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By the time Mason Tucker Smith was 2 years old, his mother, Mary Katherine Smith, had taken him to the doctor dozens of times.

Tucker had frequent ear infections, high fevers, and episodes of vomiting. On at least six occasions, he had seizures, but the doctors repeatedly reassured his mother, who goes by Katie, that these were benign “breath-holding spells” that would resolve on their own.

On the day of his collapse, July 30, 2014, Tucker had another seizure while Katie’s housemate, Jeremy Kitchens, was watching him in their bedroom and Katie was making dinner, according to her statement to the police.

As she approached the bedroom door, she heard a “thud.” Katie entered the room and Kitchens told her that Tucker was having another “episode.” Katie told police that she found Tucker unconscious on the ground. Believing that this was another breath-holding episode, she picked him up and put him on the bed. She left him in Kitchens’s care while she drove her daughter to meet a friend. While she was gone, Tucker vomited.

She returned to the house about 20 minutes later and checked Tucker’s oxygen level. When it began to drop, she called 911 and attempted to resuscitate him.

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At the hospital, a physician concluded Tucker had been shaken. He was declared dead on August 2 and Katie was charged with his murder.

Two years later, Katie went to trial in Richmond County, Georgia, and was found guilty. The judge sentenced her to life in prison.

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma (AHT), has been largely debunked, with one New Jersey judge calling it “akin to ‘junk science.’” While some courts have started to take a more critical look at SBS/AHT cases, prosecutions have continued and many people are still fighting their convictions.

The so-called triad of symptoms associated with SBS/AHT — bleeding around the eyes, bleeding between the skull and brain, and brain swelling — can be caused by strokes, short-distance falls, seizures, and disease, among other things.

Katie’s attorneys with the Southern Center for Human Rights say their investigation has revealed that she was convicted of a crime that never occurred.

Experts retained by her legal team — a neurologist and a forensic pathologist — have concluded that Tucker died of undiagnosed epilepsy, which was caused by an undetected arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in his brain. AVM is a life-threatening condition that typically develops in utero, in which a person has abnormally tangled blood vessels that disrupt blood flow, deprive tissue of oxygen, and face risk of rupture.

Forty-four people have been exonerated in SBS/AHT cases, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Katie’s attorneys have filed a motion for a new trial and, on August 24, they will present their new evidence before the Superior Court of Richmond County. The Augusta District Attorney’s Office is opposing Katie’s petition. The office did not respond to emails or calls seeking comment.

“Tucker’s death was a........

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