Wrongly accused murder suspect fights to sue pathologist

An appeal court has reserved judgment on whether a woman wrongly accused of murdering her daughter can move forward with a lawsuit against a former Toronto pathologist.

Louise Reynolds was charged with murder and spent two years in jail after Dr. Charles Smith's autopsy concluded that her seven-year-old daughter, Sharon, had been stabbed to death.

A second autopsy performed by other pathologists later determined that the Kingston girl died from dog bites.

Smith is now appealing a lower court decision that said Reynolds could proceed with a $7-million lawsuit against him.

His lawyers Smith only played a bit part in the investigation by giving his opinion to the police, and that he has immunity for the evidence he gave against her mother.

They admit there may be grounds for a lawsuit, but say it should only be directed against the Kingston police.

Reynolds' lawyer rejects that argument.

"Louise Reynolds has sued the Kingston police, but she thinks that Dr. Smith is a pretty big part of what went wrong," said Peter Wardle.

"And from what we know about other cases involving him, there seems to be some basis for that."

Last year, the Ontario coroner's office undertook reviews of 44 cases including Sharon Reynolds' death in which Smith either performed autopsies or offered an expert opinion.

• FROM NOV. 1, 2005: Panel to review 44 child deaths

Thursday's hearing before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ended without the panel of judges giving a date when it expects to release a decision.