WOMAN WINS A NEW TRIAL IN BABY'S DEATH

Unanimous Ruling Finds Attorneys Erred in Case That Ended in
Conviction

A South Carolina woman convicted of homicide after her stillborn baby
tested positive for cocaine should get a new trial because of mistakes
her attorneys made, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Attorneys for Regina McKnight did not introduce the baby's autopsy
report into evidence and failed to rebut the prosecution's medical
expert, the court said in the unanimous decision.

A spokesman for the state attorney general's office said he didn't
immediately know whether prosecutors would appeal. They have 15 days
to decide.

McKnight, 31, was convicted in May 2001 and sentenced to 12 years in
prison after her second trial. Her first trial ended in a mistrial
when the judge found out that two jurors had looked up medical
information on the Internet.

The justices said in Monday's ruling that a medical witness who
testified in the first trial should have been called during the second.

During the initial trial, a cardiac pathologist rebutted the
prosecution's medical expert and said that cocaine was "not as
dangerous as the medical community once believed," Chief Justice Jean
Toal wrote in overturning McKnight's conviction. Toal also noted that
the doctor testified that several natural causes for the baby's death
could not be ruled out.

McKnight's attorneys chose not to call that doctor or "any other
expert to rebut or discredit the medical studies cited by the State's
experts," Toal wrote. McKnight's attorney also never thought to use a
videotape of the doctor's previous testimony, according to the ruling.

McKnight's attorney Rauch Wise said he is glad the justices agreed
with his argument that prosecutors should have to do more than bring
on experts to say what the child couldn't have died from.

"You have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They should have
to be able to show the metabolized cocaine caused the death, not just
rule out other factors," Wise said.

Wise visited McKnight in prison Monday to give her the news. "She is
very happy to know her long ordeal may soon be over," Wise said.

Since McKnight's conviction, several national advocacy groups have
supported her appeals.

"Justice is a constant struggle, and low-income pregnant women of
color who have drug problems are always going to be an easy political
target," said Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
"We hope that this puts her case and other cases like it to rest so we
can focus on recovery."