LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In the wake of 12-week-old Jocai Davis' sudden death, a Clark County Coroner's report provided the basis prosecutors needed to charge Kristina Kerlus, the baby's mother, with his murder.
It's a report she later learned was flawed and nearly cost her freedom.
When an independent expert's findings contradicted what the Clark County Coroner found, "It was mixed emotions because I was like, 'finally, I can prove my innocence,'" Kerlus said.
That's not how the justice system is supposed to work. It's the State's burden to prove guilt, not the accused's burden to prove innocence.
Kerlus felt the weight of the world on her shoulders as she fought the system that charged her with murdering her infant son in October 2018.
"They tried so hard to break me," she said. "The justice system tried so hard to break me. They just wanted that conviction."
State prosecutors dropped the charges against Kerlus last December with just two weeks to go before her trial.
"The State does not believe it can prove the elements of the criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, the State is voluntarily dismissing this case," Deputy District Attorney Michelle Jobe told the court.
The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning the State could come back at any time and charge Kerlus again in a case her lawyer, Ryan Helmick, says was flawed from the beginning.
"When we saw that it was ruled a homicide, we were shocked beyond belief," said Helmick, who first noted inconsistencies in the original autopsy where the medical examiner ruled Jocai died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
However, Helmick said, "When we get to the neck section of the autopsy report, the doctor says the neck is without injury, so it completely contradicts what they say in their report."
Still, the case dragged on for nearly four years until pediatric forensic pathologist Dr. Evan Matshes found what the Clark County Coroner's office missed.
Jocai did not die from shaken baby syndrome but from natural causes.
"And ultimately, what happened is this baby died from complications of sickle cell disease," Helmick said.
The day before our 13 Investigation aired in September, the Clark County Coroner's office produced an amended autopsy report changing Jocai's cause and manner of death.
Instead of trauma and homicide, it now says undetermined.
"How did the coroner not see this?" Kerlus asked. "His sickle cell was everywhere in all his blood slides!"
Dr. Jennifer Corneal conducted Jocai's autopsy. She has since left Nevada. Sources tell 13 Investigates Jocai's case is one of the reasons why she's no longer with the Clark County Coroner's office.
Via email, Dr. Corneal said she had no comment when we contacted her for our first story. We tried again for this one, and she did not respond.
But Kelus won't give up. She recently went to the coroner's office and secretly recorded a conversation with a supervisor, asking how Dr. Corneal could've missed Jocai's medical condition.
The autopsy notes sickle cell trait but nothing further.
Supervisor: I don't know that they tested him specifically for sickle cell. We didn't have any kind of testing that showed sickle cell, which is why she left it — put it that way in her report that he wasn't diagnosed.
Kristina: But I told her about his sickle cell. So, she didn't test him for sickle cell?
Supervisor: So, she did test him for that, but she didn't do a full-on neuropathy as Dr. Shaller did. He was able to get a lot more, and he had — I mean — we know more medical knowledge than we did then. I know it hadn't been that long ago, but what we know grows by leaps and bounds.
Dr. Nathan Shaller is the forensic pathologist who reviewed and amended Jocai's autopsy in September. We asked for an interview with Dr. Shaller, but the county would not allow it.
Supervisor: He's a pediatric specialist, so he saw things.
Kristina: Oh, and she wasn't a pediatric specialist?
Supervisor: No, those are hard to come by. He's like a unicorn. I am grateful that eventually we got people who knew more, but, you know, what was done was done.
Kristina: Yeah, but what was done could have put me in prison for the rest of my life.
Supervisor: It could have. It absolutely could have.
Sources with inside knowledge confirm what that supervisor said; still, the county is distancing itself, writing in a statement, "We think it's important that you let your viewers know that the recording was obtained without our employee's consent or knowledge... She has no training or knowledge to draw any conclusions in this case... She does not have the authority to speak on behalf of the coroner's office, nor are her statements reflective of the office."
We again asked for an interview with anyone who could speak on behalf of the office, and again, they declined, saying, "The only information we can provide is contained within the medical examiner's report."
That new report released during our investigation at least partially gave Kerlus her life back, but there will always be a missing piece.
"I want to make changes," Kerlus said. "I don't want anybody to feel this because it's the worst feeling. It's just the worst feeling."
