Appeal court upholds Regina mother's acquittal on charges in son's death
Crown appealed after Chelsea Whitby found not guilty of 2nd-degree murder, manslaughter
Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal has dismissed the Crown's appeal in the case of Chelsea Whitby, who was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of her son.
Whitby's 18-month-old son, Emerson, died in hospital on June 10, 2020, and his death was attributed to blunt-force trauma to the head.
The Crown argued at trial that Whitby had committed an unlawful act that caused Emerson's death, but the case was based largely on circumstantial evidence and expert opinion evidence. Although Whitby didn't testify at trial, she had repeatedly denied hurting her son, including during a police interrogation that lasted seven and a half hours and was played in court.
Whitby was charged with second-degree murder, but at trial the Crown argued for a conviction on the lesser and included charge of manslaughter. Regina Court of King's Bench Justice Catherine Dawson acquitted Whitby of both charges in September 2023, after a lengthy trial.
"I cannot say that I am not suspicious that Ms. Whitby may have done something untoward to Emerson on June 10, 2020. However, I must be guided by the law," Dawson said in her trial decision. "I am left in a reasonable doubt … and I am not satisfied that Chelsea Whitby's guilt is the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the circumstantial evidence as a whole."
During the trial, the judge excluded some evidence the Crown tried to introduce, limiting the scope of opinion evidence from two of the Crown's expert witnesses related to the timing and cause of Emerson's death.
The Crown argued on appeal that was an error, but "there is no dispute that the trial judge correctly articulated the law," Justice Neal Caldwell wrote in last week's appeal court decision, with Justice Jerome Thall and Justice Jillyne Drennan concurring.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
