Cases tied to Ontario pathologist under review
- From: jlcaverlyca@xxxxxxxx
- Date: 1 Nov 2005 12:31:45 -0800
Cases tied to Ontario pathologist under review
CTV.ca News Staff
Several Ontario residents accused of harming children could have the
charges against them dropped. Their cases, which were investigated by a
Toronto child pathologist, are now being reviewed.
Forty-four cases involving work by Dr. Charles Smith in suspicious
cases or homicides will be scrutinized.
Ten of the cases in which the accused are in custody or have been
released with restrictions on their freedom will be dealt with first.
Smith was the chief forensic pathologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick
Children before resigning in July. Questions about his work arose
following an audit back in March.
Smith's court testimony led to the conviction of William
Mullins-Johnson in the sexual assault and murder of his four-year-old
niece.
Mullins-Johnson spent 12 years in prison before being released in
September while the federal justice minister reviews whether he might
have been wrongly convicted.
Though there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime,
Mullins-Johnson was convicted in 1994 of sodomizing and strangling
four-year-old Valin Johnson based on Smith's testimony.
But a recent review by Ontario's chief pathologist rejected Smith's
coroner's report, saying the child was never raped at all and likely
died of natural causes, not murder.
Mullins-Johnson's lawyers called for an audit of all of Smith's work
after evidence in their client's case went missing earlier this year.
That missing evidence was later found in Smith's office.
Forty of the criminal cases Smith was involved in, dating back to 1991,
are being investigated.
Smith was involved in more than 1,000 autopsies for the provincial
Office of the Chief Coroner.
He is now facing three lawsuits filed by mothers who allege they were
wrongly convicted of crimes because of his testimony.
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