The Akron Legal News

Court denies request for new trial from man convicted of assaulting infant

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 7, 2014

A man’s convictions for assaulting his infant son and leaving him in a permanent vegetative state were recently affirmed when the 5th District Court of Appeals ruled that he was not entitled to a new trial.

Matthew Stein argued to the three-judge appellate panel that he should be granted a new trial based on new evidence about his son’s medical disorder and a doctor’s change of heart regarding shaken baby syndrome.

His case stemmed from serious injuries to his infant son that arose while the child was in Stein’s care.

Case summary states that Aiden was born in October 2003 to Stein and Arica Heimlich.

He was born with his umbilical cord around his neck but did not suffer any trauma as a result.

The state presented evidence that for the first four and a half months of his life, Aiden was a normally developing baby.

On March 14, 2004, Heimlich testified that she woke Aiden up and fed him around 6:30 a.m.

She said he appeared to be fine when she left for work a little more than an hour later.

Around 10:30 a.m. that day, Stein banged on his neighbor’s door and stated that Aiden had stopped breathing.

The neighbor immediately checked the child for signs of choking and found none.

He then began performing CPR while his girlfriend called 911.

Aiden was transported to a local hospital and Stein told the emergency room physician that Aiden had gagged while nursing from a bottle.

The doctor later testified that he did not find any of the usual symptoms of choking while examining Aiden.

The baby was then transported to Akron Children’s Hospital and Dr. Daryl Steiner took over treatment.

Steiner stated that a CT scan showed extensive bleeding around Aiden’s brain and he discovered brain swilling and a skull fracture.

Steiner said Aiden had severe retinal hemorrhages that were not consistent with those caused by birth and concluded that Aiden had suffered brain damage caused by physical abuse.

Two other physicians concurred in that diagnosis.

Aiden was left in a permanent vegetative state and Stein was charged with felonious assault and child endangering.

The matter proceeded to a jury trial in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas and the jury found Stein guilty of both charges.

The trial court merged the child endangering charge as an allied offense of similar import and sentenced him to eight years in prison for felonious assault.

The Fifth District affirmed Stein’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal.

In January 2013, Stein filed a motion for leave to move for a new trial.

He argued that he was entitled to a new trial because Aiden was diagnosed with a medical disorder that caused his subdural hemotoma and because Steiner had changed his opinion regarding shaken baby syndrome.

The trial court denied the motion and Stein appealed once more to the 5th District.

“Appellant, in his sole assignment of error, argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for leave to file a motion for new trial,” Judge Craig Baldwin wrote for the court.

Upon review, the appellate panel maintained that a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence must be filed within 120 days after the verdict is rendered unless the defendant is unavoidably prevented from discovering the evidence.

It further held that, based on requirements set forth by the Ohio Supreme Court, the new evidence must show a strong possibility that it would change the outcome of the trial.

In Stein’s case, he presented an affidavit from Dr. Michael Laposata.

The affidavit explained that Laposata had reviewed Aiden’s medical records and found him to have “extremely high levels of blood triglycerides and cholesterol.”

He further noted problems with Aiden’s liver, kidneys, pancreas and endocrine organs.

The doctor explained that those levels were indicative of an underlying genetic disorder that could have caused “the spontaneous rupture of his weakened blood vessels” and “resulted in the observed bleeding and bruising events in this child.”

“With a high degree of medical certainty, it can be stated that there is no need to invoke trauma of any kind to explain the observed findings in the patient,” Laposata wrote.

The judges, however, determined that Laposata’s opinions were based only on his review of medical records and that he had not actually seen Aiden and Aiden had not actually been diagnosed with a genetic disorder.

“However, there is no evidence that appellant could not have discovered such evidence before the trial or within 120 days of the jury’s verdict,” Judge Baldwin continued, overruling that segment of Stein’s appeal.

Stein next argued that he was entitled to a new trial because Steiner recently testified that he would not diagnose a child with shaken baby syndrome without a witness.

In response, Steiner submitted an affidavit acknowledging that he had made that statement but clarifying that he had since made the diagnosis without a witness and reaffirmed his diagnosis of Aiden.

Based on that information, the judges ruled that the trial court did not abuse its discretion.

“The trial court’s decision was not arbitrary, unconscionable or unreasonable,” Judge Baldwin stated.

Presiding Judge John Wise and Judge Patricia Delaney concurred.

The case is cited State v. Stein, 2014-Ohio-222.

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