SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS JURY DECISION DESPITE QUESTIONS ABOUT GUILT

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Shirley Ree Smith for assault on a child resulting in death.

The incident resulted from allegations of shaken baby syndrome (SBS). Smith was convicted by a jury of killing her grandchild. The California Court of Appeals upheld the convict and the California Supreme refused to review the case. Smith’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was denied by the U. S. District Court. But the Ninth Circuit reversed the conviction.

The Supreme Court reinstated the conviction finding that while the Ninth Circuit used the correct test it excced its authority in reversing the conviction. It held, as it has in the past that “[a] reviewing court may set aside the jury’s verdict on the ground of insufficient evidence only if no rational trier of fact could have agreed with the jury.” While there is no doubt that there was sufficient evidence at the trial to find Ms Smith innocent the jury’s verdict cannot be reversed since there was evidence to support its verdict and since reasonable people can disagree on the verdict.

The per curiam opinion is rather pedantry but the dissent by Justice Ginsburg ¹ is more interesting. She argues that the court erred in granting certiorari and that it should never have considered the case. Generally the Supreme Court does not take cases because it feels that the case was wrongly decided. It only takes case where the lower court either used the wrong test or the Supreme Court wants to announce a new rule. In this case the lower court used the correct rule but applied it wrong.

As both the per curiam decision and the dissent point out there is a real question about Smith’s guilt. She spent ten years in prison on a fifteen years to life sentence prior to being released after the Ninth Ciruit reversed the District Court’s denial of habeas corpus. Now, barring a pardon by the governor, she will have to return to prison.

Scientific advances regarding SBS have raised question as to wherther there was sufficient medical evidence for a finding that Ms Smith’s grandchild was a victim of SBS. A prosecution expert testified that “cerebral edema, subdural hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, bleeding at the joints of theback of the neck, bruises on the arms, fractures of the ribs, and internal injuries to the buttocks” are generally present in cases of SBS but few of these could be found on Ms Smith’s grandchild.

Furthermore there was no evidence that Ms Smith who was sleeping on the floor next to the child’s couch showed any anger towards the child and the child’s mother who was in the next room did not notice anything.

Most SBS cases do not involve grandparents, particularly those who are not the primary caretaker of the infant. Current medical thought raises considerable questions regarding whether an infant can be killed from SBS and it is unlikely that the experts who testified for the prosecution would testify in the same way today.

Considering these factors and the fact that the court did not conduct a full inquiry into the case ² Justice Ginsberg argues that justice would have been met if the court allowed the Ninth Circuit’s decision to go unreviewed and to allow Smith to remain in the care of her family.