Cassandra Black Elk

1 yEAR IN PRISON 

In August 2022, managing attorney Jim Mayer, director of communications & outreach Hayley Drozdowski-Poxleitner, and Great North board member Adam Martin visited the Dakota Women's Correctional Center in New England, North Dakota. There, the Great North team met Cassandra 'Cassi' Black Elk. Kelli Krieg, the Programs Director at the prison, encouraged Cassi to tell Jim her story, believing Cassi might qualify for Great North's legal services.

CASSI’S STORY

At about 1:30 a.m. on February 19, 2022, Cassandra Black Elk fed her 3-week-old daughter, StarLight, a bottle, then swaddled her in a blanket and put her back down to sleep. When Cassi woke up five hours later, StarLight was not breathing. Police and paramedics arrived and confirmed that the baby had died.  

Rather than being given a chance to mourn this unimaginable loss, Cassi was whisked from the scene of her baby's death to an interrogation room at the Bismarck Police Department. There, still beside herself with shock and grief, Cassi was aggressively questioned by multiple police officers for three hours. Officers falsely told Cassi that they found evidence of inflicted injuries on StarLight, and falsely accused Cassi of causing those injuries.  They falsely told Cassi that she must have killed StarLight by shaking her.  They falsely told Cassi that they knew by the progression of rigor mortis that the baby died earlier the previous night, while Cassi was awake. They told her that the autopsy would confirm that someone had hurt StarLight, and that Cassi would be treated better later if she simply confessed right then. They told Cassi that her other two children had been placed with child protective services and that Cassi would not get them back until she told them what she had done to StarLight.  

Throughout this coercive interrogation, Cassi's story never changed - StarLight was perfectly fine when Cassi fed and swaddled her and put her to bed.  

At the end of the interrogation, the same night her daughter had passed, Cassi was handcuffed and taken to jail, and charged with felony child neglect.  According to the charging documents, Cassi was responsible for StarLight's death, though the exact mechanism would not be known until after the autopsy. It was suggested that Cassi's consumption of alcohol the night before had also played a role.  

Meanwhile, Cassi's mugshot was all over local media, with headlines about her being charged in connection with her baby's death.  Cassi's case was reported alongside another recent infant death in the Bismarck area, this one the result of an alleged horrific beating. Bail was set at an unattainable $25,000, so Cassi was separated from her other two children as she awaited her trial.

Cassi kept asking her defense attorney about the autopsy results. She said the autopsy would confirm her version of events. But, defense counsel persuaded her to plead guilty to the offense charged, before they received the autopsy results. When Cassi expressed reluctance about pleading guilty without the autopsy results, counsel told her that if the autopsy was favorable they could "deal with it later." Cassi pled guilty and received a 5-year prison sentence.

While in prison, Cassi kept trying to get the autopsy report, eventually contacting the medical examiner's office herself and obtaining a copy.  The autopsy report confirmed that there was no evidence of foul play or recent trauma, and this was a sudden unexplained infant death. Nothing in the autopsy suggested that Cassi had neglected her baby.  

THE GREAT NORTH INNOCENCE PROJECT TAKES THE CASE

After hearing Cassi’s story, staff attorney Jim Mayer (pictured with Cassi, right) with help from legal fellow Anna McGinn dug into Cassi’s case. The team was also joined by Ryan Sandberg of Pringle & Herigstad, P.C. who provided local pro bono representation. Within a few months the team had completed the investigation and filed a petition for post-conviction relief having found numerous issues with the investigation and fully believing in Cassi’s innocence. 

The petition argued that Cassi's representation was constitutionally ineffective because he encouraged Cassi to plead guilty to child neglect, despite not having received the autopsy results and Cassi’s insistence that she did nothing to abuse or neglect or child. The petition also argued that the State's Attorney violated Brady because she had attended the autopsy of Cassi’s daughter and failed to disclose the findings to the defense, and that the final autopsy report was new evidence supporting innocence.

Great North’s team was given an evidentiary hearing which was held in Mandan, North Dakota on January 19. Jim, in partnership with local counsel, presented testimony from the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, and from forensic pathologist Dr. Mary Ann Sens, an expert in sudden unexplained infant death, who testified that there was no evidence that abuse or neglect played any role in harming StarLight. 

Most importantly, the team took the somewhat unusual step of putting Cassi herself on the stand.  She told her story with courage and dignity, and in the end that made all the difference.

THE COURT’S FINDINGS

The Court entered an order granting the Great North’s petition, stating, "The Court finds Ms. Black Elk's testimony credible," and that "It is clear with the results of the autopsy report that Ms. Black Elk's conduct was not attributable to S.B.'s death." The Court held that "had Ms. Black Elk received proper advice from counsel, she would not have entered her guilty plea...."  Because this ground alone was sufficient to overturn the conviction, the Court did not rule on the other claims the Great North team raised. Nevertheless, the Court cautioned the State, "the Court would note its concerns of the allegation that the State knew of the likely results of the autopsy report prior to the plea agreement, yet did not relay that information [to defense counsel] so Ms. Black Elk could have been appropriately informed before making her decision...."  

WHAT CAME NEXT

The prosecution did not give up.  They appealed the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court. GNIP’s pro bono partner Mark Bradford of the firm Bradford, Andresen, Norrie & Camaratto argued the case on Cassi’s behalf. The Supreme Court affirmed the district court's ruling in favor of Cassi. Even after losing at the Supreme Court, the state continued to prosecute, seeking to try Cassi on felony child neglect charges.  GNIP staff, along with pro bono partners Dane DeKrey and Bruce Ringstrom, continued to fight for Cassi.  Ruling on a motion to dismiss drafted by GNIP legal fellow Anna McGinn, the court agreed that the State's continued prosecution of Cassi on this amorphous revised neglect charge raised constitutional concerns.  The court gave the State 14 days to specifically identify what Cassi did to violate the law.  On October 19, 2023, obviously unable to identify any felonious conduct by Cassi, the State filed a motion to dismiss its own case with prejudice, in the "interest of justice."  The following day, October 20, 2023, the court entered an order dismissing the charges with prejudice, exonerating Cassi of all charges.

Cassi is thrilled to be moving forward, while also continuing to mourn the loss of StarLight. We wish her and her older daughters all the love and joy together they deserve!

NATIONAL REGISTRY OF EXONERATIONS

Cassandra Black Elk has been officially added to the National Registry of Exonerations. She joins the names of over 3,200 innocent people who were convicted of crimes and later exonerated in US history.

Read more about Cassi’s case.