Amicus Brief: Chazlee Lemons 2023
People of the State of Michigan v. Chazlee Lemons
Filing Date
March 3, 2023
Charge
Jurisdiction
Michigan Supreme Court
Partners
Innocence Project
Summary
CIFS and the Innocence Project filed this amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court in Charles Lemons’ case to ask that the court grant Lemon’s relief and hold that (1) biomechanical engineering expert testimony is admissible if proffered by a qualified expert in a relevant case involving SBS/AHT allegations, and (2) in light of a confession’s power to corrupt other evidence in a case and create false indicia of corroboration, confession evidence is not a bar to an otherwise meritorious motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
The work of the Innocence Project, CIFS, and other organizations has revealed that, beginning in the 1970s, parents and caregivers have repeatedly been wrongfully convicted of child abuse and homicide based on expert testimony regarding “Shaken Baby Syndrome” or “Abusive Head Trauma” (SBS/AHT). SBS/AHT is the unproven, and now largely discredited, hypothesis that a child who exhibits a specific “triad” of symptoms—subdural hematoma or hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain); retinal hemorrhage (bleeding in the eye); and encephalopathy (neurological impairment)—has been abused by intentional physical shaking. SBS/AHT proponents make this perilous diagnosis largely based on this “triad,” with or without related medical findings that physicians have deemed to be “indicia” of abuse, such as bruises, fractures, and the physician’s personal assessments of the caregiver’s honesty. Not only are these “indicia” not standardized, and so can be used to support a finding of abusive shaking in an ad hoc and unsupported manner, but a review of the available research and data reveals no reliable scientific study validating the hypothesis that shaking alone can even cause them. Rather, accidents can and do cause all of these medical findings, as can a wide variety of nontraumatic medical conditions, including genetic disorders, bleeding disorders, infection, and choking.