[Who is expert on justice--specialists or the local medical and social observers?]

A young Norwegian father was convicted of having battered his 5 month-old daughter to death. The trial relied heavily on a medicolegal autopsy report, the conclusions of which have been later questioned by clinical specialists. These specialists claim that the child died a natural death from hitherto undiagnosed osteogenesis imperfecta. The correspondence raises the question of why the opinions of local medical instances, and of people who had known the family and the circumstances for a long time, were neglected in favour of the opinions of experts during all phases of the trial. These people were convinced all the time that the child had been weak and sick from birth onwards, and that the innocent father was a victim of the tendency of the courts to accept expert advice only.