A decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Boston freed the former au pair Louise Woodward yesterday, allowing her to return to England as soon as she retrieves her passport from the probation office. Woodward, who was convicted of killing nine-month-old Matthew Eappen last year, had been forced to stay in the US while the panel of seven judges considered appeals by both the prosecution and defence.
With four justices in favour and three dissenting, the court supported Judge Hiller Zobel's controversial November 1997 decision to overrule the jury by reducing Woodward's verdict to involuntary manslaughter and crediting her with time served, 279 days.
The alternative facing the court was to find that Judge Zobel abused his discretion. The jury's verdict of second-degree murder could then have been reinstated and Woodward would have been returned to Framingham state prison to serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.
The far from unanimous ruling is a vindication of Judge Zobel, who has a reputation as a maverick, even eccentric magistrate who likes to discipline his juries. But it is hardly a character reference for Woodward, who is referred to in the court document as a "convicted felon". The dissenting Supreme court justices also emphasised their two key recommendations, accepted by their colleagues: that the 20-year-old Woodward should never care for other people's children and that neither she nor her family should profit from her crime by selling their story.
The decision is none the less as much as the Woodwards were likely to achieve, though they had hoped for her full exoneration as their lawyers made clear at last night's press conference. It is unlikely that the prosecution will exercise its right to launch a further appeal.
Woodward's mother described the decision as "absolutely fantastic". Mr Stephen Jakobi, of the pressure group Fair Trials Abroad, was equally jubilant. "It is an extremely pragmatic verdict that at least solves problems and allows Louise to get home," he said. "A retrial would have been a nightmare." A spokeswoman for EF Au Pair, the agency that recruited Woodward to work in the US, said: "We are pleased that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court has upheld Judge Zobel's ruling so that Louise Woodward can return home to join her family and plan for her future."
Dr Debbie and Dr Sunil Eappen, the parents of the dead baby, declined to comment on the latest development yesterday as they left their Newton, Massachusetts home with their new-born son, Kevin, and his older brother, Brendan.
Yesterday's ruling ends a legal and human drama that held the nation's attention for months but became decidedly shabby in its closing stages. "A fatal case of child abuse has devolved into a game of competitive defamation among a pack of deranged lawyers," columnist Eileen McNamara concluded in the earlier this month, when Woodward's legal defence team of Mr Harvey Silvergate, Mr Andrew Good and Mr Barry Scheck jettisoned their colleague, Ms Elaine Whitfield Sharp whom they accused of "an aberrant pattern of behaviour".
Ms Whitfield Sharp, Woodward's British-born defence attorney, had been arrested for drunken driving in Boston on May 22nd. The arresting officer wrote in his report that Ms Whitfield Sharp was belligerent and declared she no longer believed her client was innocent in the death of Matthew Eappen.
Speaking on American Television yesterday, Mrs Whitfield Sharp said she thought the medical evidence had exonerated Woodward. "I thank God for that," she said of the decision. She denied ever saying she thought Woodward was guilty but repeated her concerned over the management of the trust fund by Mrs Woodward.Louise Woodward's mother, Susan, was then forced into the spotlight when Ms Whitfield Sharp and her attorney husband, Dan, accused her of forging a $15,400 invoice and submitting it to the au pair's defence fund.
The parents of baby Matthew Eappen filed a civil suit yesterday against their former au pair, seeking to block any attempt by her to profit from their son's death.
Dr Sunil and Dr Debbie Eappen filed suit in US District Court in Boston hours after the state court ruling.
Britain's press Complaints Commission said last night it was up to the editors to decide if they should pay Woodward for her story after considering the industry's code of practice.
The code said that "payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, must not be made directly or through agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates - who may include family, friends and colleagues - except where the material concerned ought to be published in the public interest and payment and payment is necessary for this to be done".
The Woodward's are believed to have received £40,000 from the Daily Mail for an interview given to the paper by Woodward's parents last November.