Albany Man’s Murder Conviction Overturned by Minnesota Supreme Court

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision overturning the murder conviction of an Albany man accused of killing his son.

Court papers say in August of 2014, Robert John Kaiser was caring for his two-month-old baby William. During the day, the child became pale, sweaty, fussy, and eventually unresponsive. He was brought to the hospital and was suffering seizures. Doctors gave William Propofol while they tried to determine the cause of the seizures.

William was examined at the hospital, and CT scans showed a brain bleed, bleeding behind the eyes, but no skull fracture. As the days wore on, the child showed stomach issues, and his condition continued to deteriorate. He died on September 3rd, 2014.

Kaiser said hospital staff went back and forth, unsure whether it was shaken baby syndrome or an underlying medical condition that caused the injuries. Kaiser was eventually arrested and charged with one count of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder.

During the trial, six doctors who examined and treated William testified that there was no way the child could have sustained those injuries except for violent shaking. Another medical expert testified and said William’s injuries were older, and the absence of skull or neck trauma “weighed against but did not preclude a diagnosis” of abusive head trauma. A neonatologist also testified prolonged exposure to Propofol caused William to develop a bowel issue, which ultimately caused his death.

Kaiser testified in his own defense, saying the baby fell out of his stroller a month before and had “suffered a bout of prolonged vomiting” before being admitted to the hospital.

The jury found Kaiser guilty in 2016 of two counts of murder, and he 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. Kaiser’s attorneys argued none of the State’s medical witnesses disclosed the presence of CVT and insisted that the baby could only have died due to abuse at the hands of his father. That included Dr. Jeffrey Lynch, an ophthalmologist who examined William’s eyes while he was critically ill.

Dr. Lynch originally testified for the State that he observed macular schisis in the child’s left eye. He then explained the link between macular schisis and abusive head trauma and that there “really isn’t any other type of cause of that, that I’ve seen in my career.”

Court papers say the medical evidence showing William’s condition, flawed testimony, and ineffective advice from counsel was enough to support the claim that Kaiser was deprived of his constitutional right to a fair trial. In a nine day evidentiary hearing, Dr. Lynch said there are numerous causes of macular schisis, and head trauma is not the only cause, and macular schisis on its own is not diagnostic of abusive head trauma. Evidence was also presented that cerebral venous thrombosis appeared on William’s brain scans. Kaiser’s experts presented medical literature, finding that the condition can “mimic” the symptoms of abusive head trauma, whether or not any trauma occurred.

A Stearns County judge vacated the conviction, a move that the Stearns County Prosecutor’s Office appealed.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals issued an opinion in February of 2023, affirming the district court’s decision to vacate the conviction. Stearns County prosecutors appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court and argued their case before the panel in September.

The opinion issued Wednesday states, “Here, the State’s experts made statements of medical fact to the jury that proved crucial in establishing Kaiser’s guilt. The district court conducted a thorough 9-day evidentiary hearing and gathered the facts necessary to conclude that the trial testimony was false. And the State’s own witness, in effect, recanted his trial testimony by saying later that it was incorrect.”

The panel said on the record they agree with the lower court’s ruling that Kaiser’s right to a fair trial “requires postconviction relief in this difficult case.”

The ruling concluded by saying, “We recognize the tragedy that comes with the death of a child and the pain a surviving family and community endure in experiencing such an unthinkable loss. We do not affirm the reversal of a murder conviction lightly, and we make our decision realizing a new trial will cause renewed pain for William’s family.”

In response to the Court’s decision, Great Northern Innocense Project’s attorney Jim Mayer emailed a statement to KNSI News, saying, “Robert Kaiser was already behind bars in 2014 when he learned that his son had died in the hospital, and he would remain behind bars for the next eight years of his life – based on a conviction that three courts have now held to have been deeply flawed. We fervently hope that today’s unanimous
decision will allow the family, all of whom have suffered immensely, to put this tragedy behind them.”

Stearns County can still decide to retry Kaiser since the case does not fall under the double jeopardy statute. Mayer 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 served much of the sentence imposed upon him by the court.

Kaiser was released on bail from Stearns County Jail on May 16th, 2022, after the Stearns County District Court vacated his original conviction.

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