Retrial of Stearns Co. man pits abuse diagnosis with accusations doctors missed the real cause of the newborn’s injuries

ST. CLOUD – During opening statement Friday, both the prosecution and defense painted Robert Kaiser as an exhausted first-time parent in late August 2014 — a few days before his 2-month-old son William died.

Beyond that, their arguments varied widely, setting the groundwork for a monthlong retrial of the 42-year-old Kaiser, who is accused of fatally shaking his baby.

Jessica Hockley, the prosecuting attorney from Stearns County, told the 16 jurors that William had a diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury, presumably caused when the infant was alone in Kaiser’s care.

“Not all abuse is borne out of ill will,” Hockley said. She added that sometimes abuse is simply borne out of exhaustion.

But Kaiser’s attorney, Baylea Kannmacher, promised to bring forth medical experts who looked at William’s case and reached a different conclusion: The infant had blood clots in his brain known as cerebral venous thrombosis, a condition that can cause many of the same symptoms attributed to abusive head trauma.

“They are going to tell you this was not abuse [but a] complex medical crisis,” said Kannmacher, a lawyer with the Great North Innocence Project.

Kaiser originally was charged with first-degree murder, but a Stearns County District Court jury in 2016 convicted him of two counts of second-degree unintentional murder and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

In 2022, that same court vacated Kaiser’s conviction after finding the state’s experts gave false testimony that could have affected the trial’s outcome.

During the trial, an ophthalmologist had said the macular schisis found in William’s eyes was caused by abusive head trauma. But later, the ophthalmologist clarified it “would be incorrect” if he had testified abusive head trauma is the only cause of the condition.

The Great North Innocence Project, which works to free people it believes are wrongfully convicted, started investigating Kaiser’s case in 2020.

According to court documents, Kaiser was caring for his son on Aug. 27, 2014, while the infant’s mother was at work.

Hockley said Kaiser texted the mom that afternoon, stating, “He hasn’t let me get any sleep.” When she returned from work, William looked like a ghost — pale and limp with “weird” eyes, Hockley said.

The infant was airlifted from a hospital in Albany, Minn., to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, where doctors worked to treat his seizures.

The doctors found bleeding in William’s brain and eyes, as well as a bruise on his face and healing rib fractures, both of which can be concerning for a nonmobile infant, Hockley said.

On Sept. 3, doctors found the infant’s condition had deteriorated. They recommended he be removed from life support. An autopsy listed the death as a homicide.

Hockley said William’s doctors will testify now, 11 years later, that they still come to the same conclusion of abusive head trauma.

Kannmacher argued Friday that the doctors’ presumptions of abuse at the hands of Kaiser blinded them to the real diagnosis.

She offered explanations for his other injuries, including his rib fractures: When William was 6 weeks old, his mother’s elementary-aged child was pushing the infant in a stroller when the child tripped. A relative tried to grab William and break the fall.

Then, on Aug. 21, William’s mother took him to urgent care after he was vomiting and not having bowel movements. Kannmacher said a doctor ordered a blood test, which came back as abnormal, and wrote it “could be a medical emergency.” However, the mother left before treatment.

At Children’s Hospital, a medication intended to stop William’s seizures made his blood pressure drop dangerously low, Kannmacher said, and a feeding tube perforated his bowel.

She said Kaiser was under the impression William would be OK and told an investigator he would take the blame if it meant keeping the family together. Kaiser was arrested two hours before William died.

“This case is not about a monster hiding behind a father’s face,” Kannmacher said. Rather, she said, it’s about a “cascade of medical failures.”

If a jury finds Kaiser guilty again, he could be sent back to prison but with credit for time served. Besides spending more than seven years in prison, he was jailed for more than two years while awaiting trial.

Kaiser was expected to serve about 11 years total in prison with the remainder on supervised release.