GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A man who's been in jail for nearly 20 years after being convicted of murdering his infant son will have the chance to present new evidence in court as he seeks a new trial.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a decision to deny Danyel Smith a hearing to present new evidence on the science of shaken baby syndrome - the method with which he was convicted of killing his two-month-old son in 2002 - was erroneous.
According to a summary of the state Supreme Court's ruling, Smith has a neurosurgeon from New York's Mount Sinai who would testify that the infant's death was caused by "pre-existing conditions resulting from birth injury and other events, and not from shaken baby syndrome."
Smith's intention is to argue that there has been a "major shift in the medical community's understanding of shaken baby syndrome," in which a combination of symptoms that were once "presumptively associated with violent shaking of a baby" could now also "be caused by birth injuries, short falls, or other diseases."
The Georgia Supreme Court made no determination about the validity of this evidence - only that Smith should have been allowed to present it in Gwinnett County court, and be allowed to again present his motion for a new trial.
“To the extent that the State challenges the credibility of the averments of Smith and his supporting expert that there in fact have been new developments in the scientific community’s understanding of infant trauma, or that Dr. Ghatan’s opinion is in fact based on those developments, the place for that is an evidentiary hearing,” Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson wrote in the Court's ruling.
More about the case
According to the court's summary, Smith's son had a check-up in April 2002 and was "declared to be in good health." Later the same day, however, the mother left the child with Smith to run an errand and, as he was bringing him back to her, the father told her over the phone that the infant wasn't breathing.
"When Smith arrived, the child was limp and cold and had blood running from his nose," the summary states. "The mother called 911 and emergency responders rushed the child to the emergency room. There, a CT scan of the child’s brain revealed a skull fracture and other damage. The child was then diagnosed as a 'shaken baby.' After several days in the hospital without exhibiting any signs of brain function, the child was removed from life support."
The trial established that the child was born prematurely and there were complications during the mother's pregnancy, according to the Court summary, and there was additional evidence that "showed his mother had summoned medical assistance for him due to a concern about breathing problems or a seizure several weeks before he became unresponsive."
Smith denied beating his child in any way and that he "never experienced a fall in his presence," and his defense team "suggested that unskillful CPR performed on the child may have caused his various injuries."
He was convicted in 2003.
