June 7 2011
The Crown has withdrawn a second-degree murder charge against a woman who was convicted of killing her toddler based in part on evidence from pathologist Charles Smith.
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal for Ontario quashed Tammy Marquardt's second-degree murder conviction, calling her a victim of a miscarriage of justice and ordering a new trial.
But the Crown says today it will not proceed with another trial due to Mr. Smith's flawed evidence and because so much time has passed.
Ms. Marquardt spent 14 years behind bars after she was convicted in 1995 in the death of her son, two-year-old Kenneth Wynne.
Mr. Smith, who was recently stripped of his medical licence for professional misconduct and incompetence, testified persuasively that Kenneth was strangled or suffocated.
Other experts have since denounced Mr. Smith's findings, concluding Kenneth's cause of death could not be determined, though her lawyer says the boy was epileptic and could have died from a seizure.
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