JADE MAWSON - 19 Months (2002) - Warwick RI

Kimberly A.
Mawson, the Connecticut mother serving 35 years for killing her
19-month-old daughter, smiled broadly Wednesday afternoon as she
walked out of prison, free on bail after new information surfaced
in the case. Her long, blond hair pulled back
tightly in a ponytail, Mawson stepped into a Jaguar driven by her
father as inmates cheered from the windows of the Gloria
McDonald women’s building at the Adult Correctional Institutions.
Asked how she felt being freed after 2 ½ years
in prison, Mawson, 39, said simply “very good.” She replied “no
thank you” to further questions and, within two minutes, staff
loaded her bags into the car taking her to her home in Winsted,
Conn. Superior Court Judge Edwin J. Gale on
Tuesday approved an agreement reached by defense lawyers and
prosecutors that set Mawson’s bail at $100,000 with surety — or
$10,000 cash — pending appeal of her 2007 conviction for
murdering her daughter, Jade, in 2002. Her father, John Mawson,
posted bail late Wednesday after first having to return to
Connecticut to get a bank check. The state
Supreme Court last week ordered that Superior Court hear and
decide Mawson’s motion for a new trial within six months in light of
newly discovered evidence.
Mawson’s
lawyers, Kevin J. Bristow and John A. MacFadyen, argue that
Mawson should be granted a new trial based on Providence lawyer Richard
K. Corley’s recent disclosure to the state Supreme Court
disciplinary counsel that Mawson’s ex-boyfriend told him in 2002
that he had lied to Warwick police and that he, in fact, was
responsible for the injuries that caused Jade’s death. Corley
represented Mawson’s then-boyfriend, Daniel R. Fusco, at the
time. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch announced
Tuesday that he intends to oppose the motion for a new trial.
“The state is not in a position to simply accept as
true the information attributed to Richard Corley as outlined in
the defendant’s motion for a new trial,” Lynch said. “An
innocent and precious 19-month-old baby girl was murdered and her
mother has spent two-and-a-half years in jail for a crime that
her counsel claims she did not commit. Justice demands that any
and all new evidence be closely scrutinized, including why it took
nearly eight years for it to come to light. We look forward to the
opportunity to examine the context and circumstances in which any
statements were allegedly made and the timing of their disclosure
at a hearing before Judge Gale.” Corley
did not watch news coverage of Mawson’s release Wednesday, but
said the news made him feel good for Mawson and her family.
A Superior Court jury in 2007 found Mawson guilty of
second-degree murder for killing Jade, her only child. Gale
sentenced her to 60 years, with 35 years to serve, calling the
exotic dancer and seamstress a “cold-hearted murderer.”
Fusco, who could not be reached for comment, testified as a
key witness against Mawson. Under questioning by a state
prosecutor, he denied ever punching Jade in the head or stomach,
or ever shaking the child. Fusco, 30, was alone with Jade in the
attic apartment the couple shared on Elmwood Avenue in Warwick
when she collapsed with fatal injuries to her body and head on
Dec. 2, 2002. She died two days later. Bristow
argued at trial that it was Fusco who committed the crime, while
state prosecutors William J. Ferland and Thomas O’Brien asserted that
Mawson killed the child out of frustration and that her actions
afterward raised suspicions. Fusco told
jurors he initially lied to the Warwick police about who visited
his house the day before Jade was fatally injured because he was
selling marijuana. According to a cooperation agreement released by the
attorney general’s office Wednesday, Ferland agreed not to
prosecute Fusco on drug charges or for failure to report child
abuse in exchange for his testimony.
Mawson, who always insisted she did not hurt Jade, did not take the
stand and was convicted based on circumstantial evidence.
Warwick Detective Capt. Sean T. Collins Tuesday referred all
questions regarding Mawson’s case to the attorney general’s
office. Beryl Kenyon, a spokeswoman for Lynch’s office, declined
to answer specific questions “while the review of the case is
ongoing.” No one else has been charged. As
conditions of her bail, Mawson cannot have unsupervised contact with
children younger than 16 or leave Connecticut or Rhode Island
without first consulting the court. A date for a motion for new
trial has not been set.

New trial for mom in child's murder


KImberly Mawson convicted of killing daughter



Updated: Friday, 01 Oct 2010, 10:52 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 01 Oct 2010, 3:04 AM EDT

• Nancy Krause
  

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - Years after she was convicted in the death of her daughter and months after she was released on bail , Kimberly Mawson is getting a new trial.
The Rhode Island woman spent two and a half years in prison after her 2007 conviction in the death of her 19-month-old daughter Jade. The judge ordered her released on bail in June while he considered new evidence that surfaced in the case.
That evidence was from Richard Corley, a lawyer for Mawson's ex-boyfriend Daniel Fusco. He came forward and reported Fusco told him in 2002 that he was responsible for the child's death, not Mawson.
After hearing testimony from Corley in Superior Court, the judge granted Mawson a new trial.
Mawson has maintained her innocence in the case from the very beginning.
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/south-kingstown-kimberly-mawson-granted-new-trial

Supreme Court: Lawyer can testify in new murder trial


5:02 PM Mon, Dec 20, 2010

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state Supreme Court cleared the way for a Providence lawyer to testify against his former client in the new trial of a Connecticut mother accused of killing her 19-month-old daughter.
The court on Thursday refused to hear Daniel R. Fusco's appeal of a lower court ruling that his once lawyer Richard K. Corley could testify about conversations the two had while Corley represented him in 2002. Fusco had sought to keep Corley from taking the stand in the new trial of Fusco's former girlfriend Kimberly A. Mawson.
"We're just going to have to see what happens," Anthony F. Amalfetano, Fusco's lawyer, said.
Superior Court Judge Edwin J. Gale in September granted Mawson a new trial in the 2002 murder of her daughter Jade based on Corley's statements that Fusco told him he was responsible for the child's injuries in the days following the child's death. Gale concluded that Fusco, had, in effect, waived attorney-client privilege when his father spoke to Warwick police in June 2010 about those discussions.
Mawson and Fusco shared an attic apartment on Elmwood Avenue in Warwick when Jade collapsed Dec. 2, 2002. She died two days later with blows to her body and head. A jury found Mawson guilty following a trial in which Fusco appeared as a key witness against her.
She had served 2½ years of a 35-year prison sentence when Corley approached the state disciplinary counsel David M. Curtin about admissions he said Fusco had made. The Supreme Court in June directed Gale to rule on Mawson's motion for a new trial.
Mawson, a former seamstress and exotic dancer, has been living with her husband in Winsted, Conn., as she awaited word from the court. The case is now being handled by Superior Court Judge Edward C. Clifton.
"I am certainly pleased that the court concluded his evidence is critical in order that we at long last see that justice be done," said John A. MacFadyen, one of Mawson's lawyers.
Corley, who has been eager to testify, did not return a phone call seeking comment. But Kevin Bristow, who also represents Mawson, said the court had cleared the way for state prosecutors to meet with Corley and decide how the state will proceed.
The state argued vociferously that Corley should not be allowed to take the stand, but then abruptly dropped its objections. It did not weigh in on Fusco's appeal bid.
Beryl Kenyon, spokeswoman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, declined to comment of the status of an investigation. No one else has been charged.


http://fwix.com/providence/share/9f6f4dd71d/supreme_court_lawyer_can_testify_in_new_murder_trial

RI drops charge against mother child's death

June 15, 2012

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Rhode Island's attorney general says the state has dropped a murder charge accusing a woman of killing her 19-month-old daughter in 2002.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin's office dismissed the second-degree murder charge against Kimberly Mawson on Friday.

Mawson spent nearly three years in prison after being convicted in 2007 of killing Jade Mawson. The former Warwick resident was released on bail and granted a new trial after a lawyer for her ex-boyfriend said the man had told him that he was responsible for the child's death. The boyfriend has not been charged.

The attorney general's office says the ex-boyfriend's account cannot be reconciled with evidence in the case, but that it makes a successful prosecution of Mawson unlikely.

Prosecutors say the investigation of Jade Mawson's death is now considered an open case.

- See more at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2012/06/15/ri_drops_charge_against_mother_childs_death/#sthash.yQMEH6ja.dpuf