Zabeth and Paul Bayne – Part 39 – The Bayne Campaign for Justice

Man found not guilty of shaking his baby.

In this case the baby died. Twenty-seven year old Miles Lee Fergusan of Portsmouth Ohio was on trial for murdering his 5 week old infant daughter Mylee. For the past three years he has lived through a nightmare of stress and fears that he would be ruled guilty of something of which he was innocent and that he would spend years in prison.

On November 19, 2009 a jury found him not guilty. Defendant Miles Ferguson began sobbing when the court clerk read the verdict. Through his tears he mouthed "thank you" to the jury several times.

He wept uncontrollably and repeated, “Praise the Lord.” He hugged his wife Ashlee, and his lawyer Morgan Martin and his friends and family. The trial began on the 9th of November. When Mylee was admitted to hospital, Ferguson had been originally charged with assault and battery with the intent to kill and when the girl died of a closed head injury the grand jury indicted him on a count of homicide by child abuse. It was not an uncomplicated case or a straightforward verdict because Miles acknowledged that in an effort to revive an unresponsive baby he had indeed shaken her but as he claimed, to revive her not to kill her. On the other hand, Karen Sims of the Department of Social Services in Charleston received a call in reference to what appeared to be a shaken baby syndrome case and she said she responded by assuming that the child was shaken by somebody. In 2007, the 27-year-old Portsmouth resident had been vacationing in Myrtle Beach with his family, when suddenly his daughter Mylee stopped breathing and fell unconscious. Miles, who was trying to change her diaper, noticed this and patted her on the back, and even blew air into her mouth. He then called emergency services who took the child to the Grand Stand Regional Hospital.

The baby failed to live, succumbing two days later at the Medical University of South Carolina. The workers at the hospital claimed that they had noticed marks on the body of Mylee which are prominent with being shaken up. Police, charged and arrested Fergusan with a count of homicide by child abuse. The defense attorney presented a number of medical experts who testified in favor of Ferguson and said that Mylee had a head injury at birth which started bleeding again five weeks later due to a head infection. This was proved to be the likely cause behind the death of the baby. The diagnosis is so fragile. Read more:

Some adults unthinkingly do not understand what the mildest shaking may do to harm a small child. Adults frustrated with a noisy baby, who shake a baby to quiet or to get attention or to punish, are mindless and culpable of criminal brutality. I believe that this man is fortunate to have been acquitted. Defense Attorney Martin had told the jury before they deliberated for four hours, “this isn’t an ‘I think he might have done it … this isn’t a he probably done it … this isn’t a sure don’t look good case. This is a 'beyond each and every reasonable doubt'case and if there is a real possibility that this young man is not guilty then it’s your obligation to acquit him.” They did.
TV video journalistic post trial discussion

In the case of Paul and Janice Bayne and their baby Bethany, it did not go that far. But far enough. They said they didn't shake Bethany. They said one child fell on the other. Two years ago police reported there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case against the Baynes. Still today, their family endures a sentence of separation. Three children removed from their family home. Two years of that. Parents under suspicion. An opinion no longer justified. They are exemplary parents. Please, Minister, Deputy Minister, Prime Minister, Director, Case Worker please re-examine this.

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