Mike on Crime

By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict today in the case of a Winnipeg woman charged of killing one of her infant triplets – marking the second time the high-profile prosecution has ended in a mistrial.
Michelle Camire, 27, once again finds herself in a state of legal flux after jurors declared themselves deadlocked this afternoon. They had started deliberations aboiut 4 p.m. Monday.
Justice officials must now decide if they will seek a third trial against Camire.
She has pleaded not guilty in connection with the October 2004 death of her three-month-old son, Michael.
Jurors saw and heard plenty of emotional evidence, including an intense video statement in which Camire folded a blanket, knelt down and prayed out loud for forgiveness following her arrest.
Camire told detectives from the child abuse unit that she was frustrated and took it out on Michael.
She burped him, he spit up “a lot” and she “threw” the baby face down into the bassinet from a less than a foot above its padded surface, she said. The babies were healthy, as was her 20-month-old daughter. She and her partner, Derek Helgason, had overnight respite care five nights a week, including the night before Michael died.
Camire said that night she slept six-and-a-half hours. She said she and Derek had been together six years, and they had a good relationship.
Michael died of a massive head injury and suffered an eight-centimetre skull fracture.
In court last week, neuropathologist Dr. Marc DelBigio testified that the baby’s brain injury was consistent with child abuse, a car accident or something caused by “a considerable amount of force.”