Alan Yurko free

Another man serving a long child abuse sentence was freed:

ORLANDO, Fla. - A judge ordered a new trial Friday for a father convicted five years ago of shaking his 10-week-old son to death, citing problems with the autopsy.

Minutes after the judge ordered the new trial, Alan Yurko pleaded no contest to manslaughter. Circuit Judge Alan Lawson sentenced him to time served, allowing Yurko to be released from prison where he had been serving a life sentence in the death of his son, Alan Ream-Yurko.

During a weeklong hearing, Yurko's defense team argued that Alan Ream-Yurko might have died in 1997 as a result of poor health, adverse reactions to vaccines and medical-treatment mistakes.

I am not convinced that vaccines caused the kid's death, but Yurko's conviction does appear to be based on junk science. I think that it is peculiar that judges, cops, prosecutors, and others were so eager to believe that a father would shake a baby to death.