Nurse murdered seven babies

[Bromptonaut]

International group say's she didn't do it, or at least there's sufficient evidence to render at least some convictions unsafe:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...port-lucy-letby-conviction-expert-panel-finds

 

[CXRAndy]

That's certainly going to put the cat amongst the pigeons

 

[C R]

The big question to me is why her defence didn't dig deeper into the expert testimony. I understand that expert witnesses are understood to be neutral, but I don't imagine that precludes posing alternative explanations to them.

 

[Ian H]

There have been many cases where so-called expert witnesses have been challenged and convictions later overturned. How does a jury of lay people assess highly technical evidence? How does a barrister know what questions to ask? Below is one of several cot-death cases where the mother was convicted and the conviction later overturned.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/mar/17/childrensservices.uknews

 

[icowden]

The big question to me is why her defence didn't dig deeper into the expert testimony. I understand that expert witnesses are understood to be neutral, but I don't imagine that precludes posing alternative explanations to them.

One of the proposals I have seen come out of this is to move to the (?french?) model where instead of having expert witnesses for the defence and prosecution, you just have an independent panel of expert witnesses. At the same time you ensure that these experts are actually proper experts with recent expert practices. Not doctor's who have been retired for 15 years and are no longer up to date with current practice and research.