After more than two decades in prison, father granted new trial in son’s death

His case is among a number of convictions embroiled in a national debate over shaken baby syndrome. There have been numerous exonerations because scientific advances have led to a major shift in how the medical community diagnoses the condition, which is now called abusive head trauma.

Smith’s lawyers and several medical experts who reviewed Chandler’s records suggest the child likely died from natural causes brought on by seizures and his premature birth, not violent shaking.

The science surrounding such cases has changed drastically in the nearly quarter century since Chandler’s May 6, 2002 death, Smith’s attorney, Mark Loudon-Brown, argued at a March hearing seeking a new trial.

On Tuesday, a Gwinnett judge granted Smith’s extraordinary motion for new trial.

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

At trial in 2003, the pediatric neurosurgeon who saw Chandler at the children’s hospital said he believed it was shaken baby syndrome unless someone could tell him otherwise.

“I’ll be happy if somebody can tell me something else,” Dr. William Boydston said on the stand.

In her ruling Tuesday, Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Gallant found that Smith’s new lawyers presented a compelling alternative to the state’s version of events.

“Mr. Smith’s newly presented medical and scientific evidence provides a nonabusive explanation for Chandler’s death,” Gallant said.

That alternative explanation, corroborated by three pathologists, a radiologist and a pediatric neurosurgeon, “is so material that it would probably produce a different verdict” at trial, Gallant wrote.

The judge vacated the 51-year-old’s conviction and life sentence, and placed his case on her September calendar.

In a statement Tuesday evening, the Southern Center for Human Rights called Gallant’s ruling “wonderful news.”

“We are grateful for this decision, and we look forward to continuing to represent Mr. Smith in his quest for justice and freedom,” the statement said.

Gwinnett prosecutors had argued against a new trial, contending Chandler’s brain injuries were consistent with abuse inflicted by his father.

They also said the science behind shaken baby syndrome hasn’t changed all that much, telling the judge in March that many of the arguments brought up by Smith’s experts could have been presented at trial decades ago.

“This was all available in 2003,” Gwinnett County prosecutor Christopher DeNeve told Gallant.

Loudon-Brown said he felt certain a new jury have would have doubts about his client’s guilt given all the new evidence.

“Chandler tragically was a sick child from the day he was born,” he said at the hearing. “He died tragically, and it was nobody’s fault.”

Smith’s case has been appealed twice to the Georgia Supreme Court, most recently last year. In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled now-retired Judge Ronnie Batchelor did not apply the appropriate legal framework when he denied Smith’s motion for a new trial based on scientific advances.

Batchelor’s 2024 order was replete with grammatical errors and “clearly erroneous factual determinations,” according to Smith’s attorneys, who said the order was prepared by Gwinnett prosecutors and then signed by the judge.

A spokesperson for the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling granting Smith a new trial.

In March, Smith’s fiancee LaTasha Pyatt said they “finally have a fighting chance” now that a new judge has been assigned the case.

She urged Smith to reject the prosecution’s offer back in 2023, and said she will continue supporting him until his name is cleared.

“I haven’t stopped fighting, and I’m not going to,” a teary-eyed Pyatt said outside a Gwinnett courtroom.

Chandler’s mother, meanwhile, said her child was born healthy and had nothing wrong with him. Smith, she said, should remain in prison.

“There is no new evidence,” Marsha Brandon said after the March hearing. “I think the truth will prevail again … He is where he needs to be.”