The state’s highest court will soon decide whether a man convicted of killing his infant son more than 20 years ago will get a new trial.

The case involves the controversial medical diagnosis, shaken baby syndrome. In 2003, a Gwinnett County jury convicted Danyel Smith of murdering his two-month-old son, Chandler. The state’s medical examiner ruled the boy’s death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma. Prosecutors told the jury it was a “shaken baby” case.

In April 2024, Smith pleaded with Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor to grant him a new trial following nearly two weeks of testimony from medical experts who testified the child’s death points to biological issues.

“I asked myself if I could live with that decision for the rest of my life and the answer is no,” Smith told the court. “Only a guilty man would plead out.

“Not every tragedy is a crime,” Smith said. “I’m not a murderer. I did not kill my son."

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