GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Lawyers are seeking bond for a Gwinnett County man who has been in prison for 23 years after his murder conviction was thrown out based on new evidence disputing his son’s so-called “shaken baby” death.
Danyel Smith was convicted of murder in what Gwinnett County prosecutors said was a shaken baby case. Twenty-three years later, a judge granted him a new trial after new medical and scientific evidence challenged the case.
Smith’s attorneys have filed a motion asking for a bond hearing within 10 days.
His fiancée, Tasha Pyatt, said she was overwhelmed when she learned Smith had been granted a new trial.
“Oh my God, I just started running through my house,” Pyatt said.
Pyatt said she shared the news with Smith when he called her from the Metro Reentry Facility in Atlanta.
“He said what happened and I said we got the new trial, the judge granted you the new trial. He was like no way. I said yes way babe yes! And it was dead silence on the phone, and I’m like are you okay? And he was like when do I get out of here?” Pyatt said.
She said Smith later told her he nearly fainted after hearing the news.
“He was like after I got off the phone with you, I was telling the guys here and I was hyperventilating, I was crying and then the guys started crying,” Pyatt said.
Pyatt said she hopes a judge quickly grants bond as they await a September court date.
“I’m just ready for him to walk through that door and finally be at peace,” she said.
Pyatt said she and Smith are excited about the new trial but are waiting to see whether prosecutors will accept the new medical evidence disputing that Smith’s son died of “shaken baby syndrome” 24 years ago.
“But I’m sure it won’t take us long especially when he walks through that door, for us to be able to really realize yes now this is truly over,” Pyatt said.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.
