Conviction Overturned

September 30, 2008 permalink

Mother Carrie Weaver, convicted last year in Toledo Ohio of killing her son, will get a new trial.

One consequence of the child-abuse moral panic is the conviction of parents in many cases of accidental child death. If the information reported last year is correct, this is one such unjustified accusation. We will wait to see if the prosecutor retries this case or concedes that he made a mistake.

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Conviction overturned for Toledo mother found guilty of poisoning son

Article published Tuesday, September 30, 2008, BLADE STAFF

The conviction of a Toledo mother sentenced to prison after being found guilty of poisoning her son with Ipecac was overturned Tuesday in a decision released by the Sixth District Court of Appeals.

The felony child endangering case against Carrie Weaver, 30, will return to Lucas County Common Pleas Court. Weaver was convicted in May, 2007, after a week-long jury trial and sentenced a month later to three years in prison.

Tuesday, the appellate court released a decision that said Weaver did not receive a fair trial because experts not only testified appropriately about the condition known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy but were inappropriately allowed to testify about whom they believed to be the perpetrator.

Weaver was convicted of giving her son chronic doses of Ipecac, an over-the-counter product that induces vomiting. Calling it a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, prosecutors presented evidence at trial that indicated that Weaver was a mother who made her son ill to bring attention to herself.

Her defense attorney, Lorin Zaner, countered that the then 9-year-old boy was sickened by the presence of toxic mold in the family’s home.

A jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about four hours before reaching their verdict.

Source: Toledo Blade