WEBVTT - #352 Jason Flom with Terry Ceasor 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:05.720 In the fall of two thousand and four, Terry Caesar 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.600 and his son were living in Poor Huron, Michigan, occasionally 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.559 staying with his girlfriend, Cheryl, her six year old daughter, Darien, 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.880 and sixteen month old son Brendan. On the morning of 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.880 October three, Cheryl and her daughter were out while Terry 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.400 stayed home with the sleeping toddler. When they returned, Terry 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.960 was panicked and Brenton was unconscious and struggling to breathe. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:28.840 They rushed him to the hospital, where he was given 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.080 a cat scan and then transferred to Children's Hospital in Detroit. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.960 The child recovered after a few days, but by then 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.680 a pediatric neurosurgeon had ruled that bleeding on the brain 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.080 indicated that Brendan had been the victim of violence shaking, 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.800 and Terry was immediately the number one suspect, Although he 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.880 maintained that Brendan had fallen from the couch, Terry was 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:56.200 arrested and charged with first degree child abuse. At trial, 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.520 the doctor testified that the findings associated with shaking baby 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.480 syndrome present and could not have been caused by the 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:07.560 shortfall that Terry had described. It would seem highly unlikely 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:12.920 that an experienced pediatric neurosurgeon could be mistaken, but this 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:29.360 is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrongful conviction. I'm Jason 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.720 Flahman today once again talking about a case that revolves 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.720 around the hypothesis that has never been tested, but somehow, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:44.759 inexplicably became the accepted orthodoxy of fallback, whatever you want 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.200 to call it, of the medical community. And thankfully it's 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.040 long since been debunked. And of course I'm talking about 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:56.280 shaken baby syndrome or SBS. Now Terry Caesar spent almost 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:00.200 four years in prison because of this faulty diagnosis and 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.400 more than a decade trying to clear his name. So Terry, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.040 I'm sorry for what you went through man, But welcome 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.079 to wraful conviction. Thank you, well, You're welcome and joining 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.040 us as the co founder and co director of the 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.040 Michigan Innoscence Clinic and Michigan Law School. Dave Moran, Thanks Dave. 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.400 I understand that you and the Michigan Innisce Clinic I 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.360 have already exonerated six people and counting of this non 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.800 existent crime. And we've talked about this so many times, 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.200 most recently with Zavi on Johnson John Jones and Ohio 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.640 Robert robertson who's on death row in Texas to this day. 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.320 The list is long, and one case is more horrifying 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.880 than the last one. We did a full breakdown of 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.079 sbs SO Shaking Baby Centroume on wraeful Conviction junk Science 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.840 with our host Josh Dubin and the executive director of 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.080 the Center for Integrity and Forensic Sciences, Kate Judson, and 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.000 Kate is going to join us a bit later. Now. 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.760 Terry's case happened back in two thousand and four, when 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.880 most of the medical establishments still seem to just reflexively 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.280 jump to the conclusion and that if a kid was 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.120 in some sort of terrible distress and the triad of 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.640 findings were there brain bleed, brain swelling, and bleeding behind 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.480 the eyes, that automatically well must be diagnostic of child abuse. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.239 But already by that point there were challenges to shaking 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.080 baby syndrome, and of course Terry's case revolves around that, 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.679 is that the challenge to shaking baby syndrome should have 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:22.280 been presented. 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.520 John Plunkett had already done his seminal project on the subject, 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.000 and biomechanical research into car seat safety had already begun 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.799 to shred the viability of what was thought to be 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.800 established science. We now know it's junk science. But unfortunately 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.800 Terry's attorney didn't realize the court was constitutionally bound to 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.280 provide funding for an expert defense witness. And we're going 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.280 to get into that a bit later on. But first, Terry, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.000 you grew up in Port Huron, Michigan, right all my 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.760 life now, way before this happened. You had a son 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:52.920 named Cody, and a little after he was born, you 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:54.680 had a brush with an event in which there was 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:56.840 a sick child that a young woman had claimed was 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:58.880 your child. This was all the way back in nineteen 0:03:58.960 --> 0:03:59.440 ninety five. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:01.960 So it was a girl. She was already three or 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.040 four months pregnant when we had slept together. One day 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.920 in like June ninety five, this girl shows up at 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.280 my house with this baby in the stroller, telling me 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.800 it's my son, and something was wrong with the baby. 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.320 The baby wasn't breathing right. Ambulance took the kid from 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.760 my house. So they tried saying that I was the 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.440 father of this child. So I went through everything proven 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:22.559 that I wasn't the father. I took a DNA test. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:24.919 But unbeknownst to you, your name had been on this 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.279 central registry in Michigan ever since nineteen ninety five, just 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.920 for having been mentioned in the same breath of another 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.360 child who had been brought into a hospital from your home. Right. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.200 So, this is the craziest thing is I found out 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.680 about this in twenty twenty one. This was never brought 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.000 up in my two thousand and four case. But they 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.040 did use this against me in my two thousand and 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.599 four case, and I have paperwork to prove it. 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.000 Right, And as we so often see in rompic conviction cases, 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:53.159 is that sometimes the police are motivated by someone's criminal record, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.160 and in this case, a perceived criminal record. Now, like 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.480 you said, you didn't find out about this in twenty 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.279 twenty one, and we're going to get back to that later. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.640 But Terry, let's go to your life at the time 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.560 of this incident. In two thousand and four, you were 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.599 thirty three years old, a single dad. Your son Cody 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.279 was around thirteen, right, tell me about him and about 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:13.120 your life together. 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:19.440 He was an honorable student, all star athlete. He wrestled football, basketball, baseball, 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.800 We played hockey. We would go camp and fishing. It 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:24.880 was a great father son. But we were like best 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:25.920 friends at the same. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.480 And at that time, you were also in a relationship 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.600 with a woman named Cheryl Ganna, and she had a 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.520 couple of kids too, Darien, her six year old daughter, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.840 and Brendan, who was about sixteen months old. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.400 The kids got along great. We had weekends where the 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:42.599 kids would be with us, and then we had weekends 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.560 where the kids would go with the other parents. So 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.680 we had our time, we had family time. Everything was good, 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:50.120 all right. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:51.920 Were you living together at the time. 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.680 No, she had her own place. We would stay like 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.560 back and forth between the two. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.560 So let's go now to October third, two thousand and four. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.440 You and Cheryl were together with her kids at your place, 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:06.200 So tell me about that. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.600 Sunday morning, my son Cody spent the night at his 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.880 friend Tyler Brown's house. Darien, Brendan, and Cheryl were with 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.960 me at the house and while we were eating breakfast, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.480 Darien was talking about that she wanted to go swimming. 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.799 Brendan's still sleeping at this time because he's been sick. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.240 He had fallen at daycare the Thursday before this weekend 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.600 that he was with us, So she was going to 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.200 have Brendan go to his grandma's house, and I told her, 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:33.400 I says, if you guys are only going to be 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:35.080 gone for like an hour hour and a half, just 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.040 let him sleep a little over an hour after they left, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.240 Brendan woke up. I took him out of the bedroom, 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.960 got him some stuff to eat. I finished up feeding them, 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.200 went into the kitchen to put the spoon in the 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.080 sink and throw the stuff away, and he was standing 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.599 up on my couch with his back towards me, looking 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.520 forward at the TV. So I got down on my 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.440 hands and knees and came up around the couch and 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.920 was playing Gotcha. This was something that we did all 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.359 the time. He was going back and forth on the couch, 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.320 you know, trying to get away from me, tickleing them. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.560 And while I was doing that, I had to use 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.159 the bathroom. It was like right around the corner. I'm 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.480 like five feet away, but I just can't see because 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.840 there's a corner there. From while I'm going to the bathroom, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.480 I hear a thang thud, and then it's just complete 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:21.640 silence besides the TV going, and you knew something was wrong. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.600 So I came out and I don't see Brendan. I 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:26.440 take a couple more steps into the living room, and 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.760 then I see Brendan in between my couch and my table. 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.440 His legs are going up the couch, his butt is 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.600 on the floor, and his left shoulder is like popped 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.400 up against the leg of my table. But he's like 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.000 he's like slouched back, and his head's back like limp noodled. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.440 And with this fall happening between the couch and the 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.440 coffee table, potentially there was an impact on the table 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.680 before the impact with the floor. So you ran over 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.960 to him, like any loving parent would. 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.000 I grab his head and support his head, and I 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.200 picked Brendan up, and as soon as his head comes forward, 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.320 some blood trickles of his mouth, so I look in 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.960 his mouth, and he bit his tongue so I can 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.440 start to see like a bruising on his forehead, and 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.800 then it looked like a carpet mark, like little red 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.480 dots on the spot in the back of his head. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.840 And you know, he's like barely breathing. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.880 And I understand that Cheryl and Darien got home right 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:18.400 after this. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.640 Happened, and I told her Brendan fell and he's unresponsive. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.120 We go support your own hospital, and within a minute 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.360 or two they have him alert, crying, you know, so 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.240 I'm relieved. 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.680 Right good, So it seems like this is where that 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.400 story really should have ended. 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.120 The hospital staff kept telling me like, don't worry, your 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.000 son's going to be fine, and I'm like, I'm not 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.160 the father, I'm her boyfriend, and everything from that point changed. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.120 Meanwhile, the emergency room position, doctor Hunt noticed that one 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.760 of Brendan's pupils was dilated more than the other, so 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.079 he ordered a cat scan and that scan showed a 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.640 subdualhematoma or bleeding in the brain that was having a 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:56.760 mass effect, meaning that it was pushing the brain to 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.720 one side. So he ordered to transfer to Children's Hospital 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.800 and did you right by ambulance to see a pediatric neurosurgeon. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.400 With the first of the findings showing up, it appears 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.920 that suspicion was aroused that only continued to grow as 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.040 they were hearing back from the specialist, doctor Gilmer Hill. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.559 In some of these hospitals, you have people who are 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.480 really firmly committed to the shaken baby hypothesis. It's kind 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:22.800 of like the hammer looking for the nail, and they're 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.720 quick to diagnose it. Doctor gilmour Hill is the one 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.160 who concludes this is child abases. She becomes the star 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.000 witness against Terry at his trial. 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.160 And then, of course they've called in CPS and detectives 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:38.000 at this point, and unfortunately Cheryl made an unfortunate choice. 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.160 Cheryl spoke with the detective and the CPS before I did, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.079 and said that they want to talk to me and 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.640 that she told them that she was there and she 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:47.600 picked up Brendan. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.000 That wasn't true. Of course, why do you think Cheryl 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:51.800 said that so? 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.360 I think she panicked. She was afraid that it would 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.760 somehow look bad on her if she admitted that Brendan 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:00.599 had been injured while he would in the care of 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:01.200 a boyfriend. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.240 I have no idea what to say now, I'm already 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.640 being looked at here and being detained, So like a dummy, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:09.880 I agreed and said that she was there and she 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:14.240 picked them up. So Cheryl's brother was a deputy sheriff 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.400 and his wife at the time. She took it amongst 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.720 herself to call the Sheriff's department and talk to a 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:21.480 detective and let them know that you might want to 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:23.800 talk with Cheryl again because the story she gave you, 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:25.040 wasn't the truth. 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.439 This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Trauig. 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.559 Through its pro bono program, Greenberg Trowig leverages it's more 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.760 than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices to 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.960 serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.280 access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice, 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:59.080 Greenberg Trowrig attorneys have exonerated and freedomanded Philadelphia represent numerous 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.760 individuals previous sentenced to life for crimes committed as juveniles 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.800 and resentencing hearings, and received the American Bar Association's twenty 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.640 twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation for 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:15.000 their work on five death penalty cases. GT is reimagining 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.760 what big law can be because of a more just world. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:26.120 Only happens by design. So even though Cheryl was trying 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.000 to be helpful, she made things worse. But that wasn't 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.000 the only thing. In flaming suspicions of the detectives and 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.360 CPS agents, of course, I'm referring to what they were 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.360 hearing from the pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital in Detroit 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.800 who was now examining Brendon doctor Gilmer Hill. 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.800 Who sees the swollen brain of the rtal hemorrhages and 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.200 a subdural humanitoma, and she's been taught in medical school 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.280 that you see those things. There's no other explanation for 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.600 it other than some really far out there things like 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.160 an unrestrained high speed crash or being dropped out of 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:58.200 a third story window. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.480 Right, short falls not yet made it to the list 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.560 of potential causes of the findings previously reflexively associated with 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.920 the farce known as shaken baby syndrome. But since that time, 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.520 we've learned that that triad of findings can be caused 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.520 by a growing list of Currently, they might have had 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:21.240 eighty one non traumatic medical conditions in addition to short falls, 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.200 And unfortunately, in two thousand and four, these causes were 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.280 just beginning to be discovered. And since it's become abundantly 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.959 clear that in the absence of a spinal injury, shaking 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:35.839 cannot provide sufficient force to cause this triad of findings. 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:38.800 It just can't be done. That's how wrong the medical 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.520 establishment had it. So with that, you might not be 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.520 surprised to hear that doctor Gilmer Hill, in examining Brendan 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.160 and his cat scan for head trauma, being the hammer 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.200 looking for the nail, they completely missed the mark on 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.000 his forehead. She reported no external bruising, scalp swelling, or 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.640 other signs of trauma. That's in her report. Yet Cheryl 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.760 her family all folks who had no reason to protect Terry. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.280 They're obviously going to be taking the side of the baby. 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.640 But they all noticed the mark on Brendan's forehead that 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.080 was about the size of a fifty cent piece that 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.280 would corroborate his version of events. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.480 They saw it at Port Huron, and they saw it 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.319 in Children's hospital, and there was a nurse in Port 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.520 Heuron who had seen the mark on the forehead, but 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.240 mysteriously doctor Gilmour Hill didn't. If there's an impact, you 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:22.920 would expect there to be some kind of mark or 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.760 some kind of bruise or an abrasion. If it's shaking 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:28.079 and then slamming on a soft surface, you wouldn't necessarily 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.960 expect to see any marks. And so at trial then 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.600 the prosecutions argument is that you see there's no marks 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.240 in this baby. This baby didn't fall, this baby was shaken. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.280 They contact me told me that I had a warrant 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.240 for my arrest. I went, turned myself in, bonded myself out. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.640 You know. I was right back to Dad's at home, 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:46.440 Dad's working, you know. 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:52.320 And this arrest was inexplicably delayed until January two thousand 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.880 and five. Brendan had made a full recovery by then. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.199 Now neither Cheryl nor her family were pressing charges, so 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.720 perhaps they had to wait until Brenda's father would. Either way, 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.560 the state seemed hell bent on taking this to trial. 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.360 And I understand that your mother retains an attorney who 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.480 she knew from her mail carrier, which was a guy 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:10.480 named ken Lord. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.640 My mom retained him for me. He told me it 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.320 was going to be ten to twenty thousand dollars for 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.640 me to retain this doctor to come speak in my behalf. 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.000 And like I said, I'm a single father with a 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.360 thirteen year old kid at the time. I'm living check 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:23.080 to check. I don't have a couple grand in my 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:24.800 bank account. I'm not living like that. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:30.080 Yeah. So ken Lord's mistake here, which we eventually many 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.400 years later confirmed with the Michigan Supreme Court, was believing 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.640 that he couldn't ask for money to help hire an 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.560 expert if his client was retained as opposed to being appointed, 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.720 that's just constitutionally wrong. The US Supreme Court had established 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.000 a decade and a half earlier that there is a 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.280 constitutional right to have an expert if an expert is 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.840 needed for the case, and ken Lord had already consulted 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.320 with a renowned expert, doctor Ferris Bandak. 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:59.440 Doctor Ferris Bandak, a renowned figure in the field of biomechanics, 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.800 were tested for in the very high profile Michael Peterson case. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.800 Who was prepared to give very helpful testimony explaining the 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.200 problems with the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis, explaining why this 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.000 case wouldn't fit within it. And because Terry's mom had 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.360 retained Ken Lord, she was tapped out. She didn't have 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.400 the money to hire an expensive expert. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.600 So you went to trial in December of two thousand 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.600 and five, and the trial was overseen by Judge of 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.880 Dare And of course the state was leaning heavily on 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.520 the testimony of doctor Gilmer Hill, the neurosurgeon who had 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:30.680 seen Brendan had Children's Hospital in Detroit. 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.520 I'm Kate Judson, the executive director of the Center for 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.240 Integrity and Forensic Sciences, In the case of Terry Caesar, 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.680 there were conflicting reports about whether sixteen month old Brendan 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.240 had any external injuries. The external injuries that were reported 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.680 could account for a potential impact site on his head 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.360 with either the coffee table, the floor, or both. A 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.240 CT scan showed subdural hematoma, and upon further investigation by 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:58.160 the state's star witness pediatric neurosurgeon, doctor Gilmer Hill, she 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.240 also noted brain swelling and right hemorrhage, the triad of 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.000 findings often associated with the faulty hypothesis of SPS. She 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.200 reported no external injuries and importantly the absence of any 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.680 fractures or neck injury. She concluded that Brendan's injuries were 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.440 the result of violent shaking and could only otherwise be 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.080 caused by a fall from a second story window or 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.880 a high velocity car crash, and not by the shortfall 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.080 Terry had described. Now Terry's an attorney had consulted with 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.840 an expert, doctor Bendeck, who put a background at engineering, 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.880 he would have testified to our current understanding of injury 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.360 kinematics that a short fall could cause injuries just like Brendan's. 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.160 Terry's attorney also raised the work of doctor Gettis and 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.200 doctor Plunkett, as well as doctor Gregory Riber, who had 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.880 testified for the state against Zavion Johnson just three years prior. 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.720 At Zavian's trial, he said that a short fall with 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.560 an impact could not cause the triad, but now he 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.040 had learned that the opposite was true. Had any of 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:51.840 them taken the stand, they would have been able to 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:53.320 impeach doctor Gilmour Hill. 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.360 It's really hard to believe that you wouldn't have gotten 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.840 an acquittal if the jury her from a very well credentialed, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.560 renowned expert who would study shaking baby syndrome like doctor 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:06.359 Bandyck had. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.560 So as a result of not asking the court to 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.680 obtain funds to help Terry Ken, Lord ended up cross 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.760 examining doctor Gilmer Hill himself based on his notes from 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.600 consulting with doctor Bandak. But I think we all know 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.720 that cross examination of an expert witness doesn't pack the 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.040 same punch with the jury as having your own. 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.760 Expert, because who's the jury going to believe the doctor 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.560 who insists that there's really no other explanation for these 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.560 injuries or the lawyer who's not a scientist, not a 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.320 doctor who tries to poke holes in that theory, and 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.920 so unless the expert is exceptionally bad, cross examination will 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.879 very rarely poke enough holes in an expert's certainty to 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:48.600 cause the jury to have reasonable doubt. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.280 So the state had this in the bag, but presented 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.720 the child's mother, Cheryl, as well, with the assumption that 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.560 raising the specter of her lie in the emergency room 0:17:58.600 --> 0:17:59.760 would seal the deal. 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.720 Cheryl did testify for the prosecution, but her testimony was 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.760 actually very helpful Terry, explaining that she trusted Terry, she 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.199 explained the way to lie about whether she was there 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.360 or not, confirmed that it was her lie, not Terry's. 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.480 And she also testified that Brendan had had a fall 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.840 at daycare a few days before. As you told us earlier, Terry, 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.000 we now know that a child could experience a lucid 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.600 interval for a few days before coming to the results 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.760 of an initial trauma. So for years medical expert was 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.320 has testified that the most recent caregiver must be the culprit, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.080 when that was not true either. And Terry, I understand 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:38.359 you took the stand as well. 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.120 I told him, but I didn't hurt Brendan. You know, 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.760 I've never even corrected him, and he wasn't a bad 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.359 kid that needed corrections. Honestly, he was a good kid. 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.560 And there were no character witnesses allowed to understand, which 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.119 would have gone a long way towards backing you up 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:53.840 on all of that. 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.480 I had over half the courtroom full, my mother, father, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:03.280 aunt's uncles, my son, my son's mother, employers, friends of family. 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.960 I had a ton of people there, and Judge Dare 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.960 didn't allow anybody to speak on my behalf. So it's like, 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:10.960 how can I even feel that I had a fair trial. 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.600 This case, even without anybody for the defense, was an 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.439 extremely difficult case for the jury to result. It took 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.040 them days and they were deadlocked. 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.200 Right and this, by the way, is right before Christmas, 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.879 when these people could have really, probably very badly wanted 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.600 to be spending their time with their families getting ready 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.000 for the holidays. So who knows how that played into 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:36.359 how they eventually came around to side with doctor Gilmer. 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.840 Hill, and so they come up with their unanimous guilty. 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:45.119 I'm devastated. So now I get to spend Christmas and 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.040 New Year's with my family and my son, and then 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.679 I know that after New year's I'm going to prison 0:19:51.920 --> 0:20:09.800 for a crime that never even happened. The hardest part 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.320 was taking my son to school the day of sentencing, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.680 dropping him off and telling him, hopefully I'll be here, 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.280 you know, after you get out of school. If not, 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.800 then your mom will be here, And then go in 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.320 there and finding out that my sentence is two to 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:30.960 fifteen years. And then to have a son who's on 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.719 the outside that you know, you can only get fifteen 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.640 minute phone calls, you know, and to hear the problems 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:39.840 that he's having, knowing that he wouldn't be having these 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.960 problems if I was there where I should be, you know. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.199 But I was focused on getting me home and proving 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:49.400 my innocence. I wanted to get back to my son. 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:52.800 Tragically, you were stolen from him, let's call it what 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:57.560