O’Neil Blackett

In February 1999, O’Neil Blackett was looking after 13-month-old Tamara Thomas, who had a history of breathing and intestinal problems for which she had on occasion needed hospital care.¹ Tamara was wearing a cumbersome cast to repair a broken right femur; the injury happened a month earlier, while she was in Blackett’s care. Blackett told the paramedics the child’s leg got caught in the wooden spindles of her crib. Police concluded that the crib was unsafe and deemed the injury accidental. Blackett was described by a first responder as an anxious parent who showed concern, and cooperated with a subsequent investigation by Children’s Aid Society.²

When Tamara’s mother returned from running errands to her apartment in Toronto’s east end, she found Tamara lifeless in her playpen and cold to the touch.³ Blackett was performing CPR on the child when police arrived. He was “distraught and confused,” and denied causing harm.⁴ Blackett told police that since being in the cast, “there was a problem with [Tamara] lying on her back, because she used to throw up whatever we gave her.”⁵ Blackett showed police the playpen where Tamara had been found and pointed out to them the stains on the bedding which he thought indicated that the child had thrown up while sleeping.⁶

Despite this, police were reported as suspicious of Blackett and described to reporters that Blackett’s parenting of Tamara constituted “visit[ing] periodically, that is the best I can say;” they further made a point that Blackett, who is Black, was not the father of the two other children in the household at the time, who were apprehended by a children’s aid society after Tamara’s death.⁷ Front page new stories linked Tamara’s case to the severe and fatal abuse of two other Black children, Randall Dooley and Shanay Johnson, and the need to expand the powers of children’s aid societies to apprehend children.⁸

Tamara’s autopsy was performed by Dr. Charles Smith, who was the leading pediatric forensic pathologist in Ontario at the time. Smith opined that the child died as a result of a “mechanical type of asphyxia” likely caused as the result of neck compression or possibly blunt force applied to the abdominal/chest area, accompanied by a choking episode.⁹ He dismissed the possibility that the child died from aspiration of stomach contents or any other accidental or unexplained cause. Blackett was charged with second degree murder, and contemporary media reporting painted the picture of a society that failed to protect Tamara from Blackett.¹⁰

The Crown offered to withdraw the second degree murder charge if Blackett pleaded guilty to manslaughter.¹¹ Blackett weighed this option and considered the impact of the evidence then-revered Smith would present to the jury. Blackett’s lawyer advised him that he should not plead guilty to something he did not do; however, his lawyer also made it clear that there was a “real chance he could be convicted of murder if he went to trial,” which would mean a longer prison sentence.¹² In light of this, and having already served 15 months in pre-trial custody, Blackett pleaded guilty to manslaughter. In his plea, Blackett stated that he, in frustration, forcefully tried to feed the child “with sufficient violence to cause vomiting and choking. He then left her either unconscious or entering unconsciousness, unable to breathe, and she died.”¹³ Blackett was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.¹⁴

Questions about the credibility of Smith’s autopsy conclusions and testimony in a number of cases were raised in 2001.¹⁵ In 2005, complaints about Smith’s work led to a review of his cases by the Ontario Coroner’s Office. The review found that Smith had made questionable findings in 12 cases that had led to criminal convictions by mishandling autopsies, misdiagnosing causes of death, and misrepresenting evidence in court. In 2007, a public inquiry was led by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Stephen Goudge. The Goudge Inquiry Report revealed a staggering list of severe issues with Dr. Smith’s methodology and impartiality.

In 2009, after having served his full sentence, Blackett, with the help of his lawyer James Lockyer, filed an application for an extension of time to file an appeal of his conviction.¹⁶ When the extension was granted, other pathologists reviewed Dr. Smith’s report and concluded that they could not identify a clear underlying cause of death.¹⁷ Based on this new evidence, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside Blackett’s manslaughter conviction.¹⁸ Seventeen years after Blackett pleaded guilty to a crime that did not happen, the Court of Appeal concluded: “this is one of those cases [where] this court should exercise its power to set aside the guilty plea in the interest of justice.”¹⁹ With the prosecutor’s consent, the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for a manslaughter charge. In overturning Blackett’s wrongful conviction, the Ontario Court of Appeal noted:

A number of factors came into play in the appellant’s decision to plead guilty to manslaughter. Of particular significance was the impact he thought Dr. Smith’s evidence would have on the jury. That together with the fact that a jury was unlikely to be sympathetic toward him because the case involved the alleged murder of an infant and that in his opinion and that of his lawyer he would not be an effective witness on his own behalf.²⁰

On October 2, 2018, the Crown withdrew the manslaughter charges.²¹ The presiding judge acknowledged the disturbing inevitability of false guilty pleas, stating: “As lawyers and judges, we can’t allow people to plead guilty to things they didn’t do, but I understand why it happens.”²² It is unknown whether Blackett received an official apology or compensation for his wrongful conviction.