(KNSI) — The lawyer for an Albany man whose murder conviction was overturned is expressing his joy and relief at the decision.
The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision stating that Robert John Kaiser’s two-month-old son William died from a medical condition and not from child abuse.
Kaiser declined to speak about the decision; however, Great Northern Innocence Project Managing Attorney James Mayer spoke on his behalf and told KNSI News Kaiser’s reaction: “He was relieved to hear it. Robert has just been living his life. It’s really extraordinary that with all of that hanging over his head, he has just gone ahead and worked on building a life for himself. It’s really inspirational.”
Kaiser would have been sent back to prison if the decision was different.
Mayer has been by Kaiser’s side for the last few years and tells us the protracted legal proceedings and waiting for the decision was “nerve racking. We thought it was going to come out our way, but, until it comes out, you never know. You get very personally invested in these cases. That’s the nature of the work. And so it means a lot to us.”
Court papers say in August of 2014, Kaiser was caring for the child when he became pale, sweaty, fussy, and eventually unresponsive. He was brought to the hospital and was suffering seizures. CT scans showed a brain bleed, bleeding behind the eyes, but no skull fracture. After a few days, the child was suffering from stomach issues, and his condition continued to deteriorate. Medical officials weren’t sure if it was from an underlying health condition or if it was shaken baby syndrome. Kaiser was taken into custody and was behind bars when William died on September 3rd, 2014. Kaiser was charged with three counts of murder. He was convicted on two and in 2016 was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Kaiser appealed his conviction, and his attorneys had several independent medical experts look at the evidence who said there was a medical cause for William’s injuries, and there was no criminal element to it. William had an undiagnosed medical condition known as cerebral venous thrombosis, which causes clotting in the brain’s venous system.
Mayer said the most striking thing about the case was at trial, one of the state’s witnesses gave unequivocal testimony to the jury that one of the things seen going on in the child’s eyes could have only been caused by abuse. Kaiser’s defense team did not explore the possibility of it being from something else, such as an undiagnosed medical condition.
Mayer and the Innocence Project got involved in the post-conviction hearing and presented witnesses who stated there were multiple nonabuse-related causes of CVT. “Even the state’s own witnesses conceded that testimony at trial had been false and misleading. And that, in fact, there are multiple causes. So that was really important. And that was really the basis for the Supreme Court’s decision—that the jury heard false testimony.”
After serving nearly eight years, Kaiser’s verdict was overturned by a Stearns County judge. In May of 2022, Kaiser was released.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued an opinion in February 2023 affirming the district court’s decision to vacate. Stearns County prosecutors appealed again, this time to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and argued their case before the panel in September. The high court upheld the Stearns County judge’s ruling on Wednesday.
His attorney hopes that Kaiser can begin to heal. “It’s now been almost ten years since Robert tragically lost his son. And so we’re just very hopeful that this decision maybe can mark the end of this ordeal for him and everyone else.”
His case is not over yet.
The Stearns County Attorney’s Office can still attempt to retry him if they wish since the case does not fall under the double jeopardy statute. Kaiser’s legal team is waiting to see what the county attorney will do.
Mayer hopes they decide in the next few weeks but says he doesn’t understand why prosecutors would go that route, considering three courts have now ruled his conviction should be vacated. He also mentioned the considerable cost to Stearns County taxpayers and that Kaiser had already served much of the sentence imposed upon him by the court.
KNSI News Director Jennifer Lewerenz contributed to this story
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