More than 20 years after she was convicted in the death of her baby boy, and more than a decade after the science of “shaken baby syndrome” was called into question, Jennifer Gaskin is hoping to finally clear her name.
asserted
Gaskin → convict → name
The 51-year-old, convicted of manslaughter in 2002, is preparing to appear before the Ontario Court of Appeal.
asserted
old → convict → Appeal
In advance of the Sept. 29 hearing, Ms. Gaskin’s lawyers and the Crown have come together, jointly submitting to the court that her conviction be quashed.
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conviction → come → court
“In light of the overwhelming weight of the current expert opinion, the appellant’s conviction cannot and should not stand,” Crown lawyer Elise Nakelsky said in written arguments, filed in court.
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Nakelsky → stand → court
“This Court ought to set aside her conviction for manslaughter and enter an acquittal.”
asserted
Court → set → acquittal
For Ms. Gaskin, who spent 18 months in prison, it is a chance to lift the stigma she has long carried and an opportunity to prove to her surviving children, who were taken from her after Joeseph’s death, that she is innocent.
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she → spend → death
“For 27 years, my other two children have thought I killed their brother Joeseph,” she said in a statement to The Globe and Mail.
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she → think → Globe
“If my appeal goes well, I pray they will realize I did not kill their brother, and accept me as their loving mother.”
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I → go → mother
The appeal is the latest in a decades-long effort to undo the damage caused by the now widely contested forensic theory of shaken baby syndrome (SBS).
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appeal → undo → syndrome
The term was first coined in the early 1970s and became a go-to diagnosis for pathologists probing baby deaths in cases where infants had a combination of brain swelling, retinal bleeding and tissue damage to the brain lining.
But it came under scrutiny in the early 2000s, when some experts began to dispute the validity of the diagnosis and raise concerns that it had led to wrongful convictions.
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it → coin → convictions
In Ontario, an inquiry into errors by Charles Smith, a former forensic pathologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, uncovered more than a dozen child-death cases that were tainted by flawed analyses, often involving marginalized families, including those involved with child welfare agencies.
asserted
that → uncover → agencies
A committee was established in 2008 to specifically probe so-called shaken-baby deaths in the province dating back to the 1980s.
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committee → establish → 1980s
It reviewed 129 cases, ultimately narrowing in on 13 cases in which people were convicted.
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people → review → which
The fresh evidence submitted by Ms. Gaskin’s legal team in her appeal includes the findings of that committee, along with new reports by a forensic neuropathologist, a biomechanical engineer and a forensic pathologist, who concluded that while it would be difficult to rule out an inflicted injury, natural causes could also have been to blame.
uncertain
causes → submit → injury
They pointed out that much more substantial testing and analysis would be done after a death like this today than was done (or even possible) at the time.
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testing → point → time
“As of today, the original expert evidence supporting the conviction of the appellant at trial has been wholly undermined and placed in grave doubt,” Ms. Nakelsky summarized in the Crown’s written arguments.
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Nakelsky → support → arguments
Baby Joeseph Gaskin was nine-and-a-half weeks premature when he was born via cesarean section on April 13, 1999.
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he → bear → April
He was intubated and ventilated for two days, according to the documents filed by Ms. Gaskin’s counsel, veteran wrongful convictions lawyer James Lockyer.
uncertain
He → intubate → counsel
He was kept on oxygen for five days, and was treated for moderate respiratory distress syndrome, hypoglycemia and an elevated white blood cell count usually associated with infection.
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He → keep → infection
He was given a 10-day drug regimen to fight bacterial infections.
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He → give → infections
As he gained weight, the monitoring was scaled back, and he was finally able to go home on June 11.
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he → gain → June
On June 30, Ms. Gaskin – who was 23 and also had a 13-month-old baby at the time – took Joeseph to the clinic, concerned that he’d been throwing up his formula feedings.
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he → have → feedings
According to the defence’s court filings, a nurse looked Joeseph over and said he was “fine as long as he kept peeing and pooping, and his skin didn’t get dried up.”
uncertain
skin → accord → Joeseph
He’d gained half a pound from five days earlier.
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He → gain → pound
He was smiling and appeared healthy and hydrated.
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He → smile → ?
She took a swab of his right eye, which was crusty, but otherwise instructed not to overfeed him and to return if the vomiting continued.
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vomiting → take → him
Ms. Gaskin remained concerned about Joeseph, who was still spitting up on and off, according to the defence’s court filings, but took solace in the nurse’s reassurances from the day before.
uncertain
who → remain → day
When a friend visited that evening, Ms. Gaskin told her she was having trouble coping, according to the defence’s court filings.
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she → visit → filings
She did not have a large support system in Ignace, Ont., where she was living with her boyfriend, Dale Jones, raising two kids under the age of 2.
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she → have → 2
After being diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia during her pregnancy with Joeseph, she had asked the Children’s Aid Society to take care of her older baby on a temporary care arrangement.
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she → diagnose → arrangement
A worker with CAS – who assisted the family after both babies came home – also visited on July 1.
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babies → assist → July
She said the baby seemed fine, according to the defence’s court filings, but noticed his eyes “had a type of glaze or a haze that wasn’t normal looking.”
uncertain
that → say → glaze
Throughout the night and into the next morning, Joeseph continued to spit up, on and off.
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Joeseph → continue → morning
On the morning of July 2, Ms. Gaskin and Mr. Jones took the children to the health unit for their weekly weigh-in.
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Gaskin → take → in
A clerk recalled that the toddler seemed normal, but Joeseph was “cranky” and “pale looking,” according to her court filings.
uncertain
Joeseph → recall → filings
Afterward, the couple ran into a friend and headed to a local restaurant for lunch.
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couple → run → lunch
Mr. Jones took the babies home around 11:30 a.m., after Joeseph started to whine for a bottle, and Ms. Gaskin stayed with her friend.
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Gaskin → take → friend
When he got home and changed Joeseph’s diaper, Mr. Jones noticed the baby turning bright red, according to the defence’s court filings.
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baby → get → filings
He tried CPR and then sought help from neighbours before an ambulance was called.
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ambulance → try → neighbours
By then the baby was grayish-blue, unresponsive and not breathing.
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baby → breathe → ?
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
