Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“ He observed, however, that the evidence, "though clearly sufficient to support a conviction, raises many questions":
"Grandmothers, especially those not serving as the primary caretakers, are not the typical perpetrators [in shaken baby cases] . Further, [Smith] was helping her daughter raise her other children (a [4-year-old] and a 14-month-old) and there was no hint of [Smith] abusing or neglecting these other children, who were in the room with Etzel when he died. Still further, there was no evidence of any precipitating event that might have caused [Smith] to snap and assault her grandson. ”

“ Etzel's mother, Tomeka, contradicted this account. According to Tomeka, after the social worker accused Smith of killing Etzel, Smith started crying, id., at 429–430, and responded, "No, I didn't," id., at 387. Taking the social worker's version of events as true, Smith's distraught and equivocal question fairly cannot be equated to a confession of guilt. Giving a baby "a little shake, a jostle to wake him," ante, at 2 (internal quotation marks omitted) , after finding him unexpectedly unresponsive, surely is not an admission to shaking a child violently, causing his brainstem to tear. ”

“ Erlich, who performed Etzel's autopsy, to rule out two commonly proffered causes of death in SBS cases: massive bleeding and massive swelling that create pressure and push the brain downward. Id., at 541, 551–552, 729–730, 801. Instead, they opined, Etzel's death was caused by direct injury—shearing or tearing of the brainstem or the brain itself. Id., at 694–696, 729–730, 801, 1298. The autopsy revealed no physical evidence of such injury, either grossly or microscopically. ”