took Dr. Charles Smith 2 full years to locate the tissue samples to allow for a re-examination of the findings is inexcusable. Fortunately those directing the appeal remained steadfast.

May the benefit of time allow the entire family to gain some measure of peace.

David Brethauer | Toronto | Posted January 7, 2009 11:56 PM


I cried along with probably everyone who watched "a death in the family". It was very hard to imagine what went wrong in the court system. I don't know if compensation would help this family but if i were the government i would compensate this family for the losses they incurred especially the uncle who was wrongly convicted. Can the medical practitioners be held liable for allowing all the mistakes? My heart goes out to the uncle and his family and little Valin.
sincerely;
susan

susan pryde | | Posted January 7, 2009 11:11 PM


The fifth estate did an excellent job of bringing to light how it's not just the convicted person who is affected by the court's decision. In this case an innocent man was convicted of a crime he did not commit and it tore a family apart.
While there are lots of good people in our criminal justice system I feel that they are often powerless as it seems our system is process driven as opposed to being driven by the pursuit of the truth.
I suppose our justice system shall always suffer from the frailties of being administered by humans who are often subjected to the emotionality of a tragic situation. But that's no reason not to work to bring about better methods to detect and resolve wrongful convictions. At present, if a person maintains their innocence against a conviction, there is very little help and those who do help are often inundated with requests for help.
Thank you, it's only through your efforts that society can see just how easy justice can be defeated and how such travesties can bring immense burden to innocent people.

James Balkwill | | Posted January 7, 2009 11:03 PM


I am so sorry for the losses of the Johnson family. Dr. Rasaiah will need his malpractice insurance and a forgiving god.

Bev Stevenson | Alberta | Posted January 7, 2009 10:29 PM


A death in the family was very well portrayed story. It was very compelling. The one item that should have been left out is the comment by the niece of this gentlemen.
She obviously has no respect for anyone but herself and doesn't deserve the two minutes of fame (or shame) she had. It must be a very upsetting thing to have happen in your life but he was exonerated and I can't understand why she can't see that.

ryan leppard | london | Posted January 7, 2009 10:05 PM

My heart is broken for this family and this gentleman who was soooooooooo easily put behind bars with "made up" evidence. How does something like this ever happen. Not only did they take away the life of a man, but the family will now never know how Valin really died.
I pray that the family can ALL find it in their hearts to put all the bad memories behind them. Remember - He Did Nothing Wrong! The system failed.

Wanda Coxon | Ontario | Posted January 7, 2009 09:59 PM;

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

KERAN HENDERSON CASE: PART SEVEN; TWO JURORS HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THEIR VERDICT; TIMES REPORT;

The extraordinary decision of two jurors to speak out against the verdict in the Keran Henderson case was documented by Legal Editor Frances Gibb in the Times on December 19, 2007, under the heading "Jurors break silence to insist childminder did not kill baby."

"Two jurors have spoken out to question the guilty verdict in a case last month in which a childminder was jailed for shaking a baby to death," the story began.

"In an unprecedented move, the two jurors – a man and a woman – say they believe that Keran Henderson, 42, a childminder and mother, was wrongly convicted of killing 11-month-old Maeve Sheppard by shaking her so violently that she was left blind and brain damaged," it continued;

"Henderson, a respected Scout leader, allegedly lost her temper and shook the baby so hard that she was taken to hospital, blind and unconscious. She died two days later.

But the jury foreman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has told The Times that he does not think the case should ever have come to court.

Expert View

The two jurors have demonstrated the urgent need for full-scale research into the 'secrets' of the jury room;

“A case relying on circumstantial evidence and forensic opinion based on evidential proof from other cases should never have reached a court,” he said. He added: “I think that although the trial was very carefully run, the case in my view was flawed and the accused innocent.”

He said: “I think Mrs Henderson’s heartrending response [she broke down in uncontrolled weeping] to the verdict confirms that it was flawed.”

A second juror named as Carol told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday: “I believe a miscarriage of justice has occurred and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“I don’t think you can get a fair outcome. I will never know, as long as I live, whether the verdict was right or not because we have not got all this medical expertise and I think if medics can’t decide between themselves, what chance have we got?”

Jurors are prohibited by law from disclosing the secrets of the jury room and the discussions as to how a verdict was reached. But the readiness of two of the 12 in this trial to speak out is an indication of how strongly they feel.

A campaign has already begun by friends and relatives who maintain that Henderson is innocent and want to secure her release. She was jailed for three years. And yesterday an MP called for an inquiry into the use of medical experts in trials.

At the time of the trial, some media commentators suggested that the verdict was unjust. They said that it raised a question mark over majority verdicts, implying that given more time the jury might have reached a different verdict.

But the foreman of the jury insisted that the verdict was understandable on the basis of medical expert evidence presented.

Henderson qualified as a childminder in 2000 and often had up to eight children in her care at her home in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. She had looked after Maeve since January 2005, having been recommended to her parents, Ruth and Stephen, by a mutual friend.

On the day Maeve died she was described as “full of energy” although she had been unwell in the weeks before her death.

The jury foreman told The Times that there was no question, as has been suggested, of the jury being rushed. It was given ample time and the decision was 10-2 against, all based on the evidence.”

He added: “The jury majority voted guilty because it could do no other.

“The medical evidence was overwhelming. All the necessary ingredients of what the experts call the ‘triad’ [a collection of features typically caused by shaking that lead to hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury and death] were there.

“But many expert witnesses vouchsafe that the literature on shaken baby syndrome is contentious and far from complete. And so who caused the death, or whether anyone did, is not proved. The evidence, whether expert or other, was merely circumstantial – probabilities, therefore uncertainties.”

The juror said that the defence was good; but up against “the weight of a dozen medical and forensic experts, was clearly on a hiding to nothing.

“The circumstances were that of amateurs made to do a professional’s job.

“Such a complex case was made easier by the judge’s excellent, well-rounded summary . . . although we were told we could not have a transcript.” Had the jury been given a transcript they might have reached a better verdict, he added.

What was not proved, he said, was who caused the death “or indeed whether anyone did”.

He added: “Ultimately the case was decided by laymen and laywomen using that despicable enemy of correct and logical thinking, that wonderfully persuasive device, common sense.”

The outcome has left him disillusioned with the jury system. “One’s peers, however good and true, are generally not up to the job.”

The Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, chairman of Justice for Families, called on the Government and the judiciary to set up a review of medical expert evidence. “Keran Henderson’s case had been taken up by the Angela Cannings Foundation, who believe that a miscarriage of justice has occurred,” he said.

“This makes it clear that the way in which our courts use expert evidence, and particularly medical expert evidence, has insufficient intellectual rigour. Evidence which is clearly unreliable and based upon pet theories without proper research groundings is accepted as fact in court.” He said he had written to the Lord Chief Justice and the Attorney-General."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

"CHARLES SMITH'S LEGACY": POWERFUL NATIONAL POST EDITORIAL IN TODAY'S PAPER;

"THERE IS NO WAY TO COMPENSATE SMITH'S LEGAL VICTIMS IN ANY ADEQUATE FASHION. THEIR LIVES HAVE BEEN RUINED BY HIS INCOMPETENT QUACKERY."

NATIONAL POST; JANUARY 12, 2009;

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"Richard Brant may be no angel, but that is no reason he should continue to be known as a baby-killer. Brant, who is currently serving out the end of a robbery conviction at a halfway house in New Brunswick, was granted an extraordinary appeal on Tuesday of his 1995 conviction for killing his two-month-old son Dustin in 1992," the powerful National Post editorial begins;

"His is yet another case of a life ruined by the fraudulent testimony of disgraced Ontario pathologist Charles Smith," the editorial continues;

When Dustin died, the neuropathologist who first examined him ruled his death was natural, the result of a respiratory blockage caused by pneumonia.

But Smith, considered at the time "the king" of child death investigators in North America, insisted the attending doctor had erred and concluded Dustin's death was due to shaken baby syndrome.

Brant now insists he took the Crown's plea offer of six months for aggravated assault because of Smith's reputation.

But now that Smith -- who was the subject of a public inquiry last year and a review by an international panel of pathologists

A review commission would help win justice for the wrongfully convicted -- has been discredited, Brant, rightly, wants his 14-year-old conviction overturned.

He deserves at least that.

There is no way to compensate Smith's legal victims in any adequate fashion.

Their lives have been ruined by his incompetent quackery.

Consider, for instance, the case of William Mullins-Johnson of Sault Ste. Marie, who spent 12 years in prison for the sexual assault and first-degree murder of his four-year-old niece Valin in 1994 -- a crime he did not commit.

Smith insisted there were signs of strangulation on Valin's body and that Mr. Mullins-Johnson was the most likely culprit.

Yet after the pathology experts had reviewed his case, Mr. Mullins-Johnson was acquitted of both charges in 2007.

At last year's inquiry into Smith's misconduct, Mr. Mullins-Johnson stated that the pathologist's actions "destroyed my family, my brother's relationship with me and my niece that's still left and my nephew that's still living."

These relationships can never be put back the way they were before Smith wrongfully and negligently concluded a trusted uncle had assaulted and murdered his tiny niece.

Nor can the hellish years Mr. Mullins-Johnson spent in prison ever be returned to him. (An investigation by John Chipman of CBC Radio's The Current, aired this week, shows that the man's life is still a mess: He has fallen in with drugs, and is having difficulty with personal relationships.)

Nor are Smith's victims the only Canadians to spend long terms in prisons for crimes they did not commit.

There are, of course, famous cases such as that of David Milgaard, who spent 23 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit, and Donald Marshall, who was imprisoned for life for murdering Sandy Seale in 1971, a crime he always insisted he was innocent of, and for which he was acquitted in 1983.

Thomas Sophonow, Guy Paul Morin, Steven Truscott, James Driskell and others have all spent years behind bars or living with the stigma of crimes they did not commit because there is no effective method within our system to deal with wrongful convictions.

We are not implying that our court system generates miscarriages of justice as a matter of routine, nor that police officers, pathologists or Crown prosecutors set out to convict innocent people.

But even scattered instances of wrongful conviction are grounds for societal soul-searching: It is an unconscionable abuse of a citizen's right to freedom to send him to jail when he is innocent of wrongdoing.

The infringement is especially egregious because it cannot be remedied: There is no way to give someone time back that has been taken from him.

Ottawa and the provinces should consider an independent public body that can review complaints of wrongful conviction and recommend meritorious cases to provincial appeal courts.

The U. K. has such a body, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which in its 14-year history has received more than 11,000 applications for review and referred just 395--fewer than 4% -- to an appellant court.

These numbers show that a panel could be structured in such a way that the truly guilty are not permitted to clog up the court system.

The advantage of such a review commission is that is takes the task of deciding who may have a legitimate grievance away from busy Cabinet ministers in charge of the justice system, and delivers it to experts with the time and resources to review them thoroughly.

Several royal commissions and inquiries in Canada have recommended such a body be formed. The case of Dr. Charles Smith serves to reinforce why one is essential.

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

DR. BHUBENDRA RASAIAH IS NAMED IN MULLINS-JOHNSON LAWSUIT; CANADIAN PRESS STORY;

Dr. Bhubendra Rasaiah, who is seen denying any personal responsibility for the wrongful conviction of William Mullins-Johnson in a recent CBC Fifth Estate documentary called, "A death in the family", is named in a $13M lawsuit.

Canadian Press reporter Colin Perkel reported the lawsuit on October 02, 2008.

(The statement of claim contains allegations against Dr. Bhubendra and other individuals which have not been proven in court;)

"An Ontario man who spent 12 years in jail after being wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece launched a lawsuit against six doctors Thursday, including a forensic pathologist excoriated this week by a judicial inquiry," the story began.

"In his statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court, William Mullins-Johnson seeks $13 million in general and punitive damages from Dr. Charles Smith, former chief coroner James Young and his deputy Jim Cairns," the story continued;

"The claim argues the defendants were negligent and reckless in their conduct.

"William has suffered loss of liberty, humiliation and disgrace," the statement of claim asserts.

"He is entitled to substantial damages."

None of the claims has yet been proven in any court.

Mullins-Johnson, 38, was arrested and charged within about 12 hours of the discovery of the body of his niece Valin in her bed in Sault Ste Marie, Ont., on the morning of June 27, 1993.

He was convicted of first-degree murder and spent a dozen years in prison before new evidence emerged to reveal that a crime had never occurred and Valin had died of natural causes.

At least two other lawsuits have already been launched by people who were wrongfully accused of crimes stemming from the forensic pathology scandal.

In quashing Mullins-Johnson's conviction in October 2007, the Ontario Court of Appeal concluded a "terrible miscarriage of justice" based on "flawed pathology evidence" had occurred.

On Wednesday, Justice Stephen Goudge cited the case in his scathing indictment of Smith - once considered the country's foremost child forensic pathologist - and his overseers, Young and Cairns.

Smith's dogmatic arrogance in giving poorly informed but life-altering medical opinions and the unwillingness of his supervisors to call him to account were at the heart of several wrongful accusations of baby and child killings in Ontario, Goudge concluded.

Despite those findings, Mullins-Johnson said he still wants those responsible for his wrongful prosecution to be held to further account.

His lawyer David Robins said Goudge's report will help prove the claim.

"Some of the evidence that was used at the inquiry will go a long way to assist in establishing liability for Mr. Mullins-Johnson," Robins said in an interview from Windsor, Ont.

The suit also names two doctors from Sault Ste. Marie, Bhubendra Rasaiah and Patricia Zehr, along with Smith's colleague at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, Dr. Marcellina Mian.

"They opined that Valin had been sexually assaulted throughout her lifetime, sodomized shortly before her death, and was murdered," the suit alleges.

"To avoid professional embarrassment, for the next 15 years, they did not revise or qualify their initial opinions even though they knew or ought to have known that their opinions were scientifically flawed."

The claim alleges that Rasaiah, a pathologist, and Zehr, a gynecologist, concluded they were dealing with a horrible case of child sexual abuse based on a superficial examination of the body.

After Zehr phoned for advice, Mian also decided Valin was a victim of chronic abuse, the suit alleges.

Smith would later decide Valin had been sodomized and suffocated.

The suit accuses Young and Cairns of serious misconduct that contributed to Mullins-Johnson's ordeal.

The men "intentionally and maliciously" directed pathologists to "think dirty" - to assume abuse had occurred in cases of suspicious child deaths, the suit claims.

They also "actively protected" Smith despite repeated complaints to avoid their own professional embarrassment.

The government declined to comment because the matter is before the courts."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

KERAN HENDERSON CASE; PART SIX; IAIN HENDERSON'S INTERVIEW WITH THE TIMES; MOST ILLUMINATING;

Iain henderson's interview with reporter Sian Griffiths is most illuminating;

"Iain Henderson, a slim, bearded former policeman, has one Christmas wish: that his wife will be released on bail to spend the day at home with her family," Griffith's story, dated 23 December, 2007, began.

""Clutching a mug of tea in the room that serves as the headquarters of the “campaign to free Keran Henderson”, Iain stares blankly for a moment at the photos of his smiling middle-aged wife pinned up on the wall. “That would be the greatest Christmas gift of all,” he says quietly, as friends and supporters bustle around," the story continued;

"It’s unlikely to happen, even though dozens of neighbours in the small Buckinghamshire village of Iver Heath have banded together to persuade the world that Keran’s conviction last month of the manslaughter of 11-month-old Maeve Sheppard is “a terrible miscarriage of justice”.

On this frosty morning, with yards of yellow ribbon fluttering from the telegraph poles, villagers sport T-shirts printed with “We care 4 Keran”, a slogan repeated on their website Carers 4 Carers, where thousands of pounds have been pledged to pay for a legal appeal. In and out they pop, hugging Iain, offering to talk to journalists, fielding phone calls.

Despite all these efforts, Keran, 43, is likely to spend Christmas Day in her cell at Bronzefield prison, west London. By a majority of 10-2, a jury at Reading crown court found that this devoted mother of two boys, a sought-after and experienced childminder, had shaken Maeve so violently one lunchtime that the baby died two days later of brain damage.

They rejected Keran’s own account - that, as she changed Maeve’s nappy, the baby had, without warning, gone floppy and stopped breathing. While the three other children she was looking after sat perched on the stairs, Keran gave the baby mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and phoned 999, a call recorded and later played in court.

In Reading last month Keran was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and Iain will never forget his wife’s reaction as the jury's verdict was read to the court.

“I was so worried for her. I have never heard anyone make noises like that. I thought they’d have to call an ambulance. To be convicted of this most awful allegation, it rips your world apart,” says Iain, who resigned from his job as a police officer “in disgust” at what he insists is a case that should never have been brought.

Keran, villagers agree, was the last person you could imagine hurting a child. A pillar of the community and stay-at-home mother to Cameron, 14, and Jamie, 9, she ran the Beaver Scouts group and looked after elderly neighbours and young children alike. “The tsunami appeal, the poppy appeal, the earthquake appeal - you name it, Keran organised it,” Iain says.

“Our house was like the Waltons: there were always loads of children around. It was lovely.” Everyone agrees she was a natural with children, someone who never lost her temper.

In fact when the police came to arrest Keran in November 2005, months after Maeve’s death, Iain says it was him who got angry. “I was certainly not happy. She was calming me down,” he says. He lost it again at the trial: when the verdict came in, Iain yelled the names of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings at the jurors.

For Keran’s story is, her husband says, a tragedy on a par with the cases of Clark and Cannings, two mums wrongly imprisoned for killing their own children and freed on appeal. These two cases, which have been described as the worst miscarriages of British justice ever, swung, just like Keran’s, on the evidence of “expert” witnesses, doctors hired and paid to give their opinions in court.

In both Clark’s and Cannings’s cases the “expert” evidence of Professor Sir Roy Meadow, the paediatrician whose testimony convicted both women, was later discredited. He told the jury in the Clark case that the chances of both Sally’s children dying naturally, of cot death, were 73m to one. The implication was that Sally must have murdered them. But the statistic turned out to be grotesquely wrong.

Meadow was a believer in SBS, or shaken baby syndrome. This controversial theory of abuse, one of several that pop up for unexplained injuries, was put forward for Maeve’s death too.

Doctors “have these three symptoms they look for”, says Iain, “and if they are there, they say it’s got to be SBS”. The telltale “markers” of the syndrome - which many medics dispute - include bleeding in the brain, haemorrhaging behind the eyes and a swollen brain.

When the markers are found, Iain argues, the task of the prosecution must be to come up with “a version of events to fit these three symptoms”. In this case the prosecution’s version was that Keran had lost her temper at Maeve for having a dirty nappy and shaken her violently.

“But there was no bruising, no scratches on her body at all, no grip marks, even,” Iain points out.

Anyway, he asks, whatever happened to common sense? “Some experts say SBS is caused by sustained shaking over 20 minutes. But you try picking up 11 bags of sugar and just holding that weight for 20 minutes, never mind shaking it vigorously,” Iain says. “My wife is a petite woman.”

And what about the other children present - none of whom was interviewed by the police? “You could hear them on the 999 tape; they were just sitting chatting. Wouldn’t they be shouting, more than a little scared, if the baby had been shaken so hard?”

Why, Iain asks, couldn’t Maeve’s death have been caused by a fit? After all, she was a sickly baby. In the five weeks Keran looked after her as a childminder - while her mother worked - Maeve was ill on three occasions.

On one, Iain, who now works as a fraud investigator, was upstairs when Maeve went floppy in Keran’s arms. Trained in first aid, he checked the baby’s airways and gave her a few drops of water. The couple called Maeve’s father and suggested he get the baby seen by a doctor. On another occasion the baby “projectile-vomited and was lying flat on the floor”.

Henderson thinks the jury were overwhelmed by having no fewer than a dozen experts wheeled in front of them by the prosecution, over seven long weeks. Keran’s lawyers fielded only one expert, Professor Philip Anslow, of the John Radcliffe hospital, in Oxford, where Maeve died. He said evidence pointed to Maeve dying after having a fit. Despite the fact that the experts disagreed and there was no external evidence of an assault, Keran was convicted.

As I wait in the campaign HQ, I am approached by parents who explain to me that children do get sick and die - and adults are not necessarily to blame. Alison, a friend of the Hendersons, tells me how she lost her own daughter at the age of two. “She had a virus - it attacked her brain. She woke in the middle of the night making noises; an hour later she was dead.”

As the campaign to free Keran gathers momentum there have been developments the villagers regard as encouraging. Two jurors - the foreman and a woman called Carol - have said publicly they have grave doubts about the verdict.

One of the experts who gave evidence for the prosecution, Waney Squier, a consultant neuropathologist, has told the newspapers there was “nothing to indicate” that Maeve died from SBS. Squier believes the baby had brain damage from a previous brain injury as well as more recent trauma. “I cannot say whether those injuries were accidental or inflicted . . . But there is nothing to indicate she was shaken,” she said.

In the face of mounting disquiet, it was reported last week that the attorney-general has promised to look at the case. An appeal is being mounted with the help of Bill Bache, the solicitor who organised Angela Cannings’s appeal.

Even if Keran is freed and her name cleared, Iain insists there are others whose cases need to be reinvestigated. As though he hasn’t got enough on his plate, he wants to start campaigning for Suzanne Holdsworth, of Hartlepool, sentenced to life in 2005 for murdering two-year-old Kyle Fisher by slamming his head into the banisters while minding him. Holdsworth, a mother of two, said Kyle suffered a fit. Her family want the case to be retried.

Critics of the justice system want expert witnesses - many of whom charge hundreds of pounds an hour for their services – to be regulated and cases never again to turn on their evidence alone, especially when the diagnoses of child abuse are controversial: as in cases of so-called Munchausen syndrome by proxy, salt poisoning, unexplained fractures and SBS.

Back in Iver Heath the fight to free Keran continues. But Henderson knows that it won’t end with her release. Sally Clark was freed but died soon afterward, of alcoholism and trauma. “I hope we have the strength to ensure the aftermath does not destroy our family,” he says.

The wife he fell in love with when they were both still at school is, he adds, “a star; she cared so much for the community. Now all the work has come back to her. The villagers have come back and said, we care for you too”.

But will it be enough to overturn what many believe is another scandalous legal injustice?""

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;