Even if the prosecution is proven faulty, proving that it was a pre-existing medical condition, there is no law in this land that will overturn an adoption.
The state will fight to its last breath to not have the conviction overturned, whether through blatant lies or generating fraudulent favorable expert witness testimony. The reason is simple.
If the state loses, there will be malicious prosecution civil charges that can be brought. Let alone another smear on an already tarnished reputation in the delivery of services in child welfare, you will have the open question surrounding the billing of the services.
Yes, I speak upon Medicaid and Title IV-E.
Will the state be obligated for paying back for the adoption services that were not necessary if there was originally parallel jurisprudence in child welfare prosecutions? Hell no.
Will the contractual child placing agency that handled the initial investigation be contractually debarred, sanctioned or even made to go to state training? Of course not. Most workers in child welfare have never gone through mandatory Title IV-B or Title IV-E training programs. Michigan has had an extremely laxed culture when it comes to training. That is why the state got slammed in the Dwayne B. v. Granholm settlement. The state had to actually go out and recruit staff and start up a site.
Since Marlinga is on the case, I am putting my money on him. I am very proud that he is taking the lead in Michigan by taking on these type of cases. We need more attorneys to step up to the plate.
Thank you, Carl. Get 'em.
Child abuse theory disputed in retrial for Harrison Township woman
Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News
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Mount Clemens - In a second trial for a Harrison Township woman previously convicted of violently shaking her infant nephew, defense attorneys presented an alternative theory that it was a childhood stroke that left the boy blind and brain-injured, not abuse.
Julie Baumer, 34, was convicted of first-degree child abuse in 2005 on claims she violently shook six-week-old Philipp Baumer in October 2003. Philipp, now 7, has since been adopted and renamed Ben Zentz.
Baumer served four years of a 10- to 15-year sentence, but was released in December after Macomb County Circuit Court Judge James M. Biernat granted her a new trial.
The November decision followed a series of evidentiary hearings in which her new attorney, former Macomb County prosecutor Carl Marlinga, presented experts who testified that the boy's injuries were consistent with venous sinus thrombosis or a "childhood stroke," rather than shaking.
Today, both sides reiterated their theories for a Macomb County jury during closing arguments in Baumer's second trial.
Assistant Prosecutor Richard Goodman told jurors Philipp had no history of illness and was thriving until he was admitted to a hospital with "severe hydration" in October 2003.
"He was doing fine and meeting milestones," Goodman said in his closing arguments today.
Goodman argued the medical witnesses defense produced are attempting to "disprove" shaken baby syndrome. But the facts show, he says, the child's injuries weren't consistent with the stroke condition defense is contending.
Goodman said the injuries Philipp had only occur in certain cases; automobile accidents, high falls and abuse. The first two don't apply here, he said.
"Accept only what the facts show you," he said. "That's that the defendant is guilty of child abuse."
But Marlinga argued the prosecutions case is "highly circumstantial" and the timeline for when the abuse allegedly occurred doesn't add up.
Marlinga characterized Baumer as a "loving person," who had no motive to injure her nephew. Philipp had always been a sickly child, Marlinga said, and the boy had no visible injuries when he arrived at the hospital that October.
"Sometimes the evidence is just not there," Marlinga said.
Prosecutors called about 10 witnesses during the trial that's spanned more than two weeks. Among the witnesses were doctors and the child's birth and adoptive mothers. Defense has called six doctors, Baumer and about 10 character and fact witnesses.
Marlinga made a motion today asking the judge to render a directed verdict.
A directed verdict would bypass a jury verdict and instead let the judge decide.
Biernat took the request under advisement. If a guilty verdict is rendered by the jury Biernat can override their decision.
If Baumer is convicted, she will return to prison to finish out the rest of her term.
Closing statements are expected to resume tomorrow.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20101013/METRO03/10130425/1409/metro#ixzz12N39R0We
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