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The Case Of William Mullins-Johnson

612 Words3 Pages

William Mullins-Johnson, a victim of wrongful conviction, spent more than 11 years in prison for a crime that never occurred, due to egregious errors made by the physicians who conducted the post-mortem examination.

On June 26, 1993, twenty-two-year-old William Mullins-Johnson, or Bill for short, babysat his four-year-old niece, Valin. Valin had been running a fever earlier that day before she went to bed. The next morning Valin’s mother went into her daughter’s room and found Valin dead.

On June 27th 1993, Bill was arrested for the first degree murder and aggravated sexual assault of his niece.
Causes for Bill’s Wrongful Conviction
Evidence
A team of physicians formed by Dr. Rasaiah, Dr. Zehr, and Dr. Charles Smith, took Valin’s body to investigation. They came up with a conclusion was that Valin was suffocated to death between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on the night of June 26th. They also found that Valin had been subjected to chronic sexual abuse.

Trial …show more content…

At Bill’s trial, the jury heard expert testimony from the now-discredited pathologist Charles Smith. He and other Crown expert witnesses testified that Valin had been abused and then strangled to death. Smith also testified that the four-year-old had been anally raped. Note that the jury made this conviction despite the fact that there was no physical evidence connecting him to Valin’s

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