CHARLES SMITH: TORONTO SUN EDITORIAL: JAILING INNOCENT PARENTS IS A CRIME;

"Brant was asked after he was exonerated what he thinks should happen to Smith, since the former doctor’s only punishment has been the loss of his medical licence.

“I think he should go to jail,” Brant told the Sun’s Michele Mandel. “Have him put away and see what he did to everybody else who was innocent.”

This raises a good question.

Why hasn’t Smith been charged with any criminal offence for his years of tainted testimony?"

EDITORIAL: THE TORONTO SUN;

REMINDER: EXECUTION BY FIRE Friday, May 13, 10PM (9PM Manitoba/Sask.)

(In 1991 three little girls died in a fire that gutted their home in a small Texas town. Sympathy turned to rage when their father was charged with murder by arson. After a thirteen-year battle to prove his innocence and despite new evidence casting doubt over the conviction, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004. Since Willingham’s death, leading fire scientists have challenged the underpinnings of the case, concluding it was an accidental fire. Today, Willingham’s family is still battling to clear his name and for the first time Texas may be forced to admit to executing an innocent man. Another documentary by renowned Canadian journalist Julian Sher. “What can be more crushing than the nightmare of losing your child,” asks Sher. “And then the nightmare gets unimaginably worse when the police accuse you of the murder and you know you’re innocent? These were compelling human dramas and trials that grabbed the headlines. We tried to look at the toll these cases took not only on the accused but also on their families—their loved ones, the other children. It’s also about how communities turn against the guilty suspect in our midst – how we are all guilty of jumping to conclusions.”)

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Sun editorial published earlier today bluntly asks, "Why hasn’t Smith been charged with any criminal offence for his years of tainted testimony?". This question has come up repeatedly on this Blog. Indeed, each time the Ontario Court of Appeal quashes another conviction based on a former Dr. Charles Smith opinion (as happened most recently in the case of Richard Brant, I get a strong impression that more and more people are wondering why Smith has not been held accountable in the criminal courts. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is the Premier who launched the independent public Inquiry into many of Smith's cases in order to restore confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system. My message to the Premier is that public confidence will only be re-established when Smith is himself brought to account, just as his many victims were brought to account. Because the Ontario government has such a palpable conflict of interest when it comes to Charles Smith - its prosecutors relied on him to help the Crown walk away with conviction after conviction in the criminal courts over many years - I have a solution to offer him. Premier McGuinty should encourage Attorney General Chris Bentley to invite a seasoned lawyer from another jurisdiction to come to Ontario and independently examine the relevant Smith cases to determine whether criminal prosecutions are warranted - and whether there is a reasonable probability that he can be convicted. It was Premier McGuinty's government which took this approach recently after former Attorney General Michael Bryant became involved in an unfortunate altercation which resulted in a bicycle courrier's tragic death. Ontario overcame this conflict of interest by retaining Richard Peck - a highly respected lawyer in British Columbia - to come to Ontario, check out the evidence and make a recommendation. Although Peck ultimately recommended that Bryant should not charged the Government's decision not to prosecute was by and large accepted by the public at large, because of the independent perspective which had been brought to the case. My message to Premier McGuinty, is that if indeed the government wishes to prove that it does have a political will to pursue Smith, it should retain Peck or someone like him from outside of the jurisdiction to do the job as quickly as possible. Public confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system is still very much at stake.

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BACKGROUND: The Goudge inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Charles Smith — formerly the province's chief pediatric pathologist and a self-styled member of the prosecution team — whose "errors" led to innocent people being branded as child murderers. (He has since been thrown out of the medical profession in Ontario);

The 1,000-page report by Justice Stephen Goudge slammed Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions and asked the province to consider compensation.

The provincial coroner's office found evidence of errors in 20 of 45 autopsies Smith did over a 10-year period starting in the early 1990s. Thirteen resulted in criminal charges.

William Mullins-Johnson, who was among those cases, spent 12 years in prison for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, whose death was later attributed to natural causes.

In another case, Smith concluded a mother had stabbed her seven-year-old girl to death when it turned out to have been a dog mauling.

The inquiry heard that Smith's failings included hanging on to crucial evidence, "losing" evidence which showed his opinion was wrong and may have assisted the accused person, mistating evidence, chronic tardiness, and the catastrophic misinterpretation of findings.

The cases, along with other heart-rending stories of wrongful prosecutions based in part on Smith's testimony, also raised a host of issues about the pathology system and the reliance of the courts on expert evidence."

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"Why hasn’t ex-doctor Charles Smith been criminally charged for the appalling injustices his tainted testimony in suspected child abuse cases caused to so many innocent parents and caregivers over so many years?," the Toronto Sun editorial published earlier today under the heading, "Jailing innocent parents is a crime," begins.

"Last Wednesday, the latest of Smith’s victims, wrongly convicted in the death of his infant son, Dustin, in 1993, finally had his name cleared when the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down his conviction for aggravated assault,' the editorial continues.

"Richard Brant, 38, joins a growing list of people falsely accused, wrongly convicted and unjustly imprisoned on the basis of testimony we now know — from a judicial inquiry — was often false, misleading, incompetent and overzealous.

Smith left a trail of ruined lives, broken families and shattered careers and reputations that continues to this day.

Court cases to overturn unjust convictions where Smith’s testimony was key are still working their way through the system.

In Brant’s case, as in others, his own lawyer convinced him to plead a manslaughter charge down to aggravated assault, because, Brant was advised, he had no chance to win against Smith’s testimony.

This despite the fact concerns about Smith’s lack of competence in a field he claimed to be an expert in were raised in court as early as 1991 — by a judge!

And yet, shockingly, Smith was allowed to continue testifying as an expert witness for another decade.

Eventually, a coroner’s review raised red flags about Smith’s testimony in numerous criminal cases involving the deaths of children.

A public inquiry headed by Justice Stephen Goudge reported in October, 2008 that Smith routinely gave “false and misleading” testimony and had no expertise in forensic pathology.

Brant was asked after he was exonerated what he thinks should happen to Smith, since the former doctor’s only punishment has been the loss of his medical licence.

“I think he should go to jail,” Brant told the Sun’s Michele Mandel. “Have him put away and see what he did to everybody else who was innocent.”

This raises a good question.

Why hasn’t Smith been charged with any criminal offence for his years of tainted testimony?

Alan Shanoff, Sun Media’s legal affairs analyst, has written a charge of causing bodily harm by criminal negligence would be an appropriate one for Smith.

This offence involves “conduct which reveals a marked and significant departure from the standard which could be expected of a reasonably prudent person in the circumstances.”

“Bodily harm” means “any hurt or injury … that interferes with … health or comfort … that is more than merely transient or trifling.”

The fact Smith’s tainted testimony resulted in innocent people spending years behind bars should qualify as “bodily harm,” argues Shanoff.

Of course, it would be up to the court to determine Smith’s guilt or innocence, but that’s the point.

It’s time for that question to be put to a court.

Actually, it’s long past time."

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The editorial can be found at:

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/06/editorial-jailing-innocent-parents-is-a-crime

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.coM.

TOMLINSON INQUEST: AFTERMATH (3): GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT DR. FREDDY PATEL;

"An inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing on Tuesday after seeing a video showing a police officer pushing Tomlinson who fell forward on to the pavement in the City of London.

It is understood that the GMC has begun its inquiries into Patel's performance during his controversial autopsy.

The disciplinary panel has also been approached by other families who are pressing for inquiries into Patel's role as a pathologist in other deaths. The families of those affected have begun banding together to raise concerns about the way postmortems have been conducted."

REPORTERS OWEN BOWCOTT AND PAUL LEWIS: THE GUARDIAN;

REMINDER: EXECUTION BY FIRE Friday, May 13, 10PM (9PM Manitoba/Sask.)

(In 1991 three little girls died in a fire that gutted their home in a small Texas town. Sympathy turned to rage when their father was charged with murder by arson. After a thirteen-year battle to prove his innocence and despite new evidence casting doubt over the conviction, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004. Since Willingham’s death, leading fire scientists have challenged the underpinnings of the case, concluding it was an accidental fire. Today, Willingham’s family is still battling to clear his name and for the first time Texas may be forced to admit to executing an innocent man. Another documentary by renowned Canadian journalist Julian Sher. “What can be more crushing than the nightmare of losing your child,” asks Sher. “And then the nightmare gets unimaginably worse when the police accuse you of the murder and you know you’re innocent? These were compelling human dramas and trials that grabbed the headlines. We tried to look at the toll these cases took not only on the accused but also on their families—their loved ones, the other children. It’s also about how communities turn against the guilty suspect in our midst – how we are all guilty of jumping to conclusions.”)

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Charles Smith saga - called by the Globe and Mail a series of earthquakes which exploded under Ontario's criminal justice system - has underlined the enormous harm that can be caused by an incompetent pathologist who is used to investigate criminal cases by the State. One of its lessons is that medical licensing bodies such as the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario and the British Medical Council must scrutinize allegations made against such pathologists extremely carefully and hold them strictly to account where misconduct is found - that's what protecting the public is all about..

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;

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"The General Medical Council is investigating the suspended pathologist Dr Freddy Patel for the way he conducted a postmortem examination on Ian Tomlinson," the Guardian story by reporters Owen Bowcott and Paul Lewis published on May 5, 2011 begins, under the heading, "Pathologist Freddy Patel investigated over Ian Tomlinson postmortem: General Medical Council looks into findings which were criticised by other pathologists at Ian Tomlinson inquest."

"Patel carried out the first autopsy on the body, suggesting that the newspaper seller had died of a heart attack during the G20 demonstrations in London on 1 April 2009<' the story continues.

"His findings were criticised by three other pathologists who subsequently conducted examinations of Tomlinson and concluded that the 47-year-old father of nine had died from internal bleeding.

An inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing on Tuesday after seeing a video showing a police officer pushing Tomlinson who fell forward on to the pavement in the City of London.

It is understood that the GMC has begun its inquiries into Patel's performance during his controversial autopsy.

The disciplinary panel has also been approached by other families who are pressing for inquiries into Patel's role as a pathologist in other deaths. The families of those affected have begun banding together to raise concerns about the way postmortems have been conducted.

Among those who have been in correspondence with the GMC are the relatives of Richard Chang, who died in 2004 after a fall inside the atrium of a London finance office. Patel conducted the postmortem examination.

The courtroom-style hearings at the GMC's high-rise offices on London's Euston Road must, by now, be a painfully familiar ritual to Patel: the 63-year-old pathologist has been disciplined three times in the past decade and is serving his second term of suspension from the profession.

At the end of the last examination, counsel for the GMC urged that he be struck off the medical register.

Patel has had a chequered career. In 2002, he was found to have breached patient confidentiality by telling journalists that Roger Sylvester, a 30-year-old who died after being restrained by police, had been taking drugs. The GMC issued him with a reprimand.

Last summer, Patel appeared before a fitness-to-practice panel to face charges that four of his postmortems were "not of a standard expected of a Home Office-registered forensic pathologist" and that one case "was liable to bring the profession into disrepute".

One of his postmortems was on a five-year-old girl who had been admitted to hospital after her parents claimed she had suffered a serious fall. Patel failed to spot signs of abuse and was suspended from practice for three months.

The publicity generated by the Tomlinson case has stirred up several allegations against Patel. Between December last year and March this year, Patel was called by the GMC to answer fresh allegations of incompetence and dishonesty.

He was found to have falsified his CV and to have conducted a botched autopsy on the body of 31-year-old sex worker Sally White, who was the first victim of the "Camden Ripper" Anthony Hardy. Patel suggested she had died from a heart attack during consensual sex despite evidence of blood-stained clothing and bedding.

His findings discouraged police from launching a murder investigation. Hardy went on to murder two more women. In March, the GMC suspended Patel for a further four months.

On Patel's status, a spokeswoman said: "The GMC argued very strongly for erasure [striking off the register] but we have independent panels and they went with suspension. It's frustrating for the GMC."

The GMC says it cannot confirm whether it is investigating the Chang family's complaint. Chang, 48, was found dead on 13 July 2004 on the ground floor of Abbey National's office. He was a risk analyst and had been working on corporate governance.

He had fallen from a fifth-floor internal balcony shortly after being interviewed by a private investigation company about accusations of sending malicious, anonymous documents to the Financial Services Authority. The inquest returned a verdict of suicide.

His family has never accepted the official version of events and has challenged the thoroughness of the postmortem conducted by Patel, questioning whether he examined certain marks on the body. Lawyers for Patel were passed the complaints from the Chang family but did not respond."

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The story can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/05/freddy-patel-investigated-ian-tomlinson-autopsy

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

BRENDA WAUDBY; MOVING COMMENTARY ON "A MOTHER'S ORDEAL" BY "BROKEN SILENCE," AIRED ON GLOBAL TV ON MAY 6, 2011;

"To Brenda and Justine... may you continue to break the silence, unify with each other and strengthen each other with the love that has saved you through one of life's most tragic experiences. Be each other's footprints in the sand.

To baby Jenna.. rest in peace sweet little one.

My heart goes out to all of you. May peace and closure finds its way to you soon."

BROKEN SILENCE:

REMINDER: EXECUTION BY FIRE Friday, May 13, 10PM (9PM Manitoba/Sask.)

(In 1991 three little girls died in a fire that gutted their home in a small Texas town. Sympathy turned to rage when their father was charged with murder by arson. After a thirteen-year battle to prove his innocence and despite new evidence casting doubt over the conviction, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004. Since Willingham’s death, leading fire scientists have challenged the underpinnings of the case, concluding it was an accidental fire. Today, Willingham’s family is still battling to clear his name and for the first time Texas may be forced to admit to executing an innocent man. Another documentary by renowned Canadian journalist Julian Sher. “What can be more crushing than the nightmare of losing your child,” asks Sher. “And then the nightmare gets unimaginably worse when the police accuse you of the murder and you know you’re innocent? These were compelling human dramas and trials that grabbed the headlines. We tried to look at the toll these cases took not only on the accused but also on their families—their loved ones, the other children. It’s also about how communities turn against the guilty suspect in our midst – how we are all guilty of jumping to conclusions.”)

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will strike the plea that she felt compelled to make in the circumstances, allow her to call the fresh evidence which she says clears her of this offence, and go the rest of the distance necessary to fully clear her name.

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

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"I spoke with Brenda just prior to watching the documentary of herself and the hell that she and her daughter Justine, went through. An ordeal that stemmed from the now disgraced, Dr. Charles Smith, formerly of Hospital For Sick Children," the moving commentary by the author of the "Broken Silence: When Justice Fails" Blog begins.

"Through the entire documentary, I found myself with my mouth wide open and eyes filling with tears," the commentary continues.

"A false confession. The charge of Second Degree Murder of her own child. The recurring removal of Justine from Brenda. The planting of an undercover officer from "Operation Jenna". at Brenda Waudby"s rehabilitation center. The bargain of - we will drop the charge of Second Degree Murder but you have to plead guilty to child abuse. The shame Brenda was put through in her home town of Peterborough, Ontario. The anguish , loneliness and confusion that Justine was put through. The discovery of the flawed and inexperienced Dr. Charles Smith. The constant attempts that Brenda called out to say she was innocent, only to be shut down. Then to finding the real killer, the 14 year old babysitter. This story is tragic from beginning to end.

The world can be a very cruel place, depending on who is in it. As I see it, Brenda cried out for help in trying to find Jenna's real killer, but yet, she was silenced and forced to accept circumstances so as to not lose her children forever. Even though the charges of murder had been dropped.

Everyone has made bad judgments in their time (and don't try to tell me otherwise), but it certainly does not make you a killer of your own child ! The irony here is that within the group of the very people that we entrust to seek truth and justice, are some that cross those lines themselves. The ones who wear the suits and look flawless, professing and enforcing the law, at times, are the very persons who are the cause of systemic flaws.

Truly, as the journey that Brenda and her family still go through now, Brenda is truly an incredibly strong woman . Justine, a beautiful and wonderful young girl who had the courage to come forward.

There is absolutely no comfort in knowing that charges against Dr. Charles Smith is unlikely. It is unjust and does not bring closure to any of us. A man who wreaked havoc and destroyed many many lives continues to walk freely in public in BC. My only hope is that Canada will consider amending its immunity laws for "expert" witnesses."

To Brenda and Justine... may you continue to break the silence, unify with each other and strengthen each other with the love that has saved you through one of life's most tragic experiences. Be each other's footprints in the sand.

To baby Jenna.. rest in peace sweet little one.

My heart goes out to all of you. May peace and closure finds its way to you soon.

The commentary can be found at:

http://brokensilence91.blogspot.com/2011/05/mothers-ordeal-aired-tonght-10pm-et.html

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com

BRENDA WAUDBY: GLOBAL TV DOCUMENTARY BY JOURNALIST JULIAN SHER SHOWS PUBLIC POLICE INTERROGATION OF WRONGLY ACCUSED WOMAN; PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER;

"The documentary states that after Waudby's initial interview, she was left alone in the room with photographs from Jenna's autopsy.

She was told things would be easier for her if she confessed, that she would be granted bail and wouldn't go to jail.

When Lemay came back for the second interview, Waudby told him she couldn't remember a 20-minute period from that night.

She never said she hit Jenna. She said she remembered swinging her arms, and didn't remember if she hit Jenna or not.

That statement matched the timeline Smith provided. Waudby was charged with second-degree murder."

REPORTER SARAH DEETH: PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will strike the plea that she felt compelled to make in the circumstances, allow her to call the fresh evidence which she says clears her of this offence, and go the rest of the distance necessary to fully clear her name.

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

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"It only took about seven minutes to label Brenda Waudby as a child killer," the Peterborough This Week story by reporter Sarah Deeth published earlier today by the Peterborough Examiner under the heading, "Public gets to see police interviews of wrongfully accused Brenda Waudby in new documentary," begins.

"During her second interview with city police Det. Const. Dan Lemay, a sobbing Waudby said she couldn't remember a 20-minute time period the night before her daughter, 21-month-old Jenna, died," the story continues.

"That was enough for police. She was charged with killing her daughter.

The interview was part of Global TV's one-hour documentary, A Mother's Ordeal, which aired Friday night.

The documentary follows Waudby's 10-year ordeal, beginning with the moment she returned home in January 1997 to find emergency vehicles parked outside her house.

Narrated by former Global anchor Kevin Newman, the documentary pulled no punches.

Critical of police, the media and the community, Newman repeatedly states that many were quick to judge and never questioned the police investigation.

The show included interviews with former MP Peter Adams, Toronto Star journalist Harold Levy, CHEX-TV reporter Graham Hart, Waudby's lawyer Julie Kirkpatrick, Waudby and her daughter Justine.

Included in the footage are clips from Waudby's two interviews with police following her arrest.

She had opted not to call a lawyer before speaking with investigators.

It also revealed that city police conducted an internal review of the initial investigation and determined that it was competent and open-minded, despite the fact that their case against Waudby was weak right from the get-go.

"Police investigators still felt very strongly that Brenda was responsible for Jenna's death," the review states, "but there was not enough evident to pursue charges against her. The babysitter had co-operated throughout the investigation and remained consistent in his story and the fact that he did not do anything to cause Jenna's death."

Waudby admits to struggling, as a parent, at the time of Jenna's death.

Struggling with a deep addiction to cocaine, both Jenna and Justine were taken from her, at her request, by the Children's Aid Society while she sought treatment for her addiction.

"I know I was a bad mom," she said during the show. "At that point in my life I was a horrible mother."

After six weeks, her children were returned to her. Two months later, Jenna was killed.

The documentary states that police fingered Waudby for the crime almost immediately, based on her poor history as a parent and drug user.

The documentary revealed Waudby failed a lie detector test and showed how police relied heavily on the opinion of Dr. Charles Smith, the man then considered to be the leading child pathologist in the province.

Smith's opinion on when Jenna received her injuries constantly wobbled, the documentary states, yet police persisted in their investigation against her.

Included in the footage are excerpts from Waudby's two interviews with Lemay immediately following her arrest for Jenna's murder.

Dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, Waudby rarely looked up and cried during both sessions.

She repeatedly denied hitting or killing Jenna.

Never raising his voice Lemay repeatedly asked her to tell him what really happened.

"Maybe something else happened," he said, as Waudby crosses her arms and cries.

"Brenda, look at me. What happened there?" He asked.

The documentary states that after Waudby's initial interview, she was left alone in the room with photographs from Jenna's autopsy.

She was told things would be easier for her if she confessed, that she would be granted bail and wouldn't go to jail.

When Lemay came back for the second interview, Waudby told him she couldn't remember a 20-minute period from that night.

She never said she hit Jenna. She said she remembered swinging her arms, and didn't remember if she hit Jenna or not.

That statement matched the timeline Smith provided. Waudby was charged with second-degree murder.

But as the documentary stated, Smith was dead wrong.

Jenna died of injuries she received that night, when her 14-year-old babysitter was looking after her.

The documentary states Smith insisted there was no evidence of sexual abuse, though doctors and staff at the local hospital noted signs of trauma on Jenna's body, and recovered a hair from her pubic area.

A rape test was never performed, the documentary states, nor did police ask for one.

Other members of the medical community disputed Smith's claims.

Police also never shared their information with the Children's Aid Society. The documentary states that CAS approached Smith for information when Waudby was pregnant with her third child.

"I guess I'll be doing his autopsy as well," was Smith's response.

CAS workers seized Waudby's son from her as soon as he was born. Investigators eventually realized Smith was wrong, but that information was never shared with Waudby.

Instead, the Crown attorney announced that the murder charge against her would be stayed, on the condition that she plead guilty to a charge of child abuse.

But, as the documentary shows, a cloud of suspicion always hung over her head; many felt that someone had gotten away with murder.

And until December 2006, someone had — her babysitter, who can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He was sentenced to 22 months in jail and was released in 2008.

Waudby is currently fighting to appeal her child abuse conviction."

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The story can be found at:

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3112962

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

IAN TOMLINSON INQUEST; AFTERMATH; (2); DISGRACED PATHOLOGIST PATEL SUSPECTED OF DOING AUTOPSY ON WRONG BODY; THE GUARDIAN;

"The pathologist who concluded that Ian Tomlinson had died of a heart attack at the G20 demonstration is suspected, in another case, of doing an autopsy on the wrong body.

Dr Freddy Patel's report into the death of Daniel Abrey, a 22-year-old civil servant, indicated that he had examined the body of a man almost a foot shorter and without the same identifying features.

The mix-up was never resolved, prompting a coroner at Abrey's inquest to say: "We know the right person died, we know the right person was buried, but there is a missing step."

The coroner was forced to record an open verdict, leaving Abrey's devastated family with many questions about what they say was his unexplained death in a north London bedsit in September 2005.

His mother, Hilary Abrey, 59, is one of a number of families with concerns about Patel's postmortems who have told the Guardian that they have lodged complaints with the General Medical Council in recent months."

REPORTER PAUL LEWIS: THE GUARDIAN;

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Charles Smith saga - called by the Globe and Mail a series of earthquakes which exploded under Ontario's criminal justice system - has underlined the enormous harm that can be caused by an incompetent pathologist who is used to investigate criminal cases by the State. One of its lessons is that medical licensing bodies such as the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario and the British Medical Council must scrutinize allegations made against such pathologists extremely carefully and hold them strictly to account where misconduct is found - that's what protecting the public is all about.

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;

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"The pathologist who concluded that Ian Tomlinson had died of a heart attack at the G20 demonstration is suspected, in another case, of doing an autopsy on the wrong body," the Guardian story by reporter Paul Lewis published on May 3, 2011 under the heading, "Tomlinson pathologist may have done postmortem on wrong body: Dr Freddy Patel's report on Daniel Abrey suggested he may have examined the body of a man almost a foot shorter," begins.

"Dr Freddy Patel's report into the death of Daniel Abrey, a 22-year-old civil servant, indicated that he had examined the body of a man almost a foot shorter and without the same identifying features," the story continues.

"The mix-up was never resolved, prompting a coroner at Abrey's inquest to say: "We know the right person died, we know the right person was buried, but there is a missing step."

The coroner was forced to record an open verdict, leaving Abrey's devastated family with many questions about what they say was his unexplained death in a north London bedsit in September 2005.

His mother, Hilary Abrey, 59, is one of a number of families with concerns about Patel's postmortems who have told the Guardian that they have lodged complaints with the General Medical Council in recent months.

Patel, 63, has been under mounting pressure since he conducted the first postmortem examination on Tomlinson and concluded that the newspaper seller suffered a heart attack and could have died at any time.

He was later contradicted by three forensic pathologists, all of whom examined Tomlinson's body and said that the cause of death was internal bleeding in the abdomen. They were backed by a number of medical experts who gave evidence at the inquest.

During the inquest, it also emerged that Patel altered his notes to identify marks on Tomlinson's body and changed the description of fluid found in his abdomen a year after conducting the examination on 3 April 2009.

Details of his errors in the Abrey case are likely to intensify demands for Patel to be struck off.

He is no longer registered on the Home Office list of forensic pathologists, and has been suspended twice in the last seven months by the GMC, after being found guilty of conducting botched postmortems and falsifying his CV.

Hilary Abrey, who considered exhuming her son's body when she read that Patel had recorded that her 6ft 1in son was 5ft 4in, still receives counselling for the trauma of not knowing whether her son's body was examined.

Although the postmortem report should have noted identifying features, it contained no reference to her son's lip piercing.

"I want to know how Daniel died – what happened?" Hilary Abrey said at her home in Waltham Abbey, Essex. "Did he die quickly? Did he die slowly? Was he in pain? I'm going to go to my grave without knowing any of that."

Her son's inquest in St Pancras, north London was temporarily suspended in December 2006 when the confusion arose. Patel told the court: "It didn't strike me at the time that the body was 6ft 1in. I think at the time the technician measured without taking into account rigor mortis."

However, Patel conducted the postmortem four days after the death – rigor mortis, when it occurs, usually dissipates within three days.

The coroner, Andrew Walker, told Hilary Abrey: "I'm as maddened as you are by the measurements that don't make sense, by the statements that don't tally."

The coroner said he could not rely on Patel's conclusion that Abrey, who worked at the Inland Revenue, died of a pulmonary oedema. "Unless we start knowing that Dr Patel carried out a postmortem on Daniel Abrey, we can't continue."

Reconvening the hearing weeks later, Walker said the cause of death was uncertain.

Patel said in a statement that he had not been notified of any complaint from Hilary Abrey, adding: "As I am expecting to attend a review hearing by a GMC fitness to practise panel in the summer, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on any matters before that hearing takes place."

However, Patel addressed the issue in correspondence with Hilary Abrey in the months after her son's death. In a letter to her, he maintained that the fault was with his assistant technician.

Hilary Abrey replied that the pathologist should take responsibility, adding: "I will never know how my son died. How will I ever know? There is no going back and checking who you actually examined."

In his reply, Patel gave no guarantee over his examination, saying only it was "unlikely" that the autopsy was on the wrong body. He added: "I am very sorry that you have judged me unfairly.""

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The story can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/03/freddy-patel-pathologist-autopsy

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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 accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

CORRECTION: JAMES BAWDEN CONTINUES HUGE CAREER AS TV CRITIC AFTER LEAVING GLOBE AND MAIL;

Jim Bawden has been a TV critic for 40 years starting at The Globe And Mail in 1970. In 1971 he became TV critic at The Spectator and in 1980 TV columnist at The Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, retiring in 2008. He has written widely on movies and TV for TV Guide, Films In Review, Classic Images and Film Fan Monthly. He is not currently Globe and Mail critic as mentioned (before correction) in the recent post on tomorrow (Friday) night's airing on Global TV of the documentary on Brenda Waudby's ordeal at the hands of Charles Smith "A mother's Ordeal" - 10.00 PM - but he remains a consummate, revered and widely published television critic. My apologies to him.

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER. THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;

BRENDA WAUDBY: TV CRITIC JAMES BAWDEN PRAISES TOMORROW (FRIDAY) NIGHT'S GLOBAL TV DOCUMENTARY; AWARDS FOUR STARS; 10.00 PM;

"Those "other things" include the meticulously researched hour documentary A Mother's Ordeal which recounts how a Peterborough mother was wrongly arrested and charged with the savage beating and murder of her two-year-old daughter. Focusing on Brenda Waudby and painfully documenting her battle with drugs, the investigation shows how she was railroaded into confessing to battery charges by Peterborough police. And on the surface she might have done it. Her face has been hardened from drug use. And she did lash out at her kids. On the night of the tot's death she was out partying, leaving the baby with a teenaged baby sitter. "It's about rushing to judgments which are wrong," Newman says. Peterborough police had little experience dealing with homicides and let notorious coroner Charles Smith wrongly set a time for death that made Waudby the only possible suspect. In fact the baby had been battered the night of the death and also raped which the coroner ignored. But Waudby maintains she was pushed into confessing to child abuse by the police and the Children's Aid society. The recreation of the crime and subsequent events was meticulously directed by Julian Sher. And some scenes are very tough to sit through. But you won't be able to turn away it's so well put together."

TELEVISION CRITIC JAMES BAWDEN; (Jim Bawden has been a TV critic for 40 years starting at The Globe And Mail in 1970. In 1971 he became TV critic at The Spectator and in 1980 TV columnist at The Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, retiring in 2008. He has written widely on movies and TV for TV Guide, Films In Review, Classic Images and Film Fan Monthly.)

(Photo: Brenda Waudby and daughter Justine at end of Goudge Inquiry);

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"It was time to catch up with Kevin Newman when the personable TV journalist phoned the other day --from a dot.com conference in Stratford," television critic James Bawden's column published on may 4, 2011 under the heading, "Catching up with Kevin Newman," begins.

"Newman voluntarily stepped down as anchor of Global TV's successful suppertime newscast last April and has been writing and producing documentaries ever since," the column continues.

""It just felt like the right time to expand," he says. "Did I want to be solely anchor for the rest of my career? No. Was I hoping to do more writing,? Yes."
Before making the momentous decision Newman spoke with former Global anchor Peter Trueman who said leaving career changes until much later --Newman turns 52 in June --would make adjustment that much harder.
So Newman took the plunge and seems busier than ever.
I'm enjoying listening to him and former CTV anchor Tom Clark chat about Canadian politics every week on CBC Radio's The House.
And on Friday night at 10 on Global a documentary Newman produced and co-wrote, A Mother's Ordeal, indicates the direction he hopes his career will be going in the future.
"These aren't the best of times for TV documentaries with most networks having budget cut backs. But I want to tell these Canadian stories. They're important."
I reminded Newman the first time I interviewed him was on the set of CBC's Midday, known as "the Baby Journal" when it first hit the air in 1992
It blended documentaries that had already been on The Journal with the kind of serious talk of the arts and politics that has since disappeared from CBC afternoons.
Newman and CBC got their signals crossed in 1994 in a move that saw Newman head to ABC news in New York city.
"That's CBC's version," he laughs --CBC was in one of its modes of shedding bodies.
I used to watch Newman and Thalia Assuras doing the overnight news at simply weird times but soon Newman was named co-anchor of Good Morning America opposite Lisa McRee.
One ABC executive actually told me with a straight face Newman had not completely fitted in there because he used the Canadian pronunciation of "sleigh" instead of the more American "sled".
For whatever reasons Diane Sawyer eventually took over as a kind of Lady Bountiful morning news goddess and Newman in 1999 was reassigned to ABC reporting duties.
He returned to Canada in 2001 as the anchor of Global National With Kevin Newman. Initially it was all done out of Vancouver which made production cumbersome. A similar national newscast with Tony Parsons from B.C. had already run on Hamilton's CHCH for several years.
When Newman moved to Ottawa the newscast sparked up and eventually got larger ratings than CBC's National, proving there was an audience for an early evening newscast.
And Newman was an innovative anchor--in 2004 he anchored coverage of the American elections from Global's Washington D.C. bureau studio.
In 2005 and again in 2006 he copped the Gemini as best TV anchor.
When I told Newman my anecdote about having a pre-arranged lunch at 21 with CBS living legend Eric Sevareid in New York --and the eightyish anchor had to be carried to the table --he said after "only" a decade he began looking around.
"It's about the longest I've ever stayed with something. Challenging? Yes. But I had other things to try, too."
Those "other things" include the meticulously researched hour documentary A Mother's Ordeal which recounts how a Peterborough mother was wrongly arrested and charged with the savage beating and murder of her two-year-old daughter.
Focusing on Brenda Waudby and painfully documenting her battle with drugs, the investigation shows how she was railroaded into confessing to battery charges by Peterborough police.
And on the surface she might have done it. Her face has been hardened from drug use. And she did lash out at her kids. On the night of the tot's death she was out partying, leaving the baby with a teenaged baby sitter.
"It's about rushing to judgments which are wrong," Newman says. Peterborough police had little experience dealing with homicides and let notorious coroner Charles Smith wrongly set a time for death that made Waudby the only possible suspect.
In fact the baby had been battered the night of the death and also raped which the coroner ignored. But Waudby maintains she was pushed into confessing to child abuse by the police and the Children's Aid society.
The recreation of the crime and subsequent events was meticulously directed by Julian Sher. And some scenes are very tough to sit through. But you won't be able to turn away it's so well put together.
And Newman has another hour documentary on Global the very next week (Friday May 13 at 10 p.m.): Execution Under Fire about a Texas man wrongly accused of killing three young daughters in an act of arson --modern investigative techniques have discredited the conviction but the Texas governor has refused to reopen the case. More on that one later.
My conclusion: Newman has another bright new career ahead of him."

A MOTHER'S ORDEAL PREMIERES ON GLOBAL TV FRID MAY 6 AT 10 P.M.
MY RATING: ****.

The column can be found at:

http://jamesbawden.blogspot.com/2011/05/catching-up-with-kevin-newman.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;