From the moment he was first arrested in 1995, the family of Patrick Cody McCormick fought to exonerate their son and brother.
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They posted the then astronomical bail of $100,000, they hired the most famous and by many accounts the most expensive attorney in Salt Lake, Ron Yengich and because Yengich was not licensed to practice law in Nevada also hired prominent Elko Attorney Sherb MacFarland.
“He (Yengich) and my dad knew each other,” said Jason McCormick brother of the man who now awaits a second trial date for the murder of Jacob Jones. “They weren’t friends but he agreed to take the case. My parents were happy Yengich was considered to be the best lawyer in Utah. He promised us that he would put on the best defense, get the best expert pathologist to prove Cody’s innocence.”
Some two years after he was arrested from on hearing to another and finally the trial Cody McCormick was found guilty by an Elko County jury and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Many families, perhaps most would have washed their hands of him. Certainly the crime he was convicted of, the murder of a 14 month old baby, would churn the stomach of any decent person. But the McCormicks believed in their brother and son and they believed that the guilty verdict would not be the final words in his case.
After their parents passed the effort to win a new trial for their brother became the passion of his five brothers. Interested bystanders when they started they became experts in his case.
“On the last day of the original trial I remember standing on the front lawn of the court house. I gave a silent prayer that justice would be reached on that day and that everyone would have the strength to accept what would come. In the months and years that followed I remained bothered by the fact that Dr Clark had changed her testimony in such an odd manner at the trial. I decided to reach out to Dr Dunton for his full opinion,” said Jason McCormick. “The family was devastated to learn that Dr Dunton had declined Ron Yengich’s request to provide a medical opinion on the case of Jacob Jones. Dr Dunton had attended Medical School with Dr Clark and felt it a breach of professional courtesy given their friendship.”
Pathologist Dr. Ellen Clark was the state’s lead witness in the first trial and pathologist Dr. Steven Dunton was the expert Yengich said he was going to hire, but who never actually testified during the first trial.
With that discovery the brothers took it upon themselves to begin the slow arduous process of appealing their brothers case.
And the odds of winning an appeal are less than one in ten.
“We spent a fair amount of time on it,” Jason McCormick added. “We reached out to rick Cornell and were delighted that he took the case. He cautioned us not to get our hopes up. Filing an appeal based on the incompetence of the original trial lawyer is a long shot.
We then found Dr Gabriel and asked that he review the case. We were shocked to learn his medical opinion. In contrast to Dr Clark, Dr Gabriel determined that Jacob had died primarily from penicillin induced anaphylactic shock. Fitting his medical opinion with Dr Clark’s it became clear that Jacob had died not at the hands of a vicious child murder but from three unintended mistakes. We submitted our findings to the courts. Our hopes were confirmed when the Nevada Supreme Court awarded the appeal.
On the night that Cody was bailed from the Elko County Jail I shared with him the article from the paper. Given the stress and emotions of the day Cody broke down when he read the statement from Jacob’s father. He turned his cut and bruised face, from the countless beating he had taken in prison the day before, toward me and said. “I never hurt Jacob. I have given 17 years of my life. I have lost everything. What more can I give for them to forgive?” My answer was simple and certain. “I know you didn’t hurt Jacob, Cody and I know that only the truth will allow their broken hearts to mend.”
And what is the truth, who really did kill Jacob Jones?
The McCormick’s believe they know the answer.
“I have been asked if I really believe that Jennifer Jones, not Patrick Cody McCormick murdered her son Jacob Jones? My answer is this. I’m not an attorney, the Judge or a member of the jury. So I can not say if what she did matches the crime of child neglect, abuse or murder. I do know that she confessed in the original trial to performing the acts that the pathologists say caused Jacob’s death. I know that witnesses confirmed that she performed those acts,” Jason added. “I know this because I was at the trial and I have read the medical opinions of the two pathologists. The facts and evidence are there for everyone, including the DA, to see and know the truth. This is confirmed by the fact that the three Supreme Court Justices ordered Patrick Cody McCormick to be released or retried.
“That leads to the next question, if Patrick Cody McCormick is so blatantly innocent why did the DA prosecute him and not Jennifer back in 1996? Jennifer knew as soon as Jacob died that either her or Cody was going to prison. So while Cody and others waited for the medical facts, Jennifer convinced the DA that she was in an abusive relationship and to prosecute Cody not her. She had the child’s body cremated the minute that the County Pathologist finished the autopsy so that a second Pathologist could not examine the body. She convinced herself, her family and others that it must have been Cody, ” he continued. “The County Pathologist, who testified in the evidentiary hearing, stated that the events leading to Jacob’s death happened while Cody was at work the night before Jacob’s death. In the trial the Pathologist changed her testimony, stating that she could pinpoint the time of the events to the 10 minute interval when Cody was alone with the child. When asked why she changed her medical opinion she said she recently attended a conference and learned new information. When asked to provide medical studies or journals to support the opinion she could not. The Jury was forced by the Jury Instructions and lack of alternative medical opinion to find Cody guilty of first degree murder. That is how a blatantly innocent person goes to prison.”
Patrick Cody McCormick will have a preliminary hearing March 4 to set the date for his next trial. He is currently in Salt Lake with another of his five brothers having posted bail.