New Jersey’s Supreme Court throws out the 2016 conviction of a Florida woman for killing her 5-year-old son 25 years earlier, ruling that despite the jury’s verdict, prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to prove she had purposely caused the death.
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey’s Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the 2016 conviction of a Florida woman for killing her 5-year-old son 25 years earlier, ruling that despite the jury’s verdict, prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to prove she had purposely caused the boy’s death.
“This is a great day for the rule of law and for the proposition that convictions have to be based on evidence, not on speculation or emotion,” he said. “Michelle is enormously grateful to everyone who has stood by her throughout this long ordeal.” As time passed and no charges were filed, Lodzinski went on with her life and had two other children. She was living in Port St. Lucie, Florida, in 2014 when authorities in New Jersey charged her with killing Wiltsey. Investigators said a break in the case had come when Wiltsey’s former babysitters identified a blue blanket, found along with the boy’s body, as belonging to Lodzinski.
Prosecutors, who had portrayed Lodzinski at trial as a struggling young mother who felt burdened by the boy, argued on appeal that the totality of the evidence, including her evasive answers during initial questioning, was enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. An appeals court agreed in 2019 when it upheld Lodzinski’s conviction.
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