| Due to our hectic schedule the best way to contact us is by email at rbennett@etex.net. This email will not only be accessible through my office and home computers but also "bounces" to my BlackBerry which I have with me at all times and can usually answer even when I'm in court. |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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While the title of this entry is tongue in cheek, if you are the target of a Shaken Baby Syndrome investigation it is absolutely imperative that you move quickly.
Recently I received a Google news alert that a gentleman who spoke with me some time ago had been indicted for allegedly shaking a child. A proactive approach on the part of the accused can sometimes prevent charges from being filed.
On the other hand, a passive approach will almost certainly result in the charges being brought and, once the process has begun, it is almost impossible to persuade the prosecutors to dismiss the case despite the overwhelming evidence you may be able to present.
A simple reason for this is that the doctors are doing their best to convince the prosecutors and law enforcement, as well as the non-accused parent, that Shaken Baby Syndrome is the only possible explanation for the child's injuries. Once charges have been filed for a prosecutor not to proceed forward is almost political suicide.
It is also important to give your defense team as much time as possible to examine all of the evidence and prepare your defense. Every day is important.
The main hurdle to overcome is the expense involved in retaining lawyers, consultants (such as us), and doctors. Many people avoid doing so in the hopes that the problem will just go away.
It rarely does.
If you or a loved one have been accused, or think an accusation is on the way, please contact us at rbennett@etex.net. Don't wait until it is too late! |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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The death of an infant is hard to take, more so when the loss of life is thought to be deliberate. Parents and baby-sitters have been equally accused of shaking babies, sometimes literally to their deaths. Whether they do it maliciously or in frustration at not being able to control the child is anyone’s guess, but the fact remains that the baby is dead, and if alive, scarred for life with mental disorders, learning disabilities, seizures, and visual and speech disabilities.
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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I started this blog and website both as a marketing tool and as a way to pass on information. It is usually written in a non-academic format and conversational tone since it is viewed by both attorneys and people being accused of shaking a child.
Cases involving allegations of Shaken Baby Syndrome are some of the most difficult cases to handle until you become intimately familiar with the science and the BS used by the experts.
Most often you face a multitude of doctors testifying and trying to put your client in prison. They are absolutely convinced of the rightness of their opinions even though those opinions are based on flawed science and incorrect data.
The learning curve on SBS cases is steep and further complicated because of the unique facts of each case and the medical treatment. Studies are being published regularly on both sides of this controversial topic. You must be intimately familiar with the latest theories and terminology.
The physicians supporting SBS participate in child abuse seminars regularly and share their ideas and experiences, allowing them to modify their testimony as defense attorneys find the flaws. Therefore, any articles or books offering advice on legal strategies if often out of date by the time they are published.
Due to the ability to quickly add and edit info, blogs and websites (such as this one www.sbslawyer.com and Toni Blake's www.sbsdefense.com ) often offer the most up to date advice and information.
But a note of caution, in many of my trials I have seen copies of my articles and website being used by the prosecution. Since I am actively involved in a number of these cases at any one time, it is safe to assume that I don't put everything I know or even all of the most recent info on this site.
I am more than willing to spend a few minutes discussing these cases with other attorneys. In addition, I am always available to be retained to handle the medical portions of the trial. Most jurisdictions across the U.S. will allow admission to out of state attorneys on a pro hoc vice status for a single case.
Look for another blog entry soon about expert witnesses.
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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Complaints are constantly being voiced about the slowness of the justice system. It is hard to imagine how much slower it would be without plea bargains.
A plea bargain is an agreement reached between the prosecutor and the defendant where a trial is avoided in exchange for a plea of guilty or no contest. Usually this results in a sentence that is
lower than what would be expected at trial.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of lawyers out there who are too inclined to plead their clients out so that they can make a "quick buck" or who simply want to ... |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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I receive a lot of calls from people who are involved in a case involving allegations of child abuse and/or Shaken Baby Syndrome. Many of them are unhappy with their lawyers (or ex-lawyers) and all are unhappy with the system in general so I thought I'd write a few, brief blog entries to just explain a few realities of the legal system.
First, being innocent is a crummy defense.
That may sound jaded or even like I don't know what I'm talking about, but I can assure you that innocence alone is the surest way to get yourself convicted in one of these cases.
Let me explain why.
All of the jurisdictions in America I have worked in have a presumption of innocence. In other words, a jury is instructed that the defendant is to be presumed innocent and it is only after the prosecutor has put on enough evidence to prove their case "beyond a reasonable doubt" that a person can be found guilty.
Sounds good, but most jurors start the trial with a different mindset.
One of the questions I ask in voir dire (that's when a jury is being selected) is "How many of you walked in here today and looked at (insert client's name) and said to yourself 'Hmmm, I wonder what he did'?"
It takes a little prodding and pulling but usually I can get a potential juror to admit that they thought that and once one admits it a flood of hands go up.
That tells us that the presumption of innocence isn't a natural thing for a person to feel.
It has been my experience that a defense lawyer must repeatedly hammer the "presumption of innocence" and "beyond a reasonable doubt" concepts during trial and even then, post verdict questioning of jurors has shown it is still not completely effective.
Knowing this both the client and the lawyer must be prepared to offer explanations that support either the innocence of the client or poke so many holes in the prosecution's case that the jurors realize it would be "unfair" to convince someone based on such sparse evidence.
What is hard for an accused to realize is that simply taking the witness stand and saying "I didn't do it" is not enough to win an acquittal.
When your lawyer tells you this, listen and don't get mad at them.
Next blog entry, why a plea bargain is sometimes, but not always, best. |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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We just finished another trial, this one in Searcy, Arkansas.
I was hired to consult and assist a local law firm in representing a young lady accused of shaking a 9 month old infant and causing a subdural hematoma and bilateral retinal hemorrhages.
More information can be read on the trial on the website of the local newspaper.
This was a case in which an allegation of Shaken Baby Syndrome was made early on, and the doctors from Arkansas Children's Hospital convinced the family of the child that the injuries could not have occurred from anything other than Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Unfortunately, and as too often occurs, they were just wrong.
The client in this case had been babysitting the child when she tripped and fell over a baby gate in the doorway of her home. When she fell she lost her grip on the baby and he hit his head on the carpeted floor, and within a few minutes began experiencing seizures and stopped breathing. He was taken to the hospital and has permanent brain damages.
A tragic accident.
Unfortunately, the permanent brain damage could have been prevented and was not a result of either the alleged shaking or the fall.
An examination of the CT scans, MRIs, and x-rays by the experts we hired revealed that the child's stomach and bowels were filled with air. This was important because there was a minimum of a 15 minute delay between the time 911 was called and the time he arrived at the hospital and was intubated. We knew from the records that he had been "bagged" during the ride to the hospital in the ambulance.
Our first impression was that the EMTs had simply failed to clear the airway of the child and when the bagging was done the oxygen which should have been forced into his lungs instead went into he stomach and bowels. Testimony during trial revealed that the EMTs had actually asked the neighbor who rode to the hospital with the injured child to operate the pump.
When a brain is deprived of oxygen for a period of time (5 minutes was espoused by the doctors) the brain cells begin dying and filling with liquid, causing the brain to swell and cutting of the vein leading from the retinas thus causing retinal hemorrhages.
It also caused massive brain damage.
Our client faced a trial and a potential twenty years in prison because of a misdiagnoses by the doctors. Luckily, we were able to present a compelling case and the experts we hired were both knowledgeable and able to effectively communicate the true facts of the case to the jury and the jury returned a not guilty verdict in less than forty minutes.
As I was packing my trial materials I received an email notice from Google News regarding another case. On the same day that we were able to secure a not guilty, another babysitter's conviction and 20 year sentence was affirmed by the Arkansas Court of Appeals, apparently based on testimony from doctors at the same hospital as the one in our case.
I don't know anything about the facts of that case, but I do know innocent people are in prison because doctors rely on a diagnosis not supported by evidence or science.
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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While this blog offers legal tidbits, it should not be confused with legal advice. Each case is different and the facts dramatically affect the type of advice which I, or presumably other lawyers, would offer. Nevertheless, I get calls quite often from people who visit our website, either the firm website or the one specifically from Shaken Baby Syndrome, but who decide to "handle it themselves" for a little while.
Without getting into specifics the first thing you do when you or a loved one are accused of shaking a baby or any form of child abuse is very simple and non-negotiable.
First, hire a lawyer.
Second, HIRE A LAWYER!
Before you give a statement, before they interview you, within a few minutes of you realizing you or a loved one are a suspect contact a lawyer!
A lot of times cases can be "headed off" simply by the attorney gathering evidence in support of your case and presenting it to the investigqaing officer or the district attorney. This may allow them to see the case from a different angle and, occasionally, stop the case in its tracks.
Most police officers want to do their job right and want to see children protected. They do this by conducting their investigation and trying to remove the wrongdoer from society. Unfortunately, the target of the investigation is not always the perpetrator. A good lawyer can help you point them in the right direction.
DO NOT GIVE A STATEMENT IN ANY FORM WITHOUT YOUR LAWYER PRESENT! EVER!
Nothing good can come of this. Repeat after me....Nothing good can come of this.
No matter what you are promised, how easy they say you are going to be treated, if they tell you it will be better for the child or help the child if you just come clean, WHATEVER they say,
NEVER TALK TO THE DOCTORS, INVESTIGATORS, OR SOCIAL WORKERS WITHOUT A LAWYER!
I also advise you to check out the earlier blog entry on choosing a lawyer. |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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Please don't take the title to mean that all doctors are fanatical, but certainly some of them are. As one lawyer told me recently some doctors "have never seen a case of child abuse they didn't like".
I'm just finishing up a trial where the doctors who is the chief child abuse specialist made the remark that he "tended to shy away from the term 'shaken baby' and instead preferred to use the term 'non accidental head trauma'."
It didn't stop him from repeatedly saying that the injuries were "consistent with" shaken baby syndrome.
In my opinion, what this shows is that as we defense lawyers begin to trade information and refine our cross examinations and focus our cases, the doctors are also shifting their testimony so that they can't be tied down on the particulars of the case. As soon as Shaken Baby Syndrome becomes a true diagnosis, rather than a WAG, the syndrome will go the way of phrenology.
And a new term that is being used..."a constellation of symptoms". This term was used by every doctor for the prosecution to describe how they arrive at their conclusions. |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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I have been getting more and more calls lately on SBS cases where the child does not die and the "injuries" are minimal to moderate. I used the quotation marks because I believe that the child is hurt, but I believe there are probably other explanations for the damage other than Non-Accidental Trauma/Child Abuse/Shaken Baby.
I have always been bothered by the phrase "injuries are consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome" which appears in every set of medical records I have ever examined on these type of cases. When you've read enough of these things, this phrase translates into "the child has retinal ... |
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| Posted by Robert Bennett at | | | |
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