Allegations of a compelled confession, manipulated proof gasoline Illinois day care employee’s push for clemency

Melissa Calusinski has served 16 years of a 31-year jail sentence for the dying of Benjamin Kingan, a 16-month-old whom she cared for at an Illinois day care middle. She has lengthy insisted she is harmless.

“This just isn’t the place I belong,” Calusinski informed “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty. “I’m gonna proceed to struggle it doesn’t matter what ‘trigger I didn’t do that.”

“48 Hours” has been masking this case for greater than a decade, and through the years, Melissa’s appeals have failed. But she and her lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, are usually not backing down. Now, they’re taking their struggle out of the courtroom system and straight to the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, and his prisoner overview board.

“We’re asking them to declare that she’s really harmless and launch her. We are additionally saying commute her sentence,” stated Zellner.

THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN KINGAN

The story started on Jan. 14, 2009. Melissa, then 22, was working as a instructor’s assistant on the Minee Subee day care in Lincolnshire, an prosperous suburb of Chicago. Ben Kingan attended day care there alongside together with his twin sister and their two older siblings.

Melissa Calusinski (2014): I got here to work … And I noticed Ben. He was fantastic, regular, joyful, playful.

Late that afternoon, after the children had been fed a snack and cleaned up, Melissa says she put Ben down on the carpet and he crawled into his bouncy seat on the ground.

Melissa Calusinski (2014): He’s sittin’ in his bouncy chair, enjoying together with his blanket. … And he was — startin’ to kinda go to sleep, which was regular.

The instructor working with Melissa stepped out of the room briefly, leaving Melissa alone with the kids. That’s when Melissa says she seen one thing mistaken with Ben.

Melissa Calusinski (2014): He did not look proper. … I took his little hand, and I touched his hand and I’m like, “Ben, Ben.” He didn’t get up in any respect. … I noticed orange foam … popping out of his nostril, and—um I’m sorry (cries).

Melissa known as for assist. Her older sister, Crystal Calusinski, additionally labored on the day care on the time.

Crystal Calusinski: I hear … on the intercom, “somebody assist me, assist me, assist me.” … I ran in … then began CPR instantly.

Erin Moriarty: What was that like for you Crystal?

Crystal Calusinski: I dream about it lots. (Emotional) … Like, I see it in my, you understand, my head.

911 was known as.

BETH KATZ TO 911: I’ve a toddler who was—uh, who’s foaming, who’s not respiration.

Paramedics responded. Ben was taken to the hospital. He was pronounced useless an hour later.

Melissa Calusinski (2014): Me and my sister fell to the ground and had been simply — had been simply bawling. … What occurred to him and the way? I do not — I do not perceive.

An investigation was launched. According to the police report, throughout an post-mortem, the pathologist, Dr. Eupil Choi, informed a detective that he noticed a cranium fracture, in depth bleeding inside Ben’s head, and that the harm “was brought on by one other particular person,” utilizing “sturdy pressure,” “inside hours previous to” Ben’s dying. And but, Ben had no cuts or apparent wounds on the skin of his physique, no severe bruises. The pathologist listed the post-mortem as “pending additional research.” Police introduced within the day care staff who had been with the toddler on the day of his dying decided to search out out what occurred to Ben.

DETECTIVE (to Crystal Calusinski): Somebody did one thing to him.

After Melissa was learn her rights, detectives started urgent her for solutions.

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): I’ve a good suggestion that you’ve got seen what occurred otherwise you had been concerned with what occurred ‘trigger you had been the one one within the room on the onset of this.

Melissa denied time and again — greater than 60 instances — doing something to Ben.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): I by no means put my fingers on him… (crying) … I didn’t drop him.

But the detectives did not cease.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): You’re there. It’s not like there have been 50 individuals in that room with you …

All these years later, Melissa nonetheless remembers what it was like being in that room.

Melissa Calusinski: They weren’t listening to something I stated.

After 9 hours — underneath stress and with out an lawyer — Melissa modified her story. She says she thought if she informed the investigators what they needed to listen to, they’d let her go dwelling.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): … We’re not going anyplace till we get the info right here.

Melissa Calusinski: The solely means for me to get out was to make a confession, a false confession … I wasn’t considering in any respect.

Erin Moriarty: You weren’t considering of the implications of doing one thing like that?

Melissa Calusinski: No. No. … All I may take into consideration was simply going dwelling …

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): He begins performing up. And you get mad at him, and also you throw him on the ground.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: (nods)

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: You threw him on the ground?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yeah … Really exhausting.

When Melissa was taken to a different station for reserving, she repeated the identical story to a different investigator.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): I went like that. (Throws doll down)

After spending 14 hours with police, Melissa Calusinski was arrested for the homicide of Benjamin Kingan despite the fact that she virtually instantly took again the story she informed police.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (in police automotive): No, I’m harmless.

Melissa’s mother and father, Paul, and Cheryl Calusinski, nonetheless bear in mind receiving the information.

Paul Calusinski: And I stated, “what?”

Erin Moriarty: Did you suppose presumably she had damage this child?

Paul Calusinski: Not in any respect.

Cheryl Calusinski: No.

Paul Calusinski: Nope.

Cheryl Calusinski: Nope. … She is the form of particular person that may by no means —

Paul Calusinski: — hurt anyone.

Cheryl Calusinski: — by no means put her hand on another person’s youngster.

But Melissa had informed investigators that she did, and after that, the style of dying on Ben’s dying certificates was listed as “murder.” Law enforcement introduced they’d solved the case.

DETECTIVE ADAM HYDE (to reporters): Miss Calusinski admitted to police that she had taken the toddler boy and thrown him on the bottom

Crystal Calusinski: They made her appear to be a nasty particular person. … And she’s not that sort of an individual.

Melissa’s household would make it their mission to clear her identify.

Crystal Calusinski: My mother and father bought all the things that they’d …

Paul Calusinski: I … put all my effort into getting her free …

They had no concept how a lot of a struggle they had been in for.

QUESTIONING THE EVIDENCE

Stephen Scheller (2014): He was a really … wholesome child. … Just a contented, joyful little boy.

In November 2011, almost three years after the dying of Ben Kingan, Melissa Calusinski went on trial for homicide. The State argued that Ben was a wonderfully wholesome toddler main as much as his dying. Matthew DeMartini and Stephen Scheller prosecuted the case.

Erin Moriarty (2014): How would you describe what the mother and father have gone by means of?

Matthew DeMartini (2014): When any person takes your youngster from you, I do not suppose there’s any phrases to explain what they’ve gone by means of.

Dr. Choi,  the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem, testified about that cranium fracture he stated he had seen, and the way he believed the kid’s harm was current — and per having been thrown to the ground by somebody. But Melissa’s trial lawyer, Paul De Luca, informed the jury a couple of head harm Ben had beforehand acquired. It was seen on the day care three months earlier.

Paul De Luca: Melissa was not even working there on the day care middle.

After Ben’s dying, a number of individuals — together with day care instructor Nancy Kallinger — informed investigators about it.

NANCY KALLINGER (police questioning): He bought a bump on the again of his head …  I imply, we known as the mother, the mother known as the physician.

But prosecutor Scheller argued that the sooner harm was insignificant.

Stephen Scheller (2014): The pediatrician really examined Benjamin’s head, had felt round, um, stated there was no points … that mother ought to simply regulate him. … Ben by no means had a problem after that.

That’s not what protection consultants stated. They famous that after the harm, there have been potential indicators of head trauma. Medical data confirmed that within the days after the harm, Ben was torpid and had a persistent fever. And one other day care worker, Holly, who requested that we establish her by her first identify solely, testified for the protection in regards to the final time she noticed Ben two days earlier than his dying.

Holly: Melissa walked into the room … and she or he was holding Ben … And she stated, like, he isn’t feeling effectively. And it was virtually instantly after she stated that, that he threw up, like, all over the place.

The subsequent day, at some point earlier than he died, Ben was saved dwelling from day care. Prosecutor Matthew DeMartini argued it was a abdomen bug or a winter chilly.

Matthew DeMartini (2014): He was given Pedialyte and put to mattress. He wakened the following day and he was fantastic.

But the protection maintained that Ben’s prior harm was so severe that any new influence may have had main penalties, and Ben did have a behavior of throwing his head again.

Holly: He can be sitting on the bottom, and he would simply form of lunge his physique backwards and hit his head … You know, I assume you’d name it like he was a head banger.

Nancy Kallinger recalled that Ben had achieved that twice on the day of his dying.

NANCY KALLINGER (police questioning): I put him on the ground, and he instantly threw himself on the ground. … And then I walked in the direction of the sink, and he threw himself once more.

Prosecutors insisted that Melissa had damage Ben.

Stephen Scheller (2014): This youngster didn’t explode or implode on his personal.

And they pointed to her confession.

Stephen Scheller (2014): She turned annoyed holding Ben. She threw him to the ground.

Prosecutors informed the jury that the autumn was so extreme it induced that cranium fracture. At trial, they talked about a “cranium fracture” greater than 30 instances. But was there one? While a lot of the consultants who testified from either side agreed there seemed to be a fracture in post-mortem photographs — one protection professional stated she could not say for certain. And in accordance with Melissa’s lawyer, Paul De Luca, the X-rays the prosecution had offered earlier than the trial had been unreadable.

Paul De Luca: Before trial, I stated, do now we have any higher pictures? And it was no.

The State’s closing witness, pathologist Dr. Manny Montez, gave essentially the most vivid and damaging testimony at trial. He stated he examined the physique and felt the fracture together with his naked fingers.

Paul De Luca: Dr. Montez stated he put his finger … within the cranium and thru the fracture. … I imply, it was devastating.

The jury deliberated for seven hours earlier than convicting Melissa Calusinski of aggravated battery of a kid—and first-degree homicide.

Melissa Calusinski: My coronary heart sunk. … I do know I did not do that.

Melissa’s household remained decided to show her innocence.

Paul Calusinski: I did not settle for the decision. I knew it was mistaken.

In 2012, a 12 months after the conviction, Dr. Thomas Rudd — the then-newly elected Lake County Coroner — agreed to overview the post-mortem proof on the urging of Melissa’s trial lawyer.

Rudd spoke with “48 Hours” in regards to the case in 2014.

Dr. Thomas Rudd: I noticed a membrane and I believed, “my God.”

Erin Moriarty: What do you imply if you say you noticed a membrane?

Dr. Thomas Rudd: You see a scab. Similar to what types in your pores and skin, besides it is within the mind. …

Erin Moriarty: This is a slide of part of this toddler’s mind?

Dr. Thomas Rudd: Correct…. By definition, when you have a membrane, you might have an outdated harm.

At Melissa’s trial, Choi had informed the jury he noticed no signal of an outdated harm. But in accordance with Rudd, Dr. Choi had merely missed it. He known as in Dr. Nancy Jones, a well-regarded pathologist, for a second opinion. And she agreed with Rudd and famous that the outdated harm had been therapeutic for about two or three months — a time-frame per that bump on Ben’s head that was seen at day care.

Dr. Thomas Rudd: How they let that go is past me.

Like the protection consultants at trial, medical doctors Jones and Rudd believed that the outdated harm was additional exacerbated by Ben’s head banging.

Dr. Thomas Rudd: The added fluid of the current harm … pushes that mind down and shuts down the respiration system. That is the reason for the kid’s dying. It was the outdated harm. The outdated harm was huge.

Rudd phoned the now-retired Choi, who signed a sworn affidavit, conceding that he had “missed that Ben had suffered an outdated harm.” But he crossed out the phrase “important.” And when requested if he would have modified his testimony at trial, Choi stated, “no.”

Matthew DeMartini: There’s no indication that something in there may be important.

But Rudd suspected that Choi could have additionally been mistaken about one other main situation within the case: that alleged cranium fracture.

Dr. Thomas Rudd: What ought to have been achieved was that entire part ought to have been reduce out … to look underneath the microscope to see if, in actual fact, it’s a cranium fracture. … And they did not.

Rudd believed what Choi and the opposite medical consultants thought was a cranium fracture could have as a substitute been a standard a part of Ben’s rising cranium, however he could not show it. Then, in 2015, Melissa’s father stated he acquired an nameless name that there was a set of X-rays on the coroner’s workplace that had by no means been turned over to the protection. When Rudd’s workers searched the pc archives, they got here throughout startling pictures that had been by no means proven at trial.

Dr. Thomas Rudd: I used to be dumbfounded. … There’s positively no cranium fracture right here.

WERE BEN KINGAN’S X-RAYS MANIPULATED?

Dr. Thomas Rudd (2015): I’ve proven this to numerous pathologists and a radiologist … They’ve all known as me and say, “There isn’t any cranium fracture on this youngster in any respect.”

In 2015, 4 years after Melissa Calusinski’s conviction — and shortly after these clear X-rays of Ben Kingan had been discovered — Dr. Rudd modified the style of dying on Ben’s dying certificates from “murder” to “undetermined.” By this level, protection lawyer Kathleen Zellner had taken on Melissa’s case.

Kathleen Zellner: I do not know of a case in America the place somebody is serving a 31-year jail sentence for a dying that was undetermined.

Zellner,  who has constructed a profession on getting the wrongfully convicted out of jail, was intent on getting Melissa’s conviction overturned. And in 2016, Melissa was granted an evidentiary listening to to current what Zellner argued was new proof earlier than Judge Daniel Shanes, the identical decide who presided over Melissa’s trial.

Kathleen Zellner: The new proof was that the photographs that had been given to Paul De Luca had been darkened.

Remember, the State gave De Luca, Melissa’s trial lawyer, a disk containing the darkish, unreadable X-rays earlier than trial. At the evidentiary listening to, Rudd testified about discovering the clear X-rays — X-rays that he and different protection consultants stated confirmed no cranium fracture;  X-rays that Zellner argued would have modified the end result of Melissa’s trial.

Kathleen Zellner: The cranium fracture … was the pivotal level within the state’s case to … persuade the jury it was a murder …

But on the evidentiary listening to, prosecutors argued that this wasn’t new proof within the case. They stated the disk offered to De Luca had software program that would improve the X-rays and that he merely did not do sufficient to brighten them. De Luca says he could not even open the software program.

Paul De Luca: I name in a secretary … I name in any person else within the workplace … nobody may get any higher pictures.

Zellner, with the assistance of an imaging professional, argued that it did not matter what De Luca did — that the X-rays that he had been given had been modified and had been inferior to those on the coroner’s workplace pc. She additionally known as a witness whom she believed raised extra questions in regards to the prosecution’s case: Paul Forman, the deputy coroner throughout Ben Kingan’s autopsies. Forman disputed the testimony of some of the essential witnesses at Melissa’s trial — Dr. Manny Montez. Remember, Montez was the State’s closing witness who testified that he felt a fracture in Ben Kingan’s cranium.

But Forman, who stated he was there when Montez got here to the coroner’s workplace, testified that Montez by no means bodily examined Ben’s physique or really touched the kid’s cranium.

Erin Moriarty (2016): Could he have in some way gone in and checked out Ben’s physique, examined the physique with out you figuring out?

Paul Forman (2016): No, I used to be with him from the second he got here within the door to the second he left.

The State tried to discredit Forman by questioning his reminiscence in addition to his psychological well being. Forman informed “48 Hours” he had been handled for bipolar dysfunction and despair.

Paul Forman: Well, it was a private assault.

But Forman wasn’t the one protection witness who raised questions on Montez’s testimony. Dr. Robert Zimmerman, a famend pediatric neuroradiologist who examined the readable X-rays, testified that if that cranium fracture had existed, it might be clearly seen.

Dr. Robert Zimmerman (outdoors of courthouse): It wasn’t there on the X-ray, so I do not suppose he may’ve really seen it. 

But prosecutors stood by their trial witnesses — medical doctors Montez and Choi — who stated they noticed and felt a cranium fracture. “48 Hours” reached out to each medical doctors for this broadcast, however they didn’t reply to our requests for remark. When the evidentiary listening to ended, Judge Shanes dominated towards Melissa.

In his ruling, Judge Shanes acknowledged that he did not discover Forman’s testimony concerning Montez credible. And he agreed with the State that De Luca may have brightened the X-rays and made them readable. It was one other letdown for Melissa and her household.

Melissa Calusinski: You clearly made a mistake. (Crying) … I simply do not perceive.

Zellner appealed the ruling, however once more, a disappointment. And then, 4 years later, in 2022, there was a growth that few noticed coming. Eric Rinehart, a brand new state’s lawyer in Lake County — the county the place Melissa was convicted — had taken workplace. Zellner says he needed extra data on the discrepancy over the X-rays, so he advisable she retain the digital forensics firm, Garrett Discovery.

Kathleen Zellner: We paid for them, however he advisable them.

Andrew Garrett is the CEO of Garrett Discovery. Brian Bowman is a digital forensics professional who works for him. They concluded the X-rays had been manipulated by somebody utilizing a software program device used to view X-rays.

Erin Moriarty: How did Paul De Luca, the protection lawyer, find yourself with these very darkish photos?

Andrew Garrett (at pc with X-ray on monitor): I can present you. So, if I take these sliders right here and I drag ’em all the best way down or all the best way up, you may manipulate this picture. … So, any person went in, and so they altered the distinction to make it appear to be that on display screen, after which exported that file …

Erin Moriarty: On the coroner’s pc?

Andrew Garrett: On the coroner’s pc.

Bowman agrees there was little De Luca may do.

Brian Bowman: The protection counsel may have adjusted a few of the distinction on the JPEGs that they got. But they could not make the photographs larger, and so they would not be capable of go in and zoom into the depth and have the readability of the picture that the unique is.

But if Ben Kingan’s X-rays had been manipulated, who did it? In their report, Garrett and Bowman pointed to the State.

Erin Moriarty: You put in right here, the State adjusted the settings of the photographs that resulted in black, washed-out pictures … You’re saying that both the prosecutor’s workplace or the coroner’s workplace, however any person representing the State did this?

Andrew Garrett: Yes.

Brian Bowman: Yes.

Andrew Garrett: This just isn’t a kiosk pc sitting in a foyer. This is of their custody and management. You must be within the coroner’s workplace to get entry to this.

WAS MELISSA CALUSINSKI’S CONFESSION COERCED?

In late 2022, when Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart met with the forensic consultants — consultants he advisable — and discovered of their findings, attorneys Kathleen Zellner and Paul De Luca had been additionally there.

Kathleen Zellner: Eric was simply indignant … He was saying, whoever had achieved this manipulation ought to be held accountable. … I believed after the assembly … that he believed in Melissa’s innocence, and he was going to attempt to rectify this.

Paul De Luca: I believed he was gonna do one thing about it.

But nothing occurred, say Zellner and De Luca. And because the months stretched on, Zellner determined to additionally look extra intently at Melissa’s confession.

Kathleen Zellner: That’s the one proof towards her … there’s nothing that ideas this as being a murder. Absolutely nothing.

Zellner requested Dr. Saul Kassin, a psychology professor and main professional on false confessions, to overview the case. Dr. Kassin had first analyzed the interrogation again in 2016, when he was a CBS News guide. He informed us then — and now — that it seems police went into that room decided to get a confession.

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): The cause that we had been known as in on this incident is ‘trigger Ben’s cranium was fractured …

DET. SEAN CURRAN: What we have to know proper now’s if this was achieved accidentally or did any person deliberately damage him?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yeah. I — I’d by no means put my fingers on him …

Saul Kassin: Her denials had been emphatic.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): I by no means put my hand on a toddler, ever.

Saul Kassin: … And they plowed over all of them.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): …You know what medical proof is, it simply would not lie, OK?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yeah.

Remember, a detective reported that through the post-mortem, the pathologist, Dr. Choi, informed him that Ben had a cranium fracture, and that the harm was current and was brought on by one other particular person, utilizing sturdy pressure.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): They did an post-mortem on Ben.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yeah …

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: We’re speaking a cranium fracture …

DET. SEAN CURRAN: There’s — typically accidents occur, and I imply, they’re unavoidable.

Saul Kassin: They launch into an accident state of affairs.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): …I didn’t drop him.

DET. SEAN CURRAN: Did you lose your persistence and hit him?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: No.

DET. SEAN CURRAN: Did you push him right into a wall?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Uh-uh. (shakes her head no)

After almost six hours with investigators —

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): You did not come to work that day with the intent of injuring anyone.

— Melissa informed them it was an accident.

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): Did you drop the child?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yes. … I wasn’t paying consideration and he slipped out of my fingers …

But that did not fulfill the detectives who had left the room periodically to cellphone Dr. Choi.

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): …That story you are giving us is a load of s***…

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: There isn’t any means, no means that that may have induced that traumatic of an harm.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: All you have to do is inform us the reality and we’re achieved.

Saul Kassin: They’re not saying nothing will occur to you, nevertheless it’s implied.

After 9 hours in that room, the investigators had been lastly getting Melissa to inform a narrative that would account for a cranium fracture.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO (interrogation): You had been offended.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: I used to be offended and aggravated.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: Show us how offended you had been and present us what occurred, and let’s simply get this over with and transfer on.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: OK. So I bought offended.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: Yeah.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: And I went, “growth.”

DET. SEAN CURRAN:  I — I’m gonna inform you one thing proper now.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: OK.

DET. SEAN CURRAN: This may be very particular.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: OK.

DET. SEAN CURRAN: This is gonna go away a selected mark.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Like a fracture.

Then, they gave Melissa a state of affairs of why she bought offended —

DET. SEAN CURRAN (interrogation): We suppose on this scenario, the opposite infants are screaming, crying … 

— and what she did.

DET. SEAN CURRAN: He begins performing up and, you get mad at him, and also you throw him on the ground …

MELISSA CALUSINSKI:  (Melissa nods)

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: You threw him on the ground?

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Yeah.

Saul Kassin: She must get out of there. She cannot take it anymore.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): I’m so sorry.

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: OK. We perceive.

The detectives who interrogated Melissa didn’t reply to “48 Hours”‘ request for remark. Kassin raises considerations about how lengthy Melissa was in that room—roughly 10 hours—and the way notably susceptible she was. About two-and-a-half years earlier than Ben Kingan’s dying, Melissa had reported she was raped.

Saul Kassin: She was enclosed in a small area, pinned down and sexually assaulted. Now she’s pinned into the nook of a room. … I can solely think about that whereas this could be usually demanding for the typical particular person, it might be much more demanding for any person with that historical past.

The protection lately had Melissa evaluated by a psychologist and psychiatrist. They identified her with post-traumatic stress dysfunction. They additionally assessed her as having borderline mental functioning. She scored at a 4.8 grade stage in sentence comprehension, which may assist clarify why she believed she may go dwelling — even after she had confessed to homicide.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI (interrogation): I’m simply form of curious, how lengthy, far more, ‘trigger …?

DET. GEORGE FILENKO: Not for much longer, we’re on the cellphone proper now. We’re attempting to get this achieved as shortly as potential.

MELISSA CALUSINSKI: Because I simply wish to go dwelling and spend time with my mother and father and my pet.

Saul Kassin: She had no concept what was occurring. … The confession, in my thoughts, is nugatory. … There are a number of explanation why she might need given this confession. … This is not only a susceptible suspect. It is not simply interrogation ways which might be extremely misleading. It’s each.

The jury at Melissa’s trial heard about her low IQ. But the decide wouldn’t enable a false confession professional to testify. Zellner believes that testimony might need modified the decision.

Erin Moriarty: If Melissa Calusinski had not walked into that room, if she had insisted on an lawyer, would she be in jail immediately? 

Kathleen Zellner: No, completely not. They had completely nothing. There’s no eyewitness. There was no video. … The cause Melissa Calusinski bought charged is she confessed.

But if Melissa did not hurt Ben Kingan, what occurred to the toddler? It raises extra questions on that earlier harm — the one which was found on the day care months earlier than his dying. Several workers there remembered a co-worker.

CRYSTAL CALUSINSKI (interrogation): She was working there at that — at the moment when that occurred. Her identify is Brenda.

NANCY KALLINGER (interrogation): What I imagine, I solely heard, I did not see something, is that she put him within the crib, and I imagine he threw himself again. … She give up the day after.

Brenda did not testify at Melissa’s trial, and the protection was by no means in a position to monitor her down. But “48 Hours” did.

MAKING THE CASE FOR MELISSA’S FREEDOM

Melissa Calusinski was interrogated for hours in regards to the harm Ben Kingan acquired simply earlier than his dying. But what in regards to the day care employee who was reported to be with Ben a couple of months earlier, when he bought a lump on his head? She did not return “48 Hours”‘ calls. But after we positioned her, she agreed to talk to us on the situation we obscure her face and establish her solely by Brenda, her first identify.

Erin Moriarty: On October 27, 2008, there was a report of an harm on Ben Kingan … Do you keep in mind that?

Brenda: No, I do not. 

Erin Moriarty: The means it has been described is — from some individuals — is that Ben was with you, and also you had been placing him within the mattress, they heard a bump and — after which he had a bump on the again of his head.

Brenda: No.

Erin Moriarty: Did that occur with you?

Brenda: No.

Erin Moriarty: But you probably did cease working the very subsequent day?

Brenda: I did. I used to be simply form of uninterested in being there. … I do not recall a bump and I do not recall ever bumping him.

Erin Moriarty: So, do you say it did not occur or you do not bear in mind it occurring?

Brenda: No, it did not occur.

Brenda has by no means been charged with harming Ben deliberately or unintentionally. But lawyer Kathleen Zellner is adamant that Ben sustained a severe harm that day.

Kathleen Zellner: I feel that his mother and father … had been misled by the day care middle about that incident. 

And in accordance with police experiences, it would not be the primary time that the day care allegedly tried to cowl up the seriousness of a kid’s harm. The day care was shut down by state authorities shortly after Ben died.

In April 2024, greater than 12 years after Melissa’s conviction — with no success within the courtroom system — Zellner filed a clemency petition asking Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to exonerate Melissa or launch her for time served.

Kathleen Zellner: I imagine that is her greatest probability for freedom.

Before a scheduled listening to, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart spoke to an lawyer representing Ben Kingan’s household, after which, he wrote a letter to the prisoner overview board stating his workplace “strongly opposes Melissa’s clemency petition.”

Erin Moriarty: Were you shocked by that?

Kathleen Zellner: Totally. … I imagine he thinks in his coronary heart that she’s harmless.

Rinehart wouldn’t do an on-camera interview or converse to “48 Hours” on the report, however in that letter to the board, he acknowledged that there isn’t any new proof within the case and that “Melissa’s petition for clemency doesn’t set up” innocence. On July 9, 2024, Zellner went earlier than the prisoner overview board to make her case for Melissa’s freedom.

KATHLEEN ZELLNER (at clemency listening to): What we wish to do immediately is concentrate on who is that this particular person, and the way did she find yourself within the place that she’s in, convicted of the first-degree homicide of a kid.

But additionally there, making an impassioned plea, had been Ben Kingan’s mother and father. 

AMY KINGAN (at clemency listening to): My identify is Amy Kingan and I’m right here with my husband, Andy. We are the mother and father of Benjamin Kingan who was murdered when Melissa Calusinski threw Ben to the bottom, fracturing his cranium … Because of her actions, Andy and I are adamantly against Melissa Calusinski’s launch … We proceed to examine how there is no justice for Melissa. But the place is the justice for Ben, and for Andy and myself and our surviving kids …? … We hope that you simply, because the jail overview board, and the governor, will deny her petition for clemency.

Amy and Andy Kingan declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. Following Amy Kingan’s assertion, Zellner was then given the possibility to reply.

KATHLEEN ZELLNER (at clemency listening to): …There isn’t any query that the dying of a kid might be the worst factor that would ever occur to a father or mother, however … The solely means {that a} father or mother will get closure is with the reality. And the reality has not come out on this case … I do know that she is harmless.

After the listening to, it was as much as the prisoner overview board to make a confidential advice to Gov. Pritzker as as to if Melissa ought to be launched.

Erin Moriarty: If you had an opportunity to speak to Governor Pritzker your self—

Melissa Calusinski: Mm-hmm

Erin Moriarty: — what would you say?

Melissa Calusinski: I’d say, simply please take a look at my case … I did not do that.

Holly, who labored on the day care with Melissa, believes her a lot in order that she wrote this letter to the governor:

Holly (studying letter): From the time Melissa was arrested for Benjamin’s homicide, I’ve at all times thought she was harmless. … The proof doesn’t level to Melissa.

Holly: I can solely think about how Ben’s household is gonna really feel, figuring out that I’m saying Melissa is harmless. (crying) … But an harmless particular person shouldn’t be in jail.

When “48 Hours” first met the Calusinski household in 2014, 5 years after Melissa’s arrest, they nonetheless had her bed room arrange. Today, that room remains to be arrange simply because it was. Paul and Cheryl Calusinski have not given up hope that their daughter will likely be dwelling quickly.

Paul Calusinski: She’s daddy’s little woman. (cries)

Cheryl Calusinski: She is.

Paul Calusinski: We did all the things collectively.

Cheryl Calusinski: And we’re simply gonna carry on till she comes dwelling.

The Prisoner Review Board made its confidential advice to Gov. Pritzker in January 2025. There isn’t any deadline for the governor to behave. 

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Produced by Stephanie Slifer. Richard Barber is the producer-editor. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Grayce Arlotta-Berner is the editor. Charlotte Fuller is the event producer. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.