Battered spouse syndrome diagnosis should keep father of Kierra Starr Williams out of jail: defence

The Winnipeg lawyer who helped establish battered womansyndrome as a defence for murder believes he can use the same diagnosis to keep a man convicted in the beating death of his toddler-aged daughter out of prison.

Daniel Williams wasfound guilty earlier this year in the 2014 death of his 21-month-old daughter, Kierra Elektra Starr Williams.

But despite the conviction, defencelawyerGreg Brodskysays a diagnosis of battered spouse syndromegiven to his client in an independent pre-sentence report should spare Williams from serving time injail.

The Crown disagrees.

At a sentencing hearing in Winnipeg Friday, Crown attorney Daniel Chaput expressed concerns about the reportandthe diagnosis.

He asked Justice Sadie Bond to adjourn the sentencing before submissions to allow the Crown to learn more about the psychoanalyst who made the diagnosis and the author of the report.

"We don't even know the qualifications of the individual who provided that expert opinion," Chaput said in court. That expert opinion became a factor for the report's author, who "comes to a conclusion about the dangerousness of the offender," he said.

Bond sided with the Crown and set a date for a pre-sentencing hearing to settle the matter.

Outside court,Brodsky said the decisionmeans he'll have to call the probation officer behind the report and the psychoanalyst who made the diagnosis into court to be cross-examined by the Crown.

"I think that the Crown is overly aggressive in this case," he said. "I wonder why the Crown is taking the position that the diagnosis, or the assessment that the fellow is suffering battered spouse syndrome, is not accepted."

Guilty of manslaughter

In February, a jury found Williams guilty of manslaughter in connection withKierra's death.

The girl was rushed to hospital on Peguis First Nation in July 2014. She died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen, causing internal bleeding. Court heard the child sustained numerous injuries as a result of prolonged physical abuse at the hands of her mother, Vanessa Bushie.

Bushie previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a separate trial.

Evidence presented by the Crown said the toddler was "starving" and "withering" when she was killed.

Prosecutors argued during Williams's trial that he knew his partner was abusing their daughter, was a witness to at least some of the abuse and failed to protect the toddler.

During the trial, Brodsky argued Williams couldn't be responsible for his daughter's death because he didn't directly harm her, and he couldn't have predicted the little girl would be killed.

A landmark case

Battered spouse syndrome is a defence Brodskyknows well.

The veteran Winnipeg lawyer helped establish battered women's syndrome as a defence for murder in the case of Manitoba resident Angelique Lyn Lavallee, who fatally shot her common-law partner, Kevin Rust, in the back of the head as he left her room following a heated argument in August 1986.

The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, where the question arose of whether the evidence of the psychiatrist who diagnosed Lavallee, Dr. Fred Shane, should have been before the court.

Supreme Court accepts battered wife syndrome defence in 1990

34 years ago

Duration 3:13

Angelique Lavallee's murder acquittal establishes a Canadian precedent. Aired on CBC's The National on May 3, 1990.

The top court ultimately agreed that the evidence was pertinent, recognizing that battered woman syndrome is a legitimate defence.

Brodsky told CBC Friday he may call Shane back to testify at Williams's pre-sentence hearing, set for July 26.

"If I have to prove that there is such a thing as a battered wife syndrome, he's the psychiatrist that testified in the case that defined battered wife syndrome," he said.

Brodskysaid he is confident the defence will work again.

"I'd like my client not to go to jail. He didn't do anything to the child."