Murder conviction overturned, Clayton Allison will return to trial

His conviction was overturned last month, but now Clayton Allison, accused of murdering his infant daughter in 2008, maybe headed to court for a retrial.

Allison was convicted in 2015 after prosecutors argued his daughter died of shaken baby syndrome, but his wife, CJ Allison, has insisted he's innocent.

“He was a gentle and loving father,” CJ Allison said during her husband’s trial in 2015. “He is a loyal and loving husband."

In July, the court of appeals said evidence that his daughter may have had a condition known as Ehlers Danlos syndrome was wrongfully banned from being mentioned. The syndrome can cause increased internal bleeding, and the court of appeals believed Allison could have used it as evidence to argue his innocence.

“Them re-implementing, and allowing the Ehlers Danlos testimony, which should never have been disallowed, is huge because it literally affected the testimony of almost every witness at trial," says CJ Allison.

State prosecutors had until earlier this week to decide whether they would appeal the court's opinion.

“We respect the decision of the court of appeals, and while we think that could be a close call, it did not seem appropriate to take it back to the supreme court and try and argue that further," says John Skidmore, Deputy Attorney General of the Department of Law’s Criminal Division.

But that doesn't mean Allison is free. The court of appeals must schedule a hearing where Allison's case will be sent back to the Palmer Superior Court. Then, the state will announce if they'll retry him. Skidmore says that decision has already been made.

“That would be the time that we would officially announce in court that we were intending to retry it, but I can tell you we absolutely intend to retry the case," Skidmore says.

From there, Allison's trial will begin again with the new evidence.

“We're gearing up and getting ready to go make a stand again in court." CJ Allison says.

CJ Allison has also started a petition asking the state not to retry him. According to her, the petition sits at just over 300 signatures, but the state gets the final word on the retrial. That petition can be found at freeclaytonallison.com/