Kenneth Wynne Marquardt Case Brief

There have been numerous cases where false conviction has ruined someone’s life. This too, happened to Tammy Marquardt (Wynne), a middle-aged woman currently 43, who had lost all three of her sons during her early twenties due to the false charges of smothering and murder that imprisoned her. It changed her life completely. She would have never expected to go from being a regular single mom to being a criminal, but she did. This is her story. It all began one afternoon on October 9 in the year of 1993 in the town of Oshawa, Ontario. Marquardt was in her apartment, sleeping soundly. Suddenly, crying could be heard. The source of the cries was Kenneth, her 2 year old son. Marquardt quickly rushed to the crib, only to find him entangled in his
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Officials brought in Dr. Charles Smith, a well-known expert in pediatric forensic pathology who had helped them convict many other cases concerning the deaths of young toddlers. The task of conducting the autopsy of the baby fell into Smith’s hands, who gladly accepted the responsibility. Smith was a known to do everything he could to make sure he could convict a person. It didn’t matter what the accusation was or who the defendant was, all he cared about was nailing a sentence onto the shoulders of the many defendants he has trialled against. His reputation of always winning cases intimidated all lawyers. In the end, his testimony convinced the jury, putting Tammy Marquardt into prison on the charges of second degree murder of her own son. Now, after more than a decade, recent investigations have found that many of Smiths claims were exaggerated and inaccurate. These investigations were
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In the end, officials found that Tammy Marquardt had not committed the crime she was convicted of. They also found that the prosecution against Marquardt mainly orbited around Charles Smith’s accusations, which were mostly untrue. It turns out, Smith was not qualified with the proper training, he was not a forensic pathologist. Other than that, he liked to “think dirty” as stated in npr.org . Smith focused on convicting Tammy Marquardt and overlooked other possible causes of death. It was found that Smith had made a lot of mistakes and even spoke dishonestly in court. The other senior officials did not even point out his faults. Smith was also a terrible witness in court. He lied and made false claims that were not supported by the evidence. He told theories not facts. Sadly, the jury believed him. During the investigation, six pathology experts clearly stated that the cause of death was undetermined and was not homicide. One of those pathologists, called Dr. Simon Avis, found that young Kenneth Wynne had epilepsy. He would often have seizures and had multiple trips to the hospital,