In this Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case, Justice C.J. Gants held that the defendant was denied her right to effective assistance of counsel when her attorney failed to seek public funds in order to retain an expert witness to offer an opinion as to the cause of head injuries sustained by defendant’s infant child. The prosecution’s case at trial rested almost entirely on expert medical testimony and by failing to present the jury with the other side of the debate among the medical community surrounding the “triad” of symptoms associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome, the defendant’s attorney deprived her of a substantial defense that would otherwise have been available. Com. v. Millien, 474 Mass. 417 (2016).
North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services