A Stearns County man’s retrial for fatally shaking his baby begins today

ST. CLOUD – More than eight years after Robert Kaiser’s first jury trial over the death of his infant son, the Stearns County man is headed back to court to again fight the accusation he was responsible for the death.

Kaiser, 42, was charged in Stearns County District Court in 2014 after his 2-month-old son, William, died. In 2016, a jury acquitted Kaiser of one count of first-degree murder, but convicted him on two counts of second-degree unintentional murder. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

But that same court vacated his conviction in 2022 after finding the state’s experts gave false testimony that could have affected the outcome of the trial. That decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court, which noted it did not “affirm the reversal of a murder conviction lightly” and “[made] our decision realizing a new trial will cause renewed pain for William’s family.”

Kaiser’s retrial starts Monday with jury selection and is expected to run to early May. Opening statements are expected by mid- to late week.

If a jury finds Kaiser guilty again, he could be sent back to prison but will get credit for time served, which includes more than two years in jail while he awaited trial and more than seven years in prison. He was expected to serve about 11 years total in prison with the remainder on supervised release.

Stearns County prosecutors said last year they “reviewed the case and have been in consultation with our medical experts. We believe the evidence shows that Mr. Kaiser committed this crime and we believe we can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”

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

According to the Supreme Court opinion, the state’s experts made false statements of medical fact to the jury in the first trial. An ophthalmologist and forensic pathologist testified that macular schisis (found in William’s eyes) is caused only by abusive head trauma. But later, during an evidentiary hearing, the ophthalmologist said it “would be incorrect” if he testified abusive head trauma is the only cause of macular schisis.

Attorneys from the Innocence Project say a team of experts concluded the medical evidence did not support the trauma diagnosis and instead identified a nontraumatic medical cause for his condition: blood clots in William’s brain veins known as cerebral venous thrombosis, a “serious medical condition that causes many of the same symptoms often attributed to [abusive head trauma].”

The prosecuting team has argued this “new interpretation” is not new evidence, but “rather the same evidence in a different wrapper.”

According to court documents, Kaiser was caring for William on Aug. 27, 2014, while the child’s mother was at work. William was reportedly pale, sweaty and fussy during the day and became nonresponsive in the evening. He was brought to Children’s Hospital by air ambulance with seizure activity.

On Sept. 3, 2014, doctors found William’s neurological condition had deteriorated and he was moving toward brain death; they recommended he be removed from life support.