LONDON (AP) — A lawyer for convicted British killer nurse Lucy Letby said Monday that he plans to ask an appeals court to re-examine her convictions after the prosecution's leading expert changed his opinion on how three babies died.
Dr. Dewi Evans's testimony is no longer credible after he reversed his opinion that Letby killed three infants by injecting air down a nasal gastric tube, attorney Mark McDonald said.
“The defense will argue that Dr. Evans is not a reliable expert, and given that he was the lead expert for the prosecution, we say that all the convictions are not safe,” McDonald said.
Letby, 34, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder seven others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England between June 2015 and June 2016.
The Crown Prosecution Service defended the verdicts.
“Two juries and three appeal court judges have reviewed a multitude of different strands of evidence against Lucy Letby,” a CPS spokesperson said in a statement. “In May, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds — rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”
Prosecutors said at trial that Letby's methods left little trace and included injecting air into their bloodstreams, poisoning them with insulin and interfering with breathing tubes. Prosecutors said she was a “constant malevolent presence" and was alone on duty in the neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died.
Letby, who testified at two trials that she never harmed a child, has stood by her claims of innocence.
Experts said it is unusual to ask the Court of Appeal to reopen its previous decision to reject a case and would require convincing evidence to succeed.
“It is vanishingly rare for a lead expert witness in a criminal case to ‘change his mind’ on key evidence," said defense lawyer Sean Caulfield, who is not involved in the case. “It is also rare for there to be a bid to reopen an appeal after it has already been refused by the Court of Appeal. I have never seen these two things happen in unison during my 20-year plus career. It is quite an astonishing turn of events."
McDonald said 15 medical experts around the world are reviewing trial evidence.
An inquiry currently underway to examine failures by the hospital to recognize why babies were dying and why they took so long to stop Letby opened in September against a backdrop of experts and others who have questioned evidence used against Letby.
A group of scientists, doctors and legal experts that independently reviewed scientific evidence from Letby’s trial warned Britain’s ministers of health and justice that legal systems were “particularly vulnerable to errors” when dealing with technical matters, “especially in cases involving statistical anomalies in health care settings.”
Evans gave his new opinions on the death of infants identified in court as Baby C, Baby I and Baby P in a signed response to a Channel 5 documentary, McDonald said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Dr. Evans is still going to say that Lucy Letby is guilty and he has a different view or different hypothesis in relation to it," McDonald said. “But the cause of death that was before the Court of Appeal is different now, according to Dr. Evans, and I think that is a profound issue that needs to be relooked at.”
Evans has not yet responded to a request for comment following McDonald's news conference.
Additionally, two neonatologists working with the defense said there were medical reasons Baby C and Baby O became ill and could not be resuscitated, McDonald said.
FILE - This undated handout issued by Cheshire Constabulary shows nurse Lucy Letby. (Cheshire Constabulary via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris “wrote off rural America" during the 2024 presidential campaign and failed to attack Donald Trump with sufficient “negative firepower," according to a long-awaited post-election autopsy released on Thursday by the Democratic National Committee.
The committee's chair, Ken Martin, shared the 192-page report only after facing intense internal pressure from frustrated Democratic operatives concerned with his leadership. Martin had originally promised to release the autopsy, only to keep it under wraps for months because he was concerned it would be a distraction ahead of the midterms as Democrats mobilize to take back control of Congress.
On Tuesday, Martin apologized for his handling of the situation and conceded that the report was withheld because it “was not ready for primetime."
Although the autopsy criticizes Democrats' focus on “identity politics,” it sidesteps some of the most controversial elements of the 2024 campaign. The report does not address former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection, the rushed selection of Harris to replace him on the ticket or the party's acrimonious divide over the war in Gaza.
“I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards,” Martin wrote in an essay on Substack on Thursday. “I don’t endorse what’s in this report, or what’s left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it. But transparency is paramount.”
A spokesperson for Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The initial reaction from Democratic operatives was a mix of bafflement and anger over Martin's handling of the situation.
“Why not say this in 2024, or bring in more people to finish it, instead of turning this into the dumbest media cycle for 7-8 months?” Democratic strategist Steve Schale wrote on social media.
The postelection report, which was authored by Democratic consultant Paul Rivera, calls for “a renewed focus on the voters of Middle America and the South, who have come to believe they are not included in the Democratic vision of a stronger and more dynamic America for everyone.”
“Millions of Americans are suffering from poor access to healthcare, manufacturing and job losses, and a failing infrastructure, yet continue to be persuaded to vote against their best interests because they do not see themselves reflected in the America of the Democratic Party,” the report says.
The autopsy points to a reduction in support and training for Democratic state parties, voter registration shifts and “a persistent inability or unwillingness to listen to all voters.”
Thursday's release comes as Martin confronts a crisis of confidence among party officials who are increasingly concerned about the health of their political machine barely a year into his term. Some Democratic operatives have had informal discussions about recruiting a new chair, even though most believe that Martin’s job wasn't in serious jeopardy ahead of the midterm elections.
The report found that Harris and her allies failed to focus enough on Trump's negatives, especially his felony convictions. This was part of a broader criticism that Democrats' messaging is too focused on reason and winning arguments, “even in cycles when the electorate is defined by rage.”
“There was a decision in the 2024 Democratic leadership not to engage in negative advertising at the scale required,” the report states. “The Trump campaign and supportive Super PACs went full throttle against Vice President Harris, but there was not sufficient or similar negative firepower directed at Trump by Democrats.”
The report continues: “It was essential to prosecute a more effective case as to why Trump should have been disqualified from ever again taking office. The grounds were there, but the messaging did not make the case.”
Trump's attack on Harris' transgender policies were cited as a key contrast.
Specifically, the report suggested the Democratic nominee was “boxed” in by the Trump campaign's “very effective” ad that highlighted Harris' previous statement of support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgeries for prison inmates.
Democratic pollsters believed that “if the Vice President would not change her position – and she did not – then there was nothing which would have worked as a response," the report said.
The report criticized Harris' outreach to key segments of America while condemning the party's focus on “identity politics.”
“Harris wrote off rural America, assuming urban/suburban margins would compensate. The math doesn’t work,” the report says. “You can’t lose rural areas by overwhelming margins and make it up elsewhere when rural voters are a significant share of the electorate. If Democrats are to reclaim leadership in the Heartland or the South, candidates must perform well in rural turf. Show up, listen, and then do it again.”
The report also references Democrats' underperformance with male voters of color.
“Male voters require direct engagement. The gender gap can be narrowed. Deploy male messengers, address economic concerns, and don’t assume identity politics will hold male voters of color,” it says.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event about loosening a federal refrigerant rule, in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a fireside chat on Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
FILE - Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at DNC headquarters, Jan. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)
