MORE OF DR. CHARLES SMITH'S VICTIMS

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story titled "Mom exonerated in girl's death". Maria Shepherd had her manslaughter conviction quashed in a Toronto courthouse yesterday, twenty-five years after being convicted. Her three year old stepdaughter had died in 1991 in her care and based upon the evidence given in court by Dr. Smith, the Crown offerred her a major deal avoiding a lengthy prison sentence if she pled guilty. As she had other children to care for plus her own lawyer advised her to plead guilty, she did so.

Dr. Smith has since been stripped of his medical license and numerous other convictions have been sucessfully appealed based upon his now totally discredited work. He had such a leading reputation as a forensic expert and a pathologist that his evidence was essentially untouchable in court. It has since been found that his opinions were at best merely opinions which he embellished in order to secure convictions for the Crown.

The shame does not rest entirely with Dr. Smith. Forensic evidence has done much to secure convictions when no other evicence was available. Perhaps certain judicial authorities and or police found this magic bullet helpful to make up for weaknesses in their cases. In the long run besides destroying lives and actually convicting people of crimes that never took place; this blind reliance on a single "expert" has discredited our judicial system in the eyes of Canadian citizens.