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Richard Brant and his girlfriend Mary Farrell of Belleville, Ontario, welcome their son Dustin to the world. Richard is very excited to be a father.

Image source: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/29343835047711601/

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Richard Brant went on a walk with his 9 week old son, Dustin.

Image Source: https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/father-with-baby-carriage-silhouette-vector-4025582

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While on the walk, Richard Brant runs into his cousin and excitedly lifted the hood on the stroller to introduce the two.
Dustin was motionless with red foam around his nose. They immediately go to call 911.

Image Source: https://eu.clipdealer.com/vector/media/A:68481085

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Though Dustin was briefly revived at the hospital, doctors soon told Richard and Mary the horrible news that Dustin passed away, at only 9-weeks.

Image Source: https://stock.adobe.com/ca/6304578?as_campaign=TinEye&as_content=tineye_match&epi1=6304578&tduid=3494a643ad73f3e995675127c37676ae&as_channel=affiliate&as_campclass=redirect&as_source=arvato

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Dustin's Autopsy was performed by Dr. Sukrita Nag, a Professor of Neuropathology. The report concluded that the cause of death was complications of pneumonia. Dustin had been suffering from upper respiratory infection shortly before his death.

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Police Investigators strongly believed that Richard Brant killed Dustin, so a second opinion was requested by Dr. Charles Smith- Ontario's leading Paediatric Forensic Pathologist.

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Charles Smith came to a completely different conclusion than Dr. Nag. He concluded that Dustin's cause of death were similar or were related to classic symptoms of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Charles Smith submitted this report although he had not examined Dustin's brain. This step was crucial to making this diagnosis.

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"We lost our son, police treated us like criminals. We are loving young parents."

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"We lost our son, police treated us like criminals. We are loving young parents."

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This article discusses in depth the investigation process, and the determination for convicting Richard.

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Having been wrongly convicted for the death of his son - then jailed, shunned and driven out of Ontario - Richard Brant is one of the more visible victims of pathologist Charles Smith's incompetence.

But Mary Farrell, the child's mother, also paid a heavy price for Brant's 1993 conviction and her belief in his innocence.

Richard Brant outside the Ontario Court of Appeal Wednesday, May 4, 2011 after his aggravated assault conviction relating to the death of his 2-month-old son Dustin was overturned. (LUCAS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR)

Her two-year-old daughter was taken away from her and Farrell battled her own mother for custody, making for a relationship that remained strained until the elder woman's death last December.

"We lost our son," said Farrell, 40. Yet police "treated us like criminals. We were loving young parents."

The former couple, who hadn't seen each other in 16 years, was reunited in Toronto Wednesday before the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed Brant's conviction for aggravated assault in connection with the death of their two-month-old son, Dustin.

Brant was out for a walk with the child in Belleville on Nov. 17, 1992 when he bumped into a distant relative on the street and lifted the plastic rain cover on a stroller to show off his newborn.

What he found was the boy in distress, with what appeared to be red foam around his mouth.

A police officer who witnessed the incident from his cruiser at a nearby stoplight confirmed that Brant appeared genuinely surprised and upset by the condition of the child, who died in hospital two days later.

Yet investigators suspected he was responsible and that drops of red liquid found in the family's home were blood. They turned out to be cough syrup.

Undeterred, police brought in the heavy artillery in the form of Smith, who concluded Dustin died of blunt force trauma to the head, likely caused by shaking.

But fresh evidence from forensic experts who recently reviewed the autopsy findings shows there is nothing to support Smith's opinion, the court was told on Wednesday.

Instead, the evidence suggests Dustin died of natural causes, likely pneumonia, the same conclusion reached by the neuropathologist who performed the autopsy before Smith arrived on the scene.

It was, said Justice Marc Rosenberg, a "miscarriage of justice."

"It lifts a great weight off my shoulder," Brant, 38, said Wednesday. "This just destroyed me."

Brant said after serving a six-month jail sentence, he was shunned by neighbours on the Tyendinaga reserve, near Belleville.

The experience shattered his relationship with Farrell, despite her belief in his innocence. He moved to Montreal with a new girlfriend, then to Moncton to start a new life.

Later convicted of a robbery, he was paroled two days ago.

Brant said he felt pressured to plead guilty to a reduced charge in connection with Dustin's death after his trial lawyer told him Smith's opinions were considered unassailable and he could get up to 15 years if convicted of manslaughter, the original charge.

That was the choice facing many parents who were victims of Smith's mistakes, James Lockyer, Brant's appeal lawyer, told the court.

A review by the Office of the Chief Coroner found Smith botched 20 child autopsies. Prior to a 2008 public inquiry into the debacle, four people had charges withdrawn or were otherwise exonerated. Since the inquiry, convictions have been quashed in five cases. Others are before the courts.

Brant said learning Smith had been proven wrong in his case left him angry, happy and confused about how such a highly-regarded "professional" could mess up so badly.

"That's not a little wee mistake," he said Wednesday. "That's a life mistake. It (pertains) to lives he's destroyed."

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Conviction quashed in case involving disgraced pathologist Charles Smith | The Star

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Having been wrongly convicted for the death of his son - then jailed, shunned and driven out of Ontario - Richard Brant is one of the more visible victims of pathologist Charles Smith's incompetence. But Mary Farrell, the child's mother, also paid a heavy price for Brant's 1993 conviction and her belief in his innocence.

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Richard was arrested April 22, 1993 and charged with manslaughter; though there was no evidence pointing to this conclusion.

Image source: https://www.pngkit.com/view/u2e6q8q8u2r5w7y3_arms-in-handcuffs-arrest-silhouette/

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Richard feared that Charle Smith's testimony could easily convict him, giving him a lengthy term of up to 15 years.
The Crown prosecutor offered him a plea bargain: if he agreed to plead guilty to aggravated assault, then he could spend 6-9 months in jail. Richard's Lawyer heavily encouraged him to take this plea bargain.

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Richard made the hardest decision of his life by pleading guilty to aggravated assault- a crime that he had never commit.

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After his release, Richard faced a large amount of hate by members of his community, who believed he had killed his newborn son.

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Charles Smith's reputation started to crumble, and many of his cases had been put under review.
A new reviewer assigned to Dustin's case (Dr. Whitwell), concluded there was no evidence to support Charles Smith's findings.

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Ontario's highest court acquitted a man Wednesday who pleaded guilty in the death of his infant son because of a report from now-disgraced pathologist Charles Smith.

Both the Crown and defence asked the justices to acquit Richard Brant, 38, with the Crown conceding there was a miscarriage of justice.

On Wednesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside the conviction and ordered that Brant be acquitted.

"Now I can hold my head up high, no more doubt," Brant told CBC's Jasmine Seputis. "The truth always comes out. I waited and it finally came."

Brant was charged with manslaughter in 1993 in the death of two-month-old Dustin, and eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

In November 1992, Brant was pushing his son in a stroller when when red foam began to form around the baby's nose. Dustin died two days later.

A pathologist listed pneumonia and respiratory failure as the causes of death, but Smith, at the time considered the top child forensic pathologist in Ontario, examined the case and concluded the boy likely died from shaken baby syndrome.

With Brant's word against Smith's, facing a lengthy prison term if convicted of manslaughter and having just found out his girlfriend was pregnant, Brant pleaded guilty in 1995 to the lesser charge and served six months in jail.

Smith was once considered an expert on child forensic pathology, but an inquiry found that errors in his work were responsible for several people being wrongfully convicted and sent to prison.

The Crown had argued that Brant's guilty plea was affected by Smith's reputation, which no longer stands. His medical licence was revoked earlier this year.

Brant said it's a "happy day" after years of being made to feel like a criminal.

When asked about his thoughts on Smith, Brant said he would like to see him spend time behind bars.

"I think he needs to go to jail for a little while to see what he put a lot of people through," Brant said. "He ruined a lot of people's lives. And I think he needs to go and see what it's like inside jail 'cause he's the one that put a lot of people there."

Brant said he now just wants to get on with his life. The truck driver is the father of two girls, aged 11 and 15.

There are still half a dozen cases involving Charles Smith's mistakes making their way through the courts. Six people he helped convict have already been cleared of any wrongdoing.

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Father in disgraced pathologist case acquitted | CBC News

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Ontario's highest court acquitted a man Wednesday who pleaded guilty in the death of his infant son because of a report from now-disgraced pathologist Charles Smith. Both the Crown and defence asked the justices to acquit Richard Brant, 38, with the Crown conceding there was a miscarriage of justice.

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Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) is currently known as 'Innocence Canada". This organization made it their mission to help Richard Brant get acquitted. On May 4, 2011, the Court of Appeal complied with the request and entered an acquittal. The truth finally had come out- 16 years after Richards conviction.

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A father who was acquitted 18 years after he pleaded guilty in the killing of his two-month old son due to evidence given by the now disgraced pathologist Charles Smith has said that he always knew the truth would come out.

Richard Brant told Canada AM's Beverly Thomson that he and his then partner, not only suffered shame because of the six-month jail sentence he served, but they also lost custody of their other child because of the conviction.

"During the proceedings they had taken Samantha not knowing what had happened to Dustin," he said. "It was tough, she (my then partner) is still upset today."

He went on to describe the emotions he felt after seeing his former partner for the first time in almost two decades at the court.

"Almost 20-years I haven't seen her," said the 38-year-old. "I was actually more nervous about seeing her than going into the courtroom and hearing the verdict."

Brant, who originally hails from Moncton, was charged in 1993 with manslaughter in his baby's death the previous year.

He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault after testimony from Smith said his son, Dustin, died of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

His conclusions flew in the face of another pathologist who listed pneumonia and respiratory failure as causes of death.

Although Brant maintained he never did anything to intentionally cause Dustin's death, he pleaded guilty in 1995 to the lesser charge after his lawyer Robert Graydon, now an Ontario Court judge, told him Smith was the "God" of his profession.

When asked what he would say to Smith, Brant said: "I don't think I would say very much. I don't really know what I would say, I would be too upset."

And speaking about whether he thought it was fair that he spent time in jail, while Smith simply lost his licence, he said: "I don't think it's fair at all for all the lives that he ruined, it wasn't only myself it was everybody around me and everybody else from their cases, their families and their kids, he ruined so many lives. I knew the truth would come out sometime, the truth always comes out."

Brant was acquitted after both his defence and the Crown agreed that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

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'Truth always comes out,' says father acquitted in son's death

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A father who was acquitted 18 years after he pleaded guilty in the killing of his two-month old son due to evidence given by the now disgraced pathologist Charles Smith has said that he always knew the truth would come out.

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This video shows the downfall of Charles Smith and Richard Brant's thoughts.

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CityNews Toronto - Local News, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Weather, Sports

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A wrongfully convicted man in Canada, who spent 17 years in prison- Charles Smith provided evidence that pointed to William's conviction.

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William Mullins-Johnson wrongful conviction : A Death in the Family (2009) - The Fifth Estate

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A Death in the Family is the story of William Mullins-Johnson, his wrongful first-degree murder conviction, and how that guilty verdict shattered his family. In Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on June 27, 1993, four-year-old Valin Johnson was found dead in her bed.

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Image captures parents of Dustin. Mary Farrell (mother of Dustin) knew Richard was always innocent.

image source:  https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/dad-acquitted-in-infant-son-s-death-18-years-later-1.639524

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This video discusses more information about the movement of wrongfully convicted individuals in Canada.

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Innocence Canada - Justice For The Wrongly Convicted

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Further discussion relating to Richard Brant.

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Case Study Assignment Questions Complete