The Injustice of Misdiagnosing 'Shaken Baby Syndrome': Grandmother Released After 11 Years in Jail
A grandmother is now free after spending 11 years in prison from a wrongful conviction of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). This justice happened thanks to the efforts of the Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent who got involved. What a great bunch of people who work towards freeing innocent people.
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Source
Maria Mendez was originally sentenced to 25 years for the death of her nine-month-old grandson. This was thanks to a flawed medical conclusions of SBS or Abusive Head Trauma. However, project for the innocent attorneys and law students found medical evidence there was not originally considered by the court.
These cases usually involve Child Protective Services (CPS). Families often have more than one child, and the other children can be medically kidnap through this criminal organization that pretends to help children and families. Strangers end up allegedly taking care of the children, while parents lose custody permanently, even though they were never charged with any crime whatsoever.
There are cases where CPS involvement results in parents or grandparents facing criminal charges, and this includes SBS:
- Shaken Baby Syndrome
- Multiple broken bones
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy/Medical Child Abuse
There are often valid medical reasons for a child's injuries, but these valid reasons are also often ignored in favor of simply kidnapping a child from their loving parents, where they are forever separated by the authoritarian tyranny of the state.
The medical establishment is also involved in this tyranny through their medical authority, as a child abuse specialist doctor or pediatrician is often involved. Other medical experts or specialists are often ignored in favor of the alleged superior "authority" and "expertise" of pediatric child abuse specialists.
11 years ago, Dr. Carol Berkowitz, the Director of the Child Abuse Fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, was the only doctor to testify that grandmother Maria Mendez unquestioningly abused her grandson. Other doctors who disagreed didn't get a chance to speak. She still isn't backing down from her claims from 11 year ago, where she was the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Doctors like Berkowitz are ignoring alternative explanations for the injuries. They seem to be so full of themselves that only they can be right. Testimony of innocent victims of the authoritarian tyranny of the establishment, like Ms. Mendez, stand little change against the "expert" testimony of medical authorities.
The LA Times covered the release of Ms. Mendez after 11 years of being wrongfully convicted for her grandsons death. New evidence came forth to show that an alternative was just as plausible as the witch-hunting conclusion that it was SBS child abuse.
The child abuse specialist doctor was wrong, but her testimony held the weight in court. Maria Mendez had always proclaimed her innocence, saying her grandson Emmanuel collapsed and stopped breathing in December 2006.
She is now 64 and free to live her live again. But she has to take a plea deal for a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in order to get out on time served. She isn't innocent in the eyes of the court, as prosecutor stand by the "evidence" provided by child abuse specialist Dr. Berkowitz from 11 years ago that Emmanuel's death was from child abuse.
However, medical experts who testified for Mendez during a recent hearing said her case and others highlight increasing doubts about accepted theories of shaken baby syndrome.
Mendez was arrested and charged with murdering her grandson seven months after the baby’s death, court records show. During her trial in 2009, a prosecutor told jurors that Mendez had fallen into a depression after her husband died and became frustrated after her teenage daughter got pregnant with Emmanuel. The prosecutor argued that on Dec. 13, 2006, while babysitting, Mendez snapped and fatally injured the baby.
After a 3-day deliberation, jurors were deadlocked on the murder charge, but agreed on charging Mendez with 2 lesser crimes: "assault causing a child’s death and causing a child to suffer unjustifiable pain or injury resulting in death".
Project for the Innocent at Loyola Law School was later contacted, tracking down medical records that the trail attorney had not received. After new medical experts reviewed the case, they concluded the evidence suggested an accidental death, contrary to the so-called expert authority of child abuse specialist Dr. Berkowitz. Roland Auer, a physician who reviewed the case, said:
"Dr. Berkowitz's opinion that the child’s head injury was inflicted … rather than accidental is unsupportable by any scientific evidence."
Auer also wrote a 15-page report, stating how a baby's brain injury looks the same whether it's abusive or accidental.
"There is no way of inferring abuse," Auer wrote, "and the non-science has been called out in recent publications."
There is medical tyranny at play in the court system. Parents and grandparents are being convicted and sent to long-term jail sentences when they never even abused a child. Fifteen people have had their convictions overturned for allegedly injuring or killing an infant by violent shaking.
Some like Mendez have to plea to lesser charges in order to be released from their cages when they are innocent the whole time. This is the racket of the justice system, where people often get railroaded into accepting lesser charges or face heavier punishment if they dare to stand ground on their innocence.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
- Grandmother Wrongly Accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome is Freed from Prison After 11 Years
- Judge orders release of woman who served 11 years behind bars in grandson's death
- Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent
- The Innocence Project
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The evil that comes from the (in)justice system needs to find themselves on the receiving end of the crimes they commit against others. As long as there are no consequences for their evil actions it will continue on as business as usual, destroying innocent lives as an everyday common act.
Yup, consequences are required to set justice. Those who put innocent ppl in jail need to feel the burn...
It's crazy to think that this would not be an isolated incident. How many countless others are currently in prison accused of similar crimes they did not commit? It seems Child Protective Services are hellbent on taking kids off of as many parents as possible or situations where there are no kids to take, accusing parents and relatives of crimes without conclusive evidence.
This is why the modern justice system is flawed. I believe that a jury to sentence someone is the wrong way to go about sentencing, people are emotional and when it comes to cases involving children, will let their emotions overrule any facts that might be presented to them, especially if there are mothers in the jury as well.
Yes, think of the children, someone has to pay :/ Even if their innocent...
There are cases also of convictions of SBS when the cause of death was actually encephalitis from a vaccine reaction as I am sure you know. CPS swoops in and takes remaining children and parents are charged. It is insane that people have to plea guilty to a lesser charge in cases like that above. How about pleading innocent and having new trial? No? Risk of heavier punishment? You said it -Tyranny.
Yeah, I've heard about that vaccine injury, but doctors rarely if ever want to admit to that as the reason. It's a conspiracy of ignorance.
That's heartbreaking and frustrating. It's bad enough that she will never get that time back, but to not even be able to clear her name! If she had been cleared then she would have had to have been compensated for wrongful imprisonment, so I wonder if that's why many are railroaded into accepting pleas for lesser charges.
This rarely has anything to do with justice and everything to do with money.
Yes, can't admit wrong and have to pay ppl for being in prison for so long when they should have been free...
A very real problem is a Ly, here.
" as prosecutor stand by the "evidence" provided by child abuse specialist Dr. Berkowitz from 11 years ago that Emmanuel's death was from child abuse."
When you stand by something, if your wrong you pay. Immunity means you don't stand by anything. See how fast such people back down when you point out "Hey if you wrong your going to pay right"
Liars is what they are.
Hi.
wow 11 years lost? It is unfortunate that people are imprisoned unfairly.
At least he is already free and will be able to buy with his family and hopefully recover from that bad experience.
Greetings from Venezuela
A grandmother is a she, not a he...
What's up with the people who don't read yet comment?
How dare you assume the gender of the grandmother.
Sorry, couldn't resist. So far the quality of the comments are lacking their usual intelligence here tonight. Maybe some people are still reeling from the full moon.
Spanish speakers often make that mistake when translating into English.
I note this commenter is from Venezuela.
so she lost 11 years of her life, nobody will compensate her for all those lost years and nobody will pay for basically making her spending this time at prison. Just great
Congratulations on your grandmother being freed due to the wrongful conviction. I'm so happy for you guys and I'm sure that the whole ordeal must have been really stressful =(
Doesn't seem like you read the post... :/ Not my grandmother... no where does it say she is..
I read the whole article, Maria Mendez was arrested and charged with murdering her grandson and the medical testimony used in the case was the one pediatrician that agreed with the charges while all the other dissenting views by other doctors were ignored.
The team at Loyola Law School helped review and challenge her case by using medical records that the trial attorney did not have. Through hard work and medical expert reviews, the team at Loyola Law School won the case and proved Maria's innocence.
The article hints at the injustice and wrongful convictions of many other people due to lack of professionalism in their investigations, which is very unjust.
the part that you continue the lie is on a whole other level!
Injustice can easily break our nation, our society and also every relationa with others and that thing destroyed our country mostly