Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Lacey Spears. New York. Young mother accused of fatally poisoning her 5-year-old son with salt; Associated Press reports she will be presenting a defence - but defence lawyers have not yet disclosed their strategy;


STORY: Lawyers for Lacey Spears, mother charged with poisoning son, to present defence," published by The Associated Press on February 3, 2015.

PHOTO-CAPTION: "Lacey Spears enters the Westchester County Courthouse for a hearing on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 in White Plains, N.Y. Spears of Scottsville, Ky., has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and manslaughter in the January death of her 5-year old son, Garnett-Paul Spears. Garnett died at a New York hospital when, prosecutors say, his sodium levels rose with no medical explanation."

GIST: "It's time for defense lawyers to disclose their strategy in the case of a young mother accused of fatally poisoning her 5-year-old son with salt and documenting his decline on social media. Lacey Spears, 27, of Scottsville, Kentucky, is charged with depraved murder and manslaughter in the death last year of Garnett-Paul Spears at a hospital in the New York suburbs. Opening statements began Tuesday. Prosecutors say Spears fed her son large amounts of salt through a gastrointestinal feeding tube, causing brain swelling, seizures and death. They believe she administered the salt in his hospital room after he was admitted for seizures. Garnett's death ended a short life filled with doctor and hospital visits that his mother tirelessly documented in thousands of postings on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a blog. Many of the postings will be in evidence, along with Spears' online research into the dangers of sodium in children and hospital records from New York, Florida and Spears' native Alabama. Also in evidence is a feeding bag prosecutors believe was used to hold the salt -- and which they say she tried to hide in a cover-up after Garnett's death. Defense attorneys fought the introduction of much of that evidence but have not publicly disclosed their strategy for Spears' defense. They have insisted that there will be no mention of Munchausen by proxy, a disorder in which caretakers secretly harm children to win sympathy. Some experts believe that disorder fits Spears' actions."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/lawyers_for_lacey_spears_mothe.html


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;