Charles Randal Smith

Charles Randal Smith is a former Canadian pathologist known for performing flawed child autopsies that resulted in wrongful convictions.

As the head forensic pathologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, from 1982 to 2003, Smith performed more than 1,000 child autopsies. In 2002, Smith was reprimanded with a caution by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for his work on three suspicious-death cases, and in 2003 he was removed from performing autopsies.

In June 2005, the chief coroner of Ontario ordered a review of 44 autopsies carried out by Smith, thirteen of which had resulted in criminal charges and convictions. The review was released in April 2007, indicating that there were substantial problems with 20 of the autopsies.

In response to the review, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant immediately announced that there would be a full public inquiry into the state of pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario. The following year the inquiry found there to be fundamental errors made on the part of Smith. It concluded that Smith had "actively misled" superiors and made "false and misleading" statements in court. Many of the cases in which he had testified were re-examined and appealed.

Smith proclaimed that he had "a thing against people who hurt children", while critics said that "he was on a crusade and acted more like a prosecutor" than a pathologist. While at Sick Children's Hospital, Smith lived on a farm in Newmarket.

Notable cases

Maureen Laidley Maureen Laidley was charged with killing Tyrell Salmon, the three-year-old son of her boyfriend, after the child died in 1998. Laidley said the boy had jumped off the couch, slipped, and struck his head on a marble coffee table, but she was arrested after Smith told police that such injuries could not result in death. The charge was abruptly stayed when outside experts testified that the injuries were fully consistent with Laidley's account. He was convicted after a jury trial in which Smith's evidence played a major role in determining the time of death, the cause of death and whether the girl had been sexually assaulted. Mullins-Johnson had babysat Valin, 4, and her 3-year-old brother on the evening of June 26, 1993.

Sherry Sherret On the morning of January 23, 1996, Sherry Sherret found her four-month-old son Joshua lying in his bed not breathing. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Three and a half years later she was given the option to accept a plea of infanticide. She was convicted of infanticide without offering a defence (but offering no admission of guilt) in a plea (the delay was primarily attributable to Smith not wanting to testify). Sherret was jailed on the basis of Smith's opinion that her four-month-old son Joshua had a skull fracture, and that he had been smothered. She was released on bail in 1996 and remained on bail until the conviction. Sherret's sentence was 1 year in jail and 2 years probation. Sherret served eight months in total. On December 7, 2009, the Ontario Court of Appeal exonerated Sherret, stating that it was "profoundly regrettable that due to flaws in pathological evidence" she was wrongfully convicted.

Brenda Waudby Brenda Waudby of Peterborough was charged with beating her 2-year-old daughter Jenna to death on January 22, 1997, on the basis of Smith's professional opinion as to what time the injuries were inflicted.

Louise Reynolds Louise Reynolds was a 28-year-old single mother living in Kingston, Ontario, charged with second degree murder for having killed her seven-year-old daughter Sharon in 1997 by stabbing her more than 80 times with a pair of scissors. Much of the case rested on Dr. Smith's 10-page autopsy report. In January 2001 the Crown abruptly dropped the charges, after numerous experts, including Crown witnesses, disagreed with Smith and agreed that a powerful dog had mauled the girl (there was a pit bull present in the house at the time). By then, Reynolds had spent 22 months in custody.

Dinesh Kumar Dinesh Kumar was a 26-year-old Punjabi immigrant to Canada who was charged with second degree murder in the 1992 death of his infant son. He pled guilty to criminal negligence causing death and was sentenced to ninety days in jail. He was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeal on January 20, 2011. His case was part of the review ordered of Dr. Smith's cases following the Goudge Inquiry.

Tammy Marquardt Tammy Marquardt was convicted in Ontario in 1995 of killing her two-year-old son, who had epilepsy. Her conviction rested in large part upon testimony from Smith, who concluded the boy had been strangled or smothered. She was sentenced to life in prison, and her two other children were taken from her and put up for adoption. Marquardt's conviction was set aside on 10 February 2011 by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Prosecutors agreed her trial had been faulty because of Smith's unreliable testimony, but they would not say whether a retrial would be sought or not. On June 6, murder charges were withdrawn.

Maria Shepherd Maria Shepherd pled guilty in 1992 to the 1991 death of her stepdaughter, Kasandra Shepherd. She was sentenced to two years less a day for manslaughter. He pled guilty to a charge of unprofessional conduct for his failure to disclose he was under investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan.

On February 1, 2011, Smith was stripped of his licence during a hearing by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario examining "disgraceful conduct".

In 2017, it was reported that multiple attempts to locate and contact Smith by a CBC producer who was working on a book about Smith failed, and it was unknown where he lived at that time.

Legacy

Justice Goudge's report, released on October 1, 2008 concluded that there were serious problems with the way suspicious deaths involving children are handled in Ontario. He pointed to the problems that had been found with the 20 or so problematic cases that Charles Smith had handled as evidence of serious problems in the Ontario system.

Individuals that were wrongly accused by Smith were entitled up to $250,000 as a "recognition payment".