By  Seamus McGraw

October 27, 2006

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BOULDER, Colo. (Crime Library) —   As the investigation into baby Jason Midyette's death creeps toward the end of its eighth month, law enforcement officials and the Boulder County district attorney's office have drawn criticism from some quarters for the slow and secretive pace of their probe.

Among other things, there are assertions from a number of people, including one prominent forensic pathologist who reviewed Jason Midyette's report at Crime Library's behest, that the autopsy provides solid evidence that the infant was the victim of deliberate, and perhaps repeated, child abuse during his brief life, and that there is ample cause to bring the investigation quickly to a close.

Boulder Community Hospital

To some degree, veterans of child abuse and infanticide prosecutions say, the criticism is understandable. After all, if the 11-week-old infant was the victim of what the autopsy suggests was a brutal pattern of abuse, doesn't that mean that in all likelihood, a brutal abuser is on the loose? And isn't it the responsibility of law enforcement to bring that abuser immediately into custody to protect the community at large?

But while such questions are understandable, say some prosecutors, they may also be misplaced.

Certainly, child homicide cases are among the most shocking and disturbing of all alleged crimes. Few other crimes provoke the kind of public outrage or media scrutiny that a child killed by extreme cruelty or malignant negligence does, and few elicit the same kinds of demand for quick justice.

And yet, in many cases, by virtue of the unique nature of the crime, authorities are often forced to take a slow and plodding approach to their investigation, closely examining and reexamining minute medical clues, and picking through often-contradictory statements by those closest to the victim until enough evidence can be gathered to build a case.

It can be time-consuming. But in most child abuse cases, prosecutors say, it is precision, not speed, that matters most.

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