been present in ryan s blood and that the lab technician may have made a mistake. under dr. sly s supervision, shoemaker runs tests on ryan stallings blood sample to see if they can detect elements that can be mistakenly read as ethylene glycol. the scientists begin by looking at boiling points for various compounds. each compound boils at a certain temperature and is represented by a peak on a graph. they soon discover that a misidentification could be possible. there were peaks there that, sure enough, looked like they might have been interpretable as ethylene glycol. what looked like antifreeze may have actually been something else. shoemaker and sly contact prosecutor george mcelroy about obtaining the methods the lab used when they got the original results. mcelroy agrees and gives the scientists full access to the data. the one outside laboratory was using a method called gas
but the prosecutor still has doubts. if indeed there was no poison, what were the crystals in ryan s brain, and how to explain the ethylene glycol found on the baby bottle? mcelroy voices his concerns to stallings new lawyer, bob ritter. he said, well, what would it take to convince you? i said first we d have to have somebody totally disassociated with the case and somebody who s recognized nationwide as an expert in this area. and those people are going to have to come up with some answers to some serious questions i have. the defense attorney asks mcelroy to bring the case back into court. i agreed with the defense attorney that patricia stallings would be entitled to another trial. at that time, however, i still felt very confident that it would be a conviction if we tried her again. the judge grants a new trial. patty, how do you feel?
yes, sir. and you figure you ll continue to fight until you re completely exonerated? all the way. newly elected county prosecutor george mcelroy takes a personal interest in what s become a high-profile case. it was highly controversial at the time. there was some discussion that she might not be guilty at all, and i felt it incumbent on me to study the facts, look at the evidence, and decide whether it really ought to be tried. mcelroy contacts medical experts at st. louis university. a toxicologist there tests the samples and confirms from his findings that ryan s blood does contain high levels of ethylene glycol, a main ingredient of antifreeze. he then brings the sample to his colleague, dr. james shoemaker, to look for signs of mma. he said, i understand you are a specialist in the diagnosis of genetic diseases, and people are now claiming that since this second child was born, maybe the
he learns the bottle patty used to feed ryan had been cleaned in a dishwasher before being tested. and the spike said to be ethylene glycol could have been any compound with a similar boiling point. their approach was anything that showed up in a certain window in that chromatogram would be automatically labeled ethylene glycol. this is just unacceptable. i was finally completely convinced. i notified the court that i would not be retrying the case. the next day, mcelroy holds a press conference, announcing that patricia stallings will be released. state of missouri is dismissing all pending charges against patricia stallings based upon the death of her child ryan on september 7th, 1989. and i m satisfied, i m convinced that patricia stallings did not poison her child. as i have frequently stated, i believe in the system. the system may not be perfect,
i never will forgive him. reporter: over the past four years, the city has paid out more than $7 million to settle police misconduct claims. reporter: and tshamba had a troubled past. police found out he was drunk and had a charge in 2005 after he went off on george mcelroy. he wassing go was going crazy. reporter: in 2006, he crashed into a light pole and didn t have license or registration. and 2001, he arrested a woman because of the way she signed a ticket. there is something disturbing whether there when there is something systemically wrong with our police department. reporter: little consolation to brown s sister who has to live the rest of her life without him. my brother was my best friend. [ crying ] and it was only right for me to stand up for him. reporter: tshamba faces up to 30 years behind bars for manslaughter and a felony handgun violation. he says he plans to appeal. reporting live from mount vernon, wjz eyewitness news. tshamba f serve