WEBVTT - #361 Jason Flom with Audrey Edmunds 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.240 In the fall of nineteen ninety five, Audrey Edmunds was 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.680 running a small in home daycare center in Wannakee, Wisconsin. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.520 One of the children she cared for was a seven 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.440 month old girl named Natalie Beard, who had a troubling 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.800 health history, both known and unknown, in addition to fussiness 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.800 when it came to feeding. On the morning of October sixteenth, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.880 nineteen ninety five, as per usual, Natalie was set up 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:29.720 in a car seat in a quiet room with a 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.800 bottle to help her focus while feeding. According to Audrey, 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.760 she had soon found Natalie unresponsive as formula ran from 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:41.560 her nose and mouth, and Audrey some in paramedics who 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.280 noticed Natalie's pupils were fixed and dilated and she was 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:50.879 only taking short breaths. Tragically, Natalie died later on that 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.320 night at the hospital, and her autopsy revealed retinal and 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.040 brain hemorrhaging, as well as bruising on her scalp. Doctors 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.160 ruled these findings to be evidence of shit and baby syndrome. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.040 That trial. Medical experts testified with certainty that Natalie's death 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.960 was not the result of an accident, but rather recent 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.040 intentional forceful conduct and the most recent caregiver was Audrey Edmunds. 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.640 With the stresses of childcare, it's easy to believe that 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:23.920 something inside Audrey could have snapped. But this is wrongful conviction. 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.160 Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. Today, we're going to unpack 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.640 the case of Audrey Edmunds, who was convicted of a 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.120 crime that simply never happened, and she was sentenced to 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:49.480 eighteen years in prison. Audrey, I'm so sorry for what 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.080 happened to you, but I'm super grateful that you're here 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.520 now to share your story with us. 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:55.480 Good morning. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.520 Likewise, you know, we've covered shaking baby syndrome or SPS, 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:01.960 not only a this show, but also in depth on 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:06.040 wrongful conviction junk science. When our host Josh Dubin spoke 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.560 with Kate Judson, the executive director of the Center for 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.400 Integrity and Forensic Sciences, and we've been asking her to 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.480 join us when we cover a case like yours. But 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.360 since the co founder of that organization, Keith Finley, was 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.840 your post conviction attorney, We're going to give Kate the 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.360 day off today. Keith, you also co founded the Wisconsin 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:30.839 Innocence Project as well as the Innocence Network. I mean, wow, anyway, incredible. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:33.120 We're so honored to have you with us today. 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.280 Thanks so much, Jason, glad to be with you now. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.120 I know you know a lot about this hypothesis, which 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:44.040 masquerades day in and day out as a decided science. 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.160 Shake and baby syndrome is. As its founder, doctor Norman 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:53.640 guth Kelch referred to it repeatedly, It's a hypothesis, that's 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:54.280 all it is. 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:58.600 It's a hypothesis, right, And the hypothesis was that violently 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.800 shaking an infant could cause the brain to sort of 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.320 slosh around back and forth inside of the skull, which 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.040 would in turn cause the bridging veins of the brain 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.720 and eyes to tear and bleed inside the coverings of 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.480 the brain and retinas, in addition to brain swelling, ultimately 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.760 resulting in the triad of findings for which doctor gotth 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.799 Kelch was trying to figure out, try to solve, and 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.680 this would then cause the child to lose consciousness or 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.960 potentially even their life. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.040 This hypothesis has never, as guth Kelch himself said late 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.320 in his life, has never been scientifically validated, and it's 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.360 for a very very good reason. It's nearly impossible to 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.080 do the kind of validation studies that would be required 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.360 to really test this scientifically, you need to do randomized 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:51.880 controlled studies, But for obvious ethical reasons, you can't shake 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.040 a certain group of infants and compare them to a 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:56.640 group of infants who are not shaken. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.560 Right, if this hypothesis was to be believed, then you 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.200 not not only be submitting these infants to abuse, but 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.600 also what a proponent of SBS would believe is almost 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.640 a certain death. However, there have been studies over time 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.600 that have been able to disprove the hypothesis without shaking infants, 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.480 and those revelations come down to what other injuries would 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.839 also have to be present. In addition to the triad 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:21.919 of findings. 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.880 The thing that really informs this is biomechanical research. Biomechanics 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.560 is the study of the effects of force applied to 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:34.520 the body, and what the biomechanical research shows consistently is 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.560 that the most vigorous shaking that a human being can 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.680 generate comes nowhere close to meeting the injury thresholds estimated 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.280 in these kinds of cases, and if sufficient forces could 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.279 be generated, that force would have to travel from the 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.680 chest through the neck to the brain. The weak link 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.640 there is the neck. The neck would almost certainly be 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.599 severely damaged by that much shaking, and yet these cases 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.080 almost never have any injuries of that sort. 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.000 And it has since been proven that there are a 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.960 multitude of other potential causes of the so called. 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:18.599 Triad, everything ranging from choking to inherited conditions, coagulopathies, childhood stroke, 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.919 accidental falls, you name it. There's just so many of 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.839 them that there's simply no way that a physician can, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.120 so to speak, diagnosis on the basis of the triad 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.480 or associated findings. And yet that's exactly what they did 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:32.479 in Audrey's case. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:37.520 Pers and so many others, because antithetical to the scientific method, 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.839 doctors at that time were trained in medical school to 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.440 just jump to this false conclusion each and every time 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.560 they saw that triad of findings. But before this happened 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.480 to you, Audrey, let's go back. Tell us about what 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:51.320 your life was like. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.920 I grew up in Hudson, Wisconsin. I have three brothers. 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.680 My dad was a teacher. My mom was a stay 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:03.320 at home mom. We had a very middle class life. 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.600 We had a small home, we had one bathroom. We 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.599 worked when we were old enough too. I had done 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.000 a lot of babysitting, dog sitting. 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.159 So you were predisposed of being a caregiver even as 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.920 a teenager. And what did you do after high school? 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.440 I started a job in the Saint Paul area right 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.200 out of high school. And then I was married when 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.479 I was almost twenty eight years old, and within a 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.360 year we had moved to Ohio, and in Ohio is 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:35.560 where I had my first child, Carrie. 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.080 And then when Carrie was still a toddler, your family 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.920 moved to Wannakee, Wisconsin, where you went back to childcare. 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:42.160 How did that come about? 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.760 As much as I enjoyed working, I really enjoyed and 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.320 wanted to be a stay at home mom. And we 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.160 were in a young neighborhood with lots of small children. 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.760 People started asking me from time to time if I 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.320 would watch their children, And that is how this all 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.560 started for me, having children come to my house to 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:02.440 take care of them. 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:03.440 And I loved it. 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.760 I mean, it all sounds wonderful. And you had two 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.159 little ones of your own by that time, and you 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.440 were expecting your third, So how great is that to 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.040 be able to be with them full time while also 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.360 providing this much needed service to your community and to 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.640 other parents in the area. So tell me a little 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:21.600 bit about your day care facility. 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.200 We had a large ranch house, a kitchen in the 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.800 center of the house. I had the master bedroom to 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.320 the far left and two other bedrooms in a bathroom 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.320 on the right hand side. And I was not a 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.880 licensed daycare since I didn't have several children every day, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:42.760 I took people as needed. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.760 And one of the families you helped was the Beards 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.880 and their seven month old daughter, Natalie, who tragically passed 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:52.040 away on October sixteenth, nineteen ninety five. Were there any 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.680 potential warning signs regarding her. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:59.200 Health Natalie's parents, this was their first child. They'd had 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:03.120 a lot of problems with her fussiness and either taken 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.560 her to the doctor or called the doctor twenty five 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.200 times in her twenty seven weeks of life. 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.440 Wow, twenty five doctor visits. That's a doctor visit a 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.560 week pretty much. 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:15.040 That's correct. 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:19.600 And then also, Natalie, unfortunately was not able to roll 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.720 over on her tummy. She couldn't prop herself up with 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.080 her arms as most children do at that age. She 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.440 couldn't hold her own bottle, and ever since I started 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.040 taking care of her, she had a real hard time sucking, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.200 and I had asked her mom about that because most 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.200 babies at that age they will take down six to 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.120 seven ounces in five to seven minutes, and it took 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.199 Natalie at least twenty minutes. So I had accommodated her 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.040 over the six plus weeks that I had taken care 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.080 of her, to give her the time needed to hold her, 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.480 to help her eat, and keep her away from noisy people. 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.480 I mean, most of our artis probably at some point 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.959 have been a baby, and as you may have experienced, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.440 if the baby isn't feeling well or has some other 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.080 stuff going on, it can be hard for them to 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:16.080 maintain focus while feeding. So anything else notable about the 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.960 lead up to that awful, faithful day. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.800 Yes, she had not been at my house since the 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.120 previous Wednesday, so I hadn't seen her for four days. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:30.240 The previous Wednesday, after she'd been at my house, they 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.840 took her into the doctor the next morning because they 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.480 said she was fussy, and the doctor treated her with 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.240 an ear infection. To the best of my knowledge, the 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.760 coroner had noted that there was no ear infection in 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:48.840 the autopsy, but also on that note, the mother did 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.840 not tell me, But Natalie had projectile vomited that morning 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.440 in her car seat on the way to my house, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.640 which is just around a half a block from their 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.400 house to my house, So what was really wrong with her? 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.080 Many doctors who have studied these cases have said, when 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.000 the parents continue to bring her in for medical attention 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:16.280 because they're crying, they need to start doing head scans 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.880 to see if something is wrong internally that can't be 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.319 detected with the little light that the doctor puts in 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:24.760 the eyes and ears and. 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:28.760 Nose, And had head scans been a regular practice back then, 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.840 we might have known what was happening inside Natalie before 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.680 it was too late for both her and for you. 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.280 As it turns out, as these findings manifested and took 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.440 her life while she was in your care. 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:45.880 And it's proven these symptoms can take hours, if not days, 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:50.240 to manifest before there's an outward symptom, as it did 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:51.320 happen in my care. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.400 But at that time, the most recent caregiver was almost 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.640 always the one who was blamed. So let's talk about 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.480 that morning. It was around seven thirty am on October sixteenth, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.280 nineteen ninety five, when Cindy Beard dropped Natalie off. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.000 That morning, the mother could not get her to take 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.000 her bottle, and babies should be hungry when they haven't 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.280 eaten for eight to ten hours. But I knew that 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.960 she was a very sensitive baby to noise, to any 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.240 little jolting, and that's why I decided to put her 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.320 away from the noise of the rest of the house. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.400 Audrey tried to comb the child by propping her up 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.880 in a quiet bedroom in a car seat with a bottle, 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.840 and she then went to ten to other children in 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.120 her care, and within less than an hour, when she 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.240 checked on Natalie, she found the child to be unresponsive, 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:41.200 turning blue. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.800 I thought that she was choking, and I propped her 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.360 upright against my body. I'm patting her on the back. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.600 She's not responding, and I run outside with her in 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.640 my arm, screaming for a neighbor lady who comes down, 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.920 and I'm babbling telling her what's going on, and she's saying, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:01.640 you've got to call nine one one. 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.360 The nine one one call itself is really revealing from 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.040 the very get go. Audrey is telling the rescue people 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.000 that there was all kinds of formula coming out of 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.920 the infant's nose and mouth, and when paramedics arrived. They 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.600 said that they noted that there was formula coming out 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:20.640 of the child. They said they found a child who 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:24.480 had aspirated formula and it appeared by all accounts to 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.600 be a choking incident. 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.840 So the paramedics also noted that Natalie's pupils were fixed 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.440 and dilated and she was taking short breaths. She was 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.720 flown to University Hospital in Madison, where tragically she died 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.040 that very night. A forensic pathologist named doctor Robert Huntington 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:46.120 performed the autopsy, which revealed extensive brain damage, dual retinal hemorrhaging, 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.520 bleeding in the coverings of the brain, and bruising on 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:53.160 her scalp. So the bleeds represent part of the triad, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:54.360 But what about the bruise. 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.640 They couldn't say the timing of it. It was maybe fresh, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.560 but how fresh is for rush? Is it two hours? 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:02.600 Is it two days? 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.640 Could that have happened in transit to the hospital or 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.120 while this little child was struggling to survive? What did 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:10.679 Huntington make of that? 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.440 Doctor Huntington said he thought it was too small to 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.000 be of any consequence, and therefore he concluded this had 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:18.679 to have been shaking right. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.080 Huntington ruled out accidental injury, saying that it was quote 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:29.000 intentional forceful conduct directed specifically at Natalie. But this murder 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:33.400 diagnosi is completely ignored not only her medical history that 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.320 we've already discussed, but also what should have been a 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.439 big red flag at the autopsy. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.400 Their own brain scans showed that this child had a 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.640 chronic subdural hematoma, meaning previous episode of bleeding around the brain. 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.360 That's well established in the medical research. The chronic subdural 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.800 hematomas are very susceptible to rebleeding based on very little 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.720 additional trauma, or sometimes no trauma, just spontaneously like a 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:07.040 spontaneous nosebleed. And the prosecution and ultimately the court simply 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.760 ignored all of these indications that the child was not 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.160 a healthy baby, and that she was a previously brain 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:15.000 injured child. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.400 And these kinds of earlier bleeds are sometimes written off 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.320 as proof of previous abuse. But since they also believed 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.520 that violence shaking caused an immediate demise in the SBS 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:31.080 proponent's mind, perhaps the alleged previous abuse wasn't forceful enough 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.160 to kill. But now the alleged repeat offender, the most 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:39.400 recent caregiver had just finally been caught by way of 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:43.360 the child's death, and that puts the onus on you, Audrey. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.680 Now did you get the sense that Natalie's parents believed 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:47.840 this as well? 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.680 So Cindy called me at noontime that day, and she 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.600 was very compassionate to me, asked me what happened. She 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.560 was very concerned. I went to the hospital that afternoon, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.680 short after four, and we hugged and we both cried, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.640 and I talked to her and I told her how 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.920 much I cared and how much I had tried to 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.240 help Natalie that morning. She was very kind to me, 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.680 and then once the prosecution went on the witch hunt 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.680 after me, they told her not to speak to me anymore. 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.080 So when did this witch hunt, as you so aptly 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.800 called it, begin, or when were you made aware of it? 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.760 I had no clue that anything was trying to be 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:35.400 held against me until January. I was just talking to 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.600 anybody that came to talk to me. The chief of 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.400 police who had come to my house earlier, mister Geezy, 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.320 he was very very kind. I just answered whatever questions, 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.880 showed them anything they wanted to see. They took photos, 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.800 and I thought this was just regular protocol. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.200 Typically, we see this diagnosis at the autopsy quickly turned 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.960 into an accusation, charges and arrest, but that didn't materialize 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.720 until five months later, on March nineteenth, nineteen ninety six. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:08.440 Now you were charged with first degree reckless homicide. As 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.360 I mentioned earlier, you had two kids of your own 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.720 and one more on the way. Perhaps they were waiting 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.080 for that baby to arrive before bringing you in. I 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.880 don't know. I mean just thinking about you having to 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:26.160 leave behind your two young children and a newborn. It's 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:26.680 too much. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.000 It was horrible. My youngest was one month old. I 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:35.200 had no clue why this was even happening, why I 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.520 was charged, what they thought happened. I was so so scared, 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.080 but yet I kept thinking, well, nothing happened, so everything 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:43.920 will be okay. 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:45.000 And I was wrong. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.080 This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Trowig 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.159 through its pro bono program. Greenberg Trowig leverages its more 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.399 than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices to 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.600 serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.919 access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice. 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:18.200 Greenberg Trowrig attorneys have exonerated and free demanded. Philadelphia represent 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.800 numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:26.080 juveniles and resentencing hearings, and receive the American Bar Association's 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.080 twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:31.000 for their work. 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:32.520 On five death penalty cases. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.359 GT is reimagining what big law can be because of a 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.880 more just world. Only happens by design. 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.200 This is what we call a science dependent prosecution. The science, 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.520 the medicine, the expert testimony comprised the entire case. It's 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.120 almost unique in the law in that sense. There are 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.480 really three things the prosecution had to prove. One is 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.280 what's known as the actus reus, what happened. The medical 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.119 professionals would come in and say, we can tell you 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:10.200 exactly what happened. This child was violently shaken. The second 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.000 thing they have to prove is what's known in the 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:16.359 laws the mensraa, the mental state of the perpetrator. And 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.239 in this case, the experts came in and testified, and 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.320 we can tell you what mental state the perpetrator had. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.520 Because this would require such force the equivalent of a 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.520 second story fall or thirty mile an hour automobile accident, 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.919 that it couldn't be done accidentally. And the third thing 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.159 they have to prove is identity. The way the expert 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.879 would prove identity would be to say, a child so 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:44.600 injured would become immediately comatose, flaccid, unresponsive, and therefore the 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.639 last person with the child is the one who did it. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.480 That was Audrey. So that was the entirety of the 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:52.520 case against Audrey. 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.520 So the trial began on November eighteenth, nineteen ninety six. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.199 The judge was Daniel Moser, and the prosecutor was to 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.159 Da Dretchen Hayward. And the star witness for the prosecution 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.920 was doctor Robert Huntington, the forensic pathologists who had done 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:08.800 the autopsy. 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.840 He was joined in his testimony by a number of 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:17.160 other doctors, pediatricians, ophthalmologists, a range of others who were 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:22.160 uniform in their opinion that, as they said, nothing could 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:26.360 cause this triad of findings except violent shaking. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:30.600 So what did Audrey's defense attorney Steve Hurley present the 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.119 counter all of that combined so called medical expertise. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.200 The defense called their own expert witness, but reflecting how 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.719 early this is in the life story of the shaking 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.639 baby Center hypothesis. At that point, there was virtually no 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.360 one who was challenging or disputing the hypothesis itself. So 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:54.439 at the trial, all of the prosecution's witnesses were of 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.919 one voice, were unanimous this had to be shaking, and 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:02.000 nothing but shaking could cause it. The defense witness also 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.320 believed this had to be shaking, because that's just what 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.600 the unquestioned dogma of the day was, and so the 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.200 defense expert agreed it had to be shaking. The only 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.600 thing she introduced was but it could have happened before 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.040 the child was in Audrey's care. 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.919 Audrey, what about Natalie's mother, Cindy Beard. You mentioned that 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.400 she didn't seem to blame you when Natalie was taken 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.320 to the hospital. In fact, she expressed kindness and understanding. 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:30.280 As you recall. Did she testify at the trial. 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:31.400 Yes, she did. 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.520 I don't recall a whole lot about it. She had 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.240 a hard time, of course, when Steve Hurley cross examined 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:42.360 her and talked to her about Natalie's pre existing conditions. 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.440 He was gentle around it, but he had some good, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:46.360 strong topics. 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:51.359 The prosecutors basically told them that Audrey murdered your child, 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:55.639 and despite the absurdity of that claim, that's what they 0:20:55.840 --> 0:21:00.359 led them to believe. And so I think that used 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.159 an inevitable hostility. And who wouldn't be angry if you 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.880 were told that your baby was murdered by someone? Right? 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:10.720 I mean, these people suffered a terrible tragedy. The problem 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.800 is that I'm afraid that the prosecution kind of victimized 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:18.560 the parents again by making them believe this story of 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:23.760 murder rather than what It's still awful, but not as awful, 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:27.359 perhaps that the child died of natural causes. 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:31.720 And other than the defenses expert Audrey, who else testified 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:32.560 on your behalf. 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.280 A lot of people thankfully came to my defense because 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.160 they had seen me with Natalie day after day when 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:42.040 I had her. I interacted with a lot of moms 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.280 and neighbors, and they would see when she would cry, 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.000 and I'd pick her up, and I'd pat her and 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.639 I'd comfort her, just little things like that. 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.679 So, if I can just add Jason, the defense was 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.439 built a lot on the notion that this was just 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.680 absurd to think that Audrey, with this sterling track record, 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:03.040 would have snapped in less than an hour of caring 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.800 for Natalie. After not having cared for her for four 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.040 or five days, Stan snapped to the point of violently 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:09.280 shaking her to death. 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:14.520 Nonetheless, with that bevy of tuber confident medical expert testimony, 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.399 it doesn't appear that even a sterling track record made 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:23.200 a bit of difference to the jury. On November twenty sixth, 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:24.520 nineteen ninety six. 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.960 The courtroom was full. Both sides had a lot of supporters, 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:36.120 family friends, and the closing arguments were horrifying. When Gretchen 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.160 Hayward still wants to talk like she was standing in 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.360 my kitchen that day telling how I had shaken this 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:48.399 child and bonked her head against a wall. And then 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:53.280 the jury had some questions about first degree reckless homicide 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.080 versus second degree and utter disregard. 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:57.520 To human life. 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.359 My palms get sweaty just think thinking about sitting in 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.320 the hallway waiting, and then when we hear the jury 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.520 has come to a decision, and it's late at night, 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.280 and we go in and I heard that one awful, 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:21.160 ugly word and I thought I was going to die. 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:31.959