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[Music] hello Melissa hi it's been boy more than a decade since I first met you mhm when
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we first met did you ever think you'd still be here this long no why am I still in
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here I just don't understand you may remember in 2009 Melissa kazinski was working at a
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Lincolnshire daycare she was given 31 years in prison for the death of a 16-month-old who was in her care since
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then she and her supporters have been fighting back calling this a wrongful conviction it
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hurts she doesn't blind D she she's the kind of person that would take her shirt
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off her back and help other people this is my baby this is my youngest I just want her
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home I used to work at the mini subie daycare I think it was definitely more than a job to her the kids were her
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number one priority I feel like the kids brightened her day do you believe that Melissa kazinski
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had anything to do with Ben kingan's death zero she had nothing to do with it I am Melissa kosinski's current attorney
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she loved Ben Ben loved her and what she told the police was that she threw him to the floor you
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threw him on the floor yeah show us how hard you threw him on the ground or like
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that did you hurt that baby no I did not I would never do that you've got her isolated in a small room with these two
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men for hours i' never been she's trying so hard to be the good girl the compliant girl I want to help you guys
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so much she's not equipped to deal with a situation like that we're not going anywhere until we get the facts here the
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only way for me to get out was to make a confession a false confession is there any evidence that
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corroborates the confession that Melissa made zero we would never take someone to
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trial with just a confession this child had a fractured skull there was extensive injuries to this child
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internally it's clear that she killed Benjamin do you believe there was a skull fracture there is no fracture the
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evidence had been manipulated if I take these sliders here you can manipulate this photo so somebody went
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in and they altered the contrast to make it look like that on screen somebody took x-rays that were
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completely clear and turned them into unreadable images yes I can't think of an innocent explanation so you're saying
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that either the prosecutor's office or the coroner's office but somebody representing the state did this yes yes
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a former daycare worker convicted of killing a toddler tries again today to be released from prison their case was
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before the prisoner Review Board in an effort to get clemency people have to know the truth I have to keep pushing
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fighting no matter how much it hurts I want people to know I'm innocent [Music] [Music]
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Melissa kazinski has served 16 years of a 31-year prison sentence for the death of Benjamin kingan a 16-month-old whom
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she cared for at an Illinois daycare center she has long insisted she is innocent
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this is not where I belong I'm going to continue to fight no matter what cuz I did not do
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this we've been covering this case for more than a decade and over the years Melissa's appeals have
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failed but she and her attorney Kathleen zelner are not backing down now they're
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taking their fight out of the court system and straight to the governor of Illinois JB pritsker and his prisoner
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review board we're asking them to declare that she's actually innocent and release her we are
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also saying commuter sentence the story began on January 14th 2009 Melissa then 22 years old was
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working as a teachers's assistant at the mini subbi daycare in Lincolnshire an affluent suburb of
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Chicago Ben King and attended daycare there along with his twin sister and their two older siblings I came to work
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and uh I saw Ben he was fine normal happy playful late that afternoon after the kids were fed a snack and cleaned up
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Melissa says she put Ben down on the carpet and he crawled into his bouncy seat on the floor he's sitting in his
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bouncy chair playing with his blanket and he was uh starting to kind of fall asleep which was
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normal the teacher working with Melissa stepped out of the room briefly leaving Melissa alone with the
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children that's when Melissa says she noticed something wrong with Ben he didn't look right I took his little hand
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and I touched his hand and I'm like Ben Ben he did not wake up at all I saw orange foam coming out of his nose
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and um I'm sorry Melissa called for help her older sister Crystal kusinski also worked at
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the daycare at the time I hear on the intercom someone help me help me help me I ran in then started CPR immediately
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was that like for you Crystal um I dream about it a lot like I see it in my you know my head
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911 was called I have a child who was uh who's filing who's not breathing paramedics
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responded Ben was taken to the hospital he was pronounced dead an hour later me and my sister fell to the floor
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and we're just we're just Bing what happened to him and how I don't I don't understand an investigation was launched
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according to this police report during an autopsy the pathologist Dr yil Choy told a detective that he observed a
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skull fracture extensive bleeding inside Ben's head and that the injury was caused by another person using strong
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force within hours prior to Ben's dad and yet Ben had no Cuts or obvious wounds on the outside of his body no
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serious bruises the pathologist listed the autopsy as pending further studies police brought in the daycare
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workers who had been with the toddler on the day of his death somebody did something determined to find out what
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happened to Ben after Melissa was read her rights it's routine and protocol for us detectives began pressing her for
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answers I have a good idea that you've seen what happened or you were involved with what happened cuz you were the only
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only one in the room at the onside of this Melissa denied over and over again more than 60 times doing anything to B I
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never put my I did not drop him but the detectives didn't stop you're there it's
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not like there were 50 people in that room with you all these years later Melissa still remembers what it was like
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being in that room they weren't listening to anything I said after 9 hours was under pressure and without an
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attorney Melissa changed her story she said she thought if she told the investigators what they wanted to hear
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they would let her go home we're not going anywhere until we get the facts here the only way for me to get out was
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to make a confession a false confession I wasn't thinking at all you weren't thinking of the consequences of doing
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something like that no all I could think about was just going home he starts acting
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up and you get mad at him and you throw him on the floor you threw him on the floor yeah really hard when Melissa was
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taken to another station for booking she repeated the same story to another investigator after spending 14 hours
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with police Melissa kusinski was arrested for the murder of Benjamin King it even
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though she almost immediately took back the story she told police no I'm innocent Melissa's parents Paul and
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Cheryl kusinski still remember receiving the news and I said what did you think possibly not at all she had hurt this
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baby nope nope she is the kind of person that would never harm any never put her
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hand on someone else's child but Melissa had told investigators that she did and after that the manner
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of death on Ben's death certificate was listed as homicide law enforcement announced they
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had solved the case Miss Kinski uh admitted to police that she had taken the infant boy uh and thrown him on the
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ground they made her look like a bad person and she's not that type of a person Melissa's family would make it
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their mission to clear her name my parents sold everything that they had I put all my effort into getting her freed
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they had no idea how much of a fight they were in for he was very healthy baby just a happy
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happy little boy in November 2011 nearly 3 years after the death of Ben kingan Melissa kusinski went on trial for
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murder the state argued that Ben was a perfectly healthy toddler leading up to his death Matthew D martini and Steven
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sheller prosecuted the case how would you describe what the parents have gone through when somebody takes your
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Challenge from you I don't think there's anywhere to describe what they have gone
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through Dr Choy the pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified about that skull fracture he said he had seen
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and how he believed the child's injury was recent and consistent with having been thrown to the floor by someone but
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Melissa's trial attorney Paul DeLuca told the jury about a head injury Ben had previously received it was noticed
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at the daycare 3 months earlier Melissa was not even working there at the daycare center after Ben's death
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multiple people including daycare teacher Nancy kinger told investigators about it I we called the mom called the doctor
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but prosecutor Steven sheller argued that the earlier injury was insignificant the pediatrician actually
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examined Benjamin's head had felt around um said there was no issues that Mom should just keep an eye on him then
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never had an issue after that that's not what defense experts said they noted that after the injury
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there were possible signs of head trauma medical records showed that in the days
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after the injury Ben was lethargic and had a persistent fever and another daycare employee Holly who asked that we
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identify her by her first name only testify for the defense about the last time she saw Ben 2 days before his death
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Melissa walked into the room and she was holding Ben and she said like he's not feeling well and it was almost
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immediately after she said that that he threw up like everywhere the next day one day before
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he died Ben was kept home from daycare prosecutor Matthew de Martini argued it was a stomach bug or a winter cold he
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was given Pedialite and put to bed he woke up the next day and he was fine but the defense maintained that Ben's prior
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injury was so serious that any new impact could have had major consequences and then did have a habit of throwing
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his head back he would be sitting on the ground and he would just kind of LA his
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body backwards and hit his head you know I guess you call it like he was a headbanger Nancy calinger recalled that
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Ben had done that twice on the day of his death I put him on the floor and he immedately himself on
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the and then I the sink and he himself again prosecutors insisted that Melissa had hurt Ben this child did not explode
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or implode on his own and they pointed to her confession she became frustrated holding
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Ben she threw him to the floor prosecutors told the jury that the fall was so severe it caused that skull
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fracture at trial they mentioned a skull fracture more than 30 times but was there one well most of the experts who
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testified from both sides agreed there appeared to be a fracture in autopsy photos one defense expert said she
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couldn't say for sure and according to Melissa's attorney Paul Deluga the x-rays the prosecution had provided
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before the trial were unreadable before trial I said Do we have any better images and it was no the state's Final
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witness pathologist Dr Manny Montes gave the most Vivid and damaging testimony at
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trial he said he examined the body and felt the fracture with his bare hands Dr Mon says said he put his finger in the
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skull and threw the fracture I mean it was devastating the jury deliberated for 7 hours before convicting Melissa
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kusinski of aggravated battery of a child and first-degree murder my heart sunk I know I didn't do
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this Melissa's family remained determin to prove her innocence I didn't accept the verage I I knew it was wrong and in
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202 12 a year after the conviction Dr Thomas rud the then newly elected Lake County coroner agreed to review the
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autopsy evidence at the urging of Melissa's trial attorney I saw a membrane and I thought my God what do
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you mean when you say you saw a membrane you you see a scab similar to what forms
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on your skin except it's in the brain this is a slide of a part of this infant's brain correct by definition if
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you have a membrane you have an old injury at Melissa's trial Dr Choy had told the jury he observed no sign of an
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old injury but according to Dr Rod Dr Choy had simply missed it he called in Dr Nancy Jones a well-regarded
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pathologist for a second opinion and she agreed with Dr rud and noted that the old injury had been healing for about 2
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or 3 months a time frame consistent with that bump on Ben's head that was noticed
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at daycare how they let that go is beyond me like the defense experts at trial doctors Jones and rud believe that
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the old injury was further exacerbated by Ben's headbanging the added fluid of the recent injury pushes that brain down
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and shuts down the breathing system that is the the cause of the child's death it
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was the old injury the old injury was massive Dr red phon the now retired Dr Choy who signed a sworn affidavit
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conceding that he had missed that Ben had suffered an old injury but he crossed out the word significant and
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when asked if he would have changed his testimony at trial Dr Choy said no there's no indication that anything in
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there is significant but Dr rud suspected that Dr Troy may have also been wrong about another major issue in
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the case that alleged skull fracture what should have been done was that whole section
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should have been cut out to look under the microscope to see if in fact it is a skull fracture and they didn't Dr rub
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believed what Dr Choy and the other medical experts thought was a skull fracture may have instead been a normal
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part of Ben's growing skull but it couldn't prove it then in 2015 Melissa's father said he received an
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anonymous call that there was a set of X-rays at the Corner's office that had never been turned over to the defense
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when Dr rud's staff searched the computer archives they came across these startling
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images that were never shown a trial I was dumbfounded there's definitely no skull fracture here
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[Music] I've shown this to various pathologist and a radiologist they've all called me
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and say there is no skull fracture at in this child at all in 2015 4 years after
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Melissa kosinski's conviction and short after those clear X-rays of Ben kingan were found Dr Rudd changed the manner of
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death on Ben's death certificate from homicide to undetermined by this point defense
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attorney Kathleen zelner had taken on Melissa's case I don't know of a case in America where someone's serving a
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31-year prison sentence for a death that was undetermined zelner who has built a
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career on getting the wrong wrongfully convicted out of prison was intent on getting Melissa's conviction overturned
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and in 2016 Melissa was granted an evidentiary hearing to present what zelner argued
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was New Evidence before judge Daniel shanes the same judge who presided over Melissa's trial the New Evidence was
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that the images that had been given to Paul deuca had been darkened remember the state gave Melissa's trial attorney
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Paul Luca a disc containing these dark unreadable x-rays before trial at the evidentiary hearing Dr rud testified
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about finding the clear x-rays x-rays that he and other defense experts said showed no skull fracture x-rays that
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zelner argued would have changed the outcome of Melissa's trial the skull fracture was the pivotal point in the
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state's case to convince the jury it was a h HDE but at the evidentiary hearing prosecutors argued that this wasn't new
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evidence in the case they said that disc provided to DeLuca had software that could enhance the x-rays and that he
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simply didn't do enough to brighten them DeLuca says he couldn't even open the software I call in a secretary call in
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somebody else in the office no one could get any better images zelner with the help of an Imaging expert argued that it
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didn't matter what Duca did that the x-rays that he had been given had been modified and were inferior to the ones
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on the coroner's office computer she also called a witness whom she believed raised more questions about
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the prosecution's case Paul Foreman the deputy coroner during Ben kingan's autopsies Foreman disputed the testimony
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of one of the most important Witnesses at Melissa's trial Dr Manny Montes remember Dr Montes was the state's Final
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witness who testified that he felt a fracture in Ben kingan's skull but Foreman who said he was there
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when Montes came to the coroner's office testified that Montes never physically examined Ben's body or actually touch
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the child's skull could he have somehow G gone in and looked at Ben's body examined the body without you knowing no
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I was with him from the moment he came in the door to the moment he left the state tried to discredit Foreman by
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questioning his memory as well as his mental health Foreman told us he had been treated for bipolar disorder and
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depression well it was a personal attack but Foreman wasn't the only defense witness who raised questions about Dr
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montes's testimony Dr Robert Zimmerman a renowned pediatric neuroradiologist who examined the
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readable x-rays testified that if that skull fracture had existed it would be clearly visible it wasn't there on the
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X-ray so I don't think he could have actually seen it but prosecutors stood by their trial Witnesses Dr Mones and Dr
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Choy who said they saw and felt a skull fracture we reached out to both doctors for this broadcast but they did not
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respond to our requests for comment when the evidentiary hearing ended judge shanes ruled against Melissa
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she was dealt a devastating setback today in court that's when a judge ruled she would not get a new
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trial in his ruling judge Shane stated that he didn't find Paul Foreman's testimony regarding Dr Montes credible
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and he agreed with the state that Paul Duca could have brightened the x-rays and made them
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readable it was another let down for Melissa and her family you clearly made a mistake I just don't
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understand zelner appealed the ruling but again a disappointment and then 4 years later in
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2022 there was a development that few saw coming Eric Reinhardt a new State's Attorney in Lake County the county where
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Melissa was convicted had taken office zelner says he wanted more information on the discrepancy over the X-rays so he
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recommended she retain the digital forensics company Garrett Discovery we paid for him but he recommended him
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Andrew Garrett is the CEO of Garrett Discovery Brian Bowman is a digital forensics expert who works for him they
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concluded the x-rays were manipulated by someone using a software tool used to view
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x-rays how did Paul Duca the defense attorney end up with these very dark pictures I can show you so if I take
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these sliders here and I drag them all the way down or all the way up you can manipulate this
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photo so somebody went in and they altered the contrast to make it look like that on
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screen and then exported that file on the coroner's computer on the coroner's computer Bowman agrees there was little
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Duca could do the defense council could have adjusted some of the contrast on the jpegs that they were given but they
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couldn't make the images bigger and they wouldn't be able to go in and zoom into
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the the depth and have the clarity of the image that the original is but if Ben kingan's X-rays were manipulated who
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did it in their report gar and Bowman pointed to the state you put in here the state adjusted the settings of the
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images that resulted in Black washed out images you're saying that either the prosecutor's office or the coroner's
00:27:26
office but somebody repres presenting the state did this yes yes this is not a kiosk computer sitting in a Lobby this
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is in their custody and control you have to be in the Corner's office to get access to
00:27:42
this what do you make of Garrett Discovery findings chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X
00:27:52
[Music] in late 2022 when Lake County State's Attorney Eric reinard met with the
00:28:06
forensic experts experts he recommended and learned of their findings attorneys Kathleen zelner and Paul deuca were also
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there Eric was just indignant he was saying whoever had done this manipulation should be held accountable
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I believed after the meeting that he believed in Lissa's innocence and he he was going to try to rectify this I
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thought um he was going to do something about it but nothing happened say zelner
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and Duca and as the months stretched on zelner decided to also look more closely
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at Melissa's confession that's the only evidence against her there's nothing that tips this as being a homicide
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absolutely nothing mer asked Dr Saul cassen a psychology professor and leading expert on false
00:29:03
confessions to review the case Dr Kasen had first analyzed the interrogation back in
00:29:12
2016 when he was a CVS news consultant he told us then and now that it appears police went into that room determined to
00:29:22
get a confession the reason that we were called in in this incident is cuz Ben's
00:29:28
skull was fracture what we need to know right now is if this was done by accident or did somebody
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intentionally hurt him yeah I I would never put my hands on him her denials were emphatic I never put my hand on the
00:29:46
chest ever and they plowed over all of them and you know what medical evidence it just doesn't lie okay remember a
00:29:55
detective reported that during the autopsy the pathologist Dr Choy told him that Ben had a skull fracture and that
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the injury was recent and was caused by another person using strong force they didn't an autopsy on B yeah we're
00:30:14
talking a skull fracture there's sometimes accidents happening I mean they're unavoidable they launch into an
00:30:22
accident scenario I did not drop them did you lose your patience and hit him no did you push him into a
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wall M after nearly 6 hours with investigators you didn't come to work that day with the intent of hurting
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anybody Melissa told them it was an accident did you drop the baby I wasn't paying attention he
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flipped out of my hands but that didn't satisfy the detectives who had left the room periodically to phone Dr Choy that
00:30:56
story you're giv us is a there's no way no way that that would have caused that traumatic of an injury
00:31:03
all you need to do is tell us the truth and we're done they're not saying nothing will happen to you but it's
00:31:10
implied after 9 hours in that room the investigators were finally getting Melissa to tell a story that could
00:31:19
account for a skull fracture you were angry I was angry and aggravated show us how angry you were and show us what
00:31:27
happened and let's let just get this over with and move on okay so I got angry yeah and I went boom I'm going
00:31:33
tell you something right now we this is very specific this is going to leave a specific Mark like a fracture then they
00:31:42
gave Melissa a scenario of why she got angry we think in this situation the other babies are screaming crying and
00:31:51
what she did he starts acting up and you you get mad at him and you throw on the
00:31:59
floor you threw him on the floor yeah she needs to get out of there she can't take it anymore I need so sorry okay we
00:32:08
understand the detectives who interrogated Melissa did not respond to our request for comment Dr casson raises
00:32:16
concerns about how long Melissa was in that room approximately 10 hours and how particularly vulnerable she
00:32:26
was about two and half years before Ben kingan's death Melissa had reported she was
00:32:33
raped she was enclosed in a small space pinned down and sexually assaulted now she's pinned into the corner of her room
00:32:42
I can only imagine that while this would be normally stressful for the average person it would be even more stressful
00:32:50
for somebody with that history the defense recently had Melissa evaluated by a psychologist and psychiatrist
00:32:58
they diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder they also assessed her as having borderline intellectual
00:33:07
functioning she scored at a 4.8 grade level in sentence comprehension which could help explain
00:33:16
why she believed she could go home even after she had confessed to murder I'm just kind of curious how long much more
00:33:24
not much longer we're on the phone right now we're trying to get this done as quick
00:33:28
because I just want to go home spend time with my parents and puppy let me get she had no idea what was happening
00:33:35
the confession in my mind is worthless there are multiple reasons why she might have given this confession this isn't
00:33:42
just a vulnerable suspect it isn't just interrogation tactics that are highly deceptive it's
00:33:48
both the jury at Melissa's trial heard about her low IQ but the judge would not allow a false confession expert to test
00:33:57
testify zelner believes that testimony might have changed the verdict if Melissa kazinski had not walked into
00:34:07
that room as she had insisted on a attorney would she be impr prison today no absolutely not they had absolutely
00:34:15
nothing there's no eyewitness there was no video the reason Melissa kazinski got
00:34:21
charged is she confessed but if Melissa didn't harm Ben kingan what happened to the toddler it
00:34:29
raises more questions about that earlier injury the one that was discovered at the daycare months before his death
00:34:37
several employees there remembered a coworker she was working at the that happened her name is what I
00:34:47
believe I only heard I didn't see anything is that she put it in the crib and I believe he threw himself back she
00:34:54
quit the day after Brenda didn't have Tes ify at Melissa's trial and the defense was
00:35:00
never able to track her down but we did a number of people have said that b was hurt when he was with
00:35:16
[Music] you Melissa kusinski was interrogated for hours about the injury Ben kingan
00:35:25
received just before his death but what about the daycare worker who was reported to be with Ben a few months
00:35:33
earlier when he got a lump on his head she didn't return our calls but when we located her she agreed to speak to us on
00:35:42
the condition we obscure her face and identify her only by Brenda her first name on October 27th
00:35:51
2008 there was a report of an injury on Ben King and do you remember that that no I don't the way it's been described
00:36:00
is from some people is that Ben was with you and you were putting him in the bed
00:36:05
they heard a bump and and then he had a bump on the back of his head no did that
00:36:11
happen with you no but you did stop working the very next day I did I I was just kind of tired of being there I
00:36:21
don't recall a bump and I don't recall ever bumping him so do you say it didn't happen or you don't remember it Happ it
00:36:28
didn't happen Brenda has never been charged with harming Ben intentionally or accidentally but attorney Kathleen
00:36:37
Zelmer is adamant the Ben sustained a serious injury that day I think that his parents were misled by the daycare
00:36:47
center about that incident and according to these police reports it wouldn't be the first time that the daycare
00:36:54
allegedly tried to cover up the seriousness of a child's injury the daycare was shut
00:37:01
down by state authorities shortly after Ben died in April 2024 more than 12 years
00:37:09
after Melissa's conviction with no success in the court system zelner filed this clemency petition asking Illinois
00:37:18
governor JB pritzker to exonerate Melissa or release her for time served I believe this is her best chance for
00:37:29
Freedom before a scheduled hearing Lake County State's Attorney Eric Reinhardt spoke to an attorney representing Ben
00:37:37
kingan's family and then he wrote this letter to the prisoner review board stating his office strongly opposes
00:37:46
Melissa's clemency petition were you shocked by that totally I believe he thinks in his heart that she's
00:37:54
innocent Reinhardt would not do an on camera interview or speak to us on the record but in that letter to the board
00:38:02
he stated that there is no new evidence in the case and that Melissa's petition for clemency does not establish
00:38:12
innocence on July 9th 2024 zelner went before the prisoner review board to make her case for Melissa's Freedom what we
00:38:22
want to do today is focus on who is this person and how did she end up in the position that she's in convicted of the
00:38:31
first degree murder of a child but also they are making an impassion plea for Ben kingan's parents
00:38:40
my name is Amy K and I am here with my husand we are the parents of Benjamin pan who was murdered from Melissa cinski
00:38:49
threw him to the ground back his call because of her actions Andy and I are adamantly opposed to Melissa kusinski
00:38:57
released we continue to read about how there is no justice for Melissa but where is the justice for V and for Andy
00:39:05
and myself and our surviving children we hope that you as the prison review board and the governor will Deni
00:39:13
her petition for Clowny Amy and Andy kingan declined our request for an interview following Amy's statement
00:39:23
zelner was then given the chance to respond there is no question that the death of a child is probably the worst
00:39:31
thing that could ever happen to a parent but the only way that a parent gets closure is with the truth and the truth
00:39:41
has not come out on this case I know that she is innocent after the hearing it was up to
00:39:50
the prisoner review board to make a confidential recommendation to Governor pritsker as to whether Alissa should be
00:39:58
released if you had a chance to talk to Governor pritsker yourself M what would you say I would say just please look at
00:40:07
my case I didn't do this Holly who worked at the daycare with Melissa believes her so much so
00:40:16
that she wrote this letter to the Governor from the time Melissa was arrested for Benjamin's murder I have
00:40:21
always thought she was innocent the evidence does not point to Melissa I can only
00:40:30
imagine how Ben's family is going to feel knowing that I'm saying Melissa's Innocent but an
00:40:40
innocent person should not be in jail when we first met the kusinski family back in
00:40:50
2014 5 years after Melissa's arrest they still had her bedroom set up today that room is still set up just as
00:41:01
it was Paul and Cheryl kazinski haven't given up hope that their daughter will be home soon she's daddy's little
00:41:15
girl we did everything again and we're just going to keep on until she comes home
00:41:24
[Music] [Music] CBS next Saturday a young grad student is shot and killed it still doesn't feel real was
00:41:47
this just a random act of road rage it's not a violent crash no or was it something much more personal wow there's
00:41:54
our connection 48 hours is all new CBS next Saturday 109 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus