An Ontario woman sobbed in court this morning as she was acquitted in the death of her infant son after more than two decades labelled as his killer.
Jennifer Gaskin was convicted of manslaughter in 2002 in the death of her 2 1/2-month-old son Joeseph after two medical experts testified the child had died as a result of shaken baby syndrome.
Significant concerns about that medical evidence emerged years later as the province examined shaken-baby cases from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, and Gaskin’s legal team eventually retained three more experts to look over the file.
Court heard today the three experts couldn’t rule out the possibility of an inflicted injury, but found Joeseph — a premature baby who spent the first two months of his life in hospital — could also have died from sudden infant death syndrome.
The Crown told the Appeal Court that the new findings should be admitted as fresh evidence and Gaskin should be acquitted.
In its written submissions, the Crown says the original expert evidence supporting her conviction has been “wholly undermined and placed in grave doubt.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2026.
