Lounging on the couch isn’t Abby Donaldson’s cup of tea.
The 24-year-old Springfield resident works for the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois Springfield during the day, teaches dance classes at Kinner & Co. Dance Studio at night, squeezes in classes at UIS, leads young adults at iWorship Center two to three days a week and, in her free time, volunteers at Lifetime Pregnancy Help Center.
Her friends say they don’t know how she does it all.
“I honestly don’t know how she wears all the hats she wears and keeps everything straight,” said Kirsti Carter, a friend of Donaldson’s.
Staying busy is something Donaldson said she has to do because having free time makes her stir crazy.
Out of all her activities, she said teaching dance is her passion.
Donaldson was featured in a June 29, 2012, article in the State Journal-Register.
Read the article online
Friday, June 29, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Innocence Project asks governor for clemency in Northern Illinois case
Supporters of a Bartlett woman convicted in 1999 of shaking a baby to death gathered in front of the Illinois Capitol Saturday morning to ask Gov. Pat Quinn to review her case and grant her clemency.
Former day care worker Pamela Jacobazzi's backers say new science around shaken baby syndrome and evidence not presented at her first trial point to her innocence. She's being helped by the Illinois Innocence Project, based at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“The theory that she was convicted with has been discredited since then,” said Jacobazzi attorney Anthony Sassan.
In 1999, a jury found Jacobazzi guilty of first-degree murder in the 1995 death of 2-year-old Matthew Czapski. She was charged with shaking the child in August of 1994, and he remained in a coma until 1995, when he died.
Now, though, supporters say that jury was never told about evidence that the child had medical conditions that could have been mistaken as shaken baby syndrome. In addition to asking Quinn for clemency, a hearing in Jacobazzi's case is scheduled for November, where her attorneys hope to get a new trial.
The case was featured in a June 24, 2012, article in the Chicago Daily Herald.
Read the article online
Former day care worker Pamela Jacobazzi's backers say new science around shaken baby syndrome and evidence not presented at her first trial point to her innocence. She's being helped by the Illinois Innocence Project, based at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“The theory that she was convicted with has been discredited since then,” said Jacobazzi attorney Anthony Sassan.
In 1999, a jury found Jacobazzi guilty of first-degree murder in the 1995 death of 2-year-old Matthew Czapski. She was charged with shaking the child in August of 1994, and he remained in a coma until 1995, when he died.
Now, though, supporters say that jury was never told about evidence that the child had medical conditions that could have been mistaken as shaken baby syndrome. In addition to asking Quinn for clemency, a hearing in Jacobazzi's case is scheduled for November, where her attorneys hope to get a new trial.
The case was featured in a June 24, 2012, article in the Chicago Daily Herald.
Read the article online
UIS Innocence group publicizes false abuse charges
Pamela Jacobazzi, a former daycare provider, was sentenced to 32 years in prison for the death of Matthew Czapski, a child in her daycare. Prosecutors said the infant died of shaken baby syndrome.
The case gained the attention of the Illinois Innocence Project, which is based at the University of Illinois Springfield, in 2007 after Jacobazzi’s attorney requested the group’s help.
Illinois Innocence Project investigator Bill Clutter said Jacobazzi’s defense attorneys failed to introduce pediatric records from Dr. David Nadelman that would have contradicted testimony of prosecutors who claimed Czapski was a healthy baby.
“In fact, the records indicate that the child had persistent fevers, was anemic, and during a deposition after Pam was convicted, Dr. Nadelman acknowledged that he suspected the child had internal bleeding because iron supplements he proscribed had no effect on the anemic blood,” Clutter said.
Clutter believes if the jury had known about this at trial, it would have supported an emergency room radiologist’s testimony that the CT scan showed both old and new blood.
Jacobazzi’s attorney filed a clemency petition seven years ago, but Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to act on a confidential recommendation from the Prisoner Review Board made to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The case was featured in a June 23, 2012, article in the State Journal-Register.
Read the article online
The case gained the attention of the Illinois Innocence Project, which is based at the University of Illinois Springfield, in 2007 after Jacobazzi’s attorney requested the group’s help.
Illinois Innocence Project investigator Bill Clutter said Jacobazzi’s defense attorneys failed to introduce pediatric records from Dr. David Nadelman that would have contradicted testimony of prosecutors who claimed Czapski was a healthy baby.
“In fact, the records indicate that the child had persistent fevers, was anemic, and during a deposition after Pam was convicted, Dr. Nadelman acknowledged that he suspected the child had internal bleeding because iron supplements he proscribed had no effect on the anemic blood,” Clutter said.
Clutter believes if the jury had known about this at trial, it would have supported an emergency room radiologist’s testimony that the CT scan showed both old and new blood.
Jacobazzi’s attorney filed a clemency petition seven years ago, but Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to act on a confidential recommendation from the Prisoner Review Board made to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The case was featured in a June 23, 2012, article in the State Journal-Register.
Read the article online
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