A onetime star witness in a shaken-baby trial now says the crime may never have happened—but the man he helped put away is still serving life. Former Tennessee chief medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy tells NBC News he has reversed his decades-old finding that Alex Maze, who died at 19 months, was fatally harmed by violent shaking that occurred at his father's hands when he was just five weeks old. When his wife ran to the store to buy formula one day in May 1999, Russell Maze says his son stopped breathing, prompting him to call 911. The child was found to have irreversible brain damage. Levy's original autopsy and courtroom testimony underpinned Maze's 2004 murder conviction; he has always denied harming his son.
After reviewing medical records Levy says he never saw at the time—including the fact that Alex was born prematurely and experienced heart problems and anemia—he now classifies the cause of death as undetermined and the manner of death as natural. "I was wrong," he said, adding he believes Maze is innocent. Levy's about-face comes amid a broader reassessment of shaken baby syndrome, or abusive head trauma. For years, brain swelling, brain bleeding, and retinal hemorrhages were treated as near-certain proof of abuse; newer research has shown similar patterns can stem from other medical issues.
Nashville's conviction review unit, led by prosecutor Sunny Eaton, spent nearly two years re-examining the case. More than half a dozen outside experts, Eaton says, concluded Alex's death was most likely due to an undiagnosed condition rather than abuse. The Nashville district attorney's office has joined the push to overturn Maze's conviction. Courts have not followed. A trial judge rejected the request to vacate the conviction last year, dismissing the new testimony as just another "battle of the experts." In October, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Maze's life sentence in a 2-1 decision, calling Levy's reversal "bare" and characterizing it as witness recantation, not new scientific evidence.
Levy's view is simple: "I would like Russell to come home. I think he has paid a horrible price for mistakes that I and others have made. (Read the full story here.)
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