Lawyers for an imprisoned Gwinnett County father are hopeful he will get a new trial, as Georgia’s Supreme Court reverses a judge’s ruling barring a do-over in the alleged murder of the man’s infant son.
Danyel Smith was convicted of murder in 2003, the year after the death of his two-month-old son, Chandler. A Gwinnett County jury was told that the baby died of “shaken baby syndrome.” Now, looking at the case through up-to-date medical and scientific evidence, experts agree that Chandler was not abused.
Still, a Gwinnett County judge denied Smith’s motion for a new trial. Georgia justices unanimously ruled Wednesday, October 15, 2025 that the lower court misapplied the law in doing so. They sent the case back to the trial court…