RICHARD BRANT ACQUITTED AT LAST - ANOTHER SBS CASE / 520

We will hear the end of this sorry saga one day but not quite yet. Former Ontario pathologist Dr. Charles Smith is in the news again because yet another person whose life and reputation he messed by his incompetency has received deserved justice and vindication. A number of people were wrongly convicted and imprisoned because of the errors in his work. Six people whom he helped to convict have already been cleared of any offense since the investigations into his work began. There are six more cases in which Smith was involved that have yet to be revisited by the courts.

Richard Brant is 38 years old now. He is a truck driver. Richard Brant’s entire story cannot be told here but suffice it to say, Charles Smith’s report in 1993 was enough to place Brant under suspicion of manslaughter for which he would have received a lengthy prison term. Yes I did say “would have received,” but he didn’t receive the long prison term because he was informed that if he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault he would receive less time. That’s what he did. Pleaded guilty! (Pleaded is the legal verb form)

The man did not hurt his little boy. It was in November 1992 that this father was pushing a stroller carrying his son when he noticed red foam forming at the baby’s nose. The baby died two days later. The attending pathologist cited pneumonia and respiratory failure as the causes of the boy’s death but then Smith examined the case and concluded that the boy died from, guess what? Shaken Baby Syndrome. That tag is an immediate accusing finger pointing at the last caregiver with the child as Paul and Zabeth know too well.

It’s terrible that Brant was forced into this position by a professional, acting carelessly confidant about presumptive diagnoses. But Brant concluded that he had no option because it was his word against the doctor’s. Who would child protection personnel believe and who would the Ontario Provincial Police and the Judge believe. He pleaded to the lesser charge and the slighter penalty which was six months in jail. But he has been living ever since his release with the burden of being on record as a felon and in the memories and perceptions of the public as a suspicious person, perhaps a criminal.

The Crown itself has been overturning these prior convictions and in Brant’s case as well the defence and the Crown said there was no evidence against Brant and they worked together to claim that Brant’s guilt plea was affected by the intimidating record and reputation of Charles Smith. Smith’s reputation and status and medical licence have all gone south and in his disgrace he has moved to British Columbia. Great!

This week Richard Brant was acquitted!

Pat Hewitt’s Canadian Press article
CTV Video 

Harold Levy is a retired Toronto Star columnist and since 2006 his blog called the Charles Smith Blog has been exposing the havoc created by Dr. Charles Randal Smith. You will find reference to Richard Brant and a comprehensive account to his story.