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You are here: Home / All Posts / Mother wrongly convicted of infanticide is acquitted

Mother wrongly convicted of infanticide is acquitted

December 7, 2009 by Brigitte Pellerin Leave a Comment

My goodness, what a horrible mistake to make.

After hearing a joint submission in favour of Sherry Sherrett-Robinson by the Crown and defence, the court told the 34-year-old woman it was “profoundly regrettable” that she was wrongly convicted based on errors by Charles Smith, who was once the toast of the pathology community.

“The tragedy of this four-month-old child’s death is compounded by the fact that his mother was wrongly convicted of infanticide, served a year in jail, and she lost her other child,” Mr. Justice Marc Rosenberg said.

Ms. Sherrett-Robinson was convicted in 1999 after Dr. Smith testified that he found signs consistent with homicide on the body of her four-month-old son, Joshua Sherrett.

James Lockyer, a lawyer for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, told the court Monday that all four of Dr. Smith’s suspicious findings – a skull fracture, swelling of the brain, burst blood vessels and small, unexpected lacerations – were either normal in accidental asphyxiation cases or caused by Dr. Smith’s autopsy techniques.

[…]

Judge Rosenberg said that, based on a review by two prominent pathologists, it is quite possible that Joshua suffocated in his crib after becoming entangled in bedclothes.

Ms. Sherrett-Robinson’s eldest son, Austin, was seized and put up for adoption after she was charged. She is not permitted to seek him out until he is 18.

“I still get pictures and letters twice a year from him,” she said. “I’d give anything to get him back, but it’s my responsibility as a mother to leave him where he is most comfortable at this point. He is well taken care of.”

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