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NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — Death row inmate Jeffrey Havard is arguing in a motion for a new trial that evidence of Shaken Baby Syndrome used to convict him of capital murder is now distrusted by the scientific and medical communities.
Havard filed the motion in Alcorn County Circuit Court in June. Prosecutors have until Aug. 31 to respond.
In April, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Havard could seek a new trial on the issue of Shaken Baby Syndrome. An Adams County judge will determine if Havard's argument has any validity.
Havard was convicted in 2002 of capital murder and sentenced to death in Adams County for killing a 6-month-old Chloe Madison Britt of Ferriday, Louisiana, the daughter of his girlfriend. Prosecutors say the infant's injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome but she had also suffered sexual abuse.
Havard said the injuries that led to Britt's death were the result of an unfortunate accident on Feb. 21, 2002, in which he dropped the baby while taking her out of the bath.
Whatever the cause of the brain injury, the child died later that evening at a Natchez hospital after she was found nonresponsive and not breathing.
The Natchez Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/1DcXUDC) that Havard challenges his conviction on grounds that "newly discovered evidence of advances in scientific and medical fields ... demonstrates that the testimony presented at trial concerning Shaken Baby Syndrome is ill-founded."
"In light of these circumstances, (Havard's) conviction and death sentence violate due process and constitute a manifest injustice that this court is empowered to correct," the motion reads.
For decades, Shaken Baby Syndrome was widely accepted, diagnosed through a triad of symptoms: subdural bleeding (blood collecting between the brain and the skull), retinal bleeding (bleeding in the back of the eye) and brain swelling.
In the years since, medical belief that these symptoms provided iron-clad proof of homicide has begun to crumble with several studies raising doubts.
In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended the syndrome diagnosis be replaced with "abusive head trauma."
Havard argued to the Supreme Court that he didn't know anything about such arguments or he would have had his attorney investigate.
State prosecutors said the information was readily available if Havard had only looked.
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Information from: The Natchez Democrat, http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/
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