SBS 101
Subdurals
Retinal Hemorrhages
Fractures
Anatomy of an Autopsy
Neuro-Anatomy 101
Biomechanics 101
SBS Myths
Alternate Explanations
Annotated Bibliography
Glossary
Cases
Over the last five years, 2nd Chair Services has been contacted by literally hundreds of families affected by allegations of childhood head trauma. Each time the story is the same; a child goes into respiratory arrest under the care of a parent or care provider, the child is taken to the hospital and found to have subdural hematomas and/or retinal hemorrhages and the case is reported to CPS as a nonaccidental trauma case. Whether the child lives or dies seems to depend on the severity of the intracranial pressure and the ability to of the child and the hospital to manage that pressure.
Historians close to the child often report that the child had experienced a short fall or seemingly minor head trauma in days or weeks before their arrest and had shown signs of intracranial pressure that were not obvious at the time, but which prove to be indicators, in 20/20 hindsight. If the child dies, there is an autopsy and a murder charge is generally issued. From that point on, the care provider is now a suspect or a defendant, and their perspective of the system is forever changed. If the defendant is a parent, their parenting rights are generally strictly tailored or terminated, and they are most often put in custody with extremely high bail. The partners or spouses are often looked upon with skepticism or charged with endangerment if they do not agree to take a stand against the defendant. And the system marches forward with its' process.
2nd Chair Services put together these pages, because we could not imagine anything worse than losing your child or a child in your care, other than maybe to be falsely accused of intentionally causing the child's death, or believing in someone who was. We have found that people whose lives have been touched by allegations of "Shaken Baby Syndrome" or other nonaccidental trauma to children feel particularly stifled by our system and processes. These pages are designed to show a variety of cases involving allegations of SBS, and the stories of those families who still believe that their loved one was falsely accused. It is not our intent to endorse or comment on the statements made in these pages in any way; they are made by the authors themselves and are in no way affiliated with SBS defense.com or 2nd Chair Services. It is simply our intent to provide a chalkboard for the accused and their families, so that they may share their perspectives with others. We have met hundreds of individuals who strongly believe in someone who is falsely accused. These are just a few of their stories.
People v. Barry Levesque
Other Websites for the falsely accused