GREENSBORO, N.C. - They uprooted their lives in Massachusetts - and traveled hundreds of miles south, all to stand behind their son, wrongfully accused of murdering his newborn baby.
James and Heidi King are the father and stepmother of Shamus King of Randolph County.
They spent the last six months pouring over medical records and documents, working with lawyers to prove their son's innocence. Then earlier this week, Shamus was cleared of the murder charge.
They say the nightmare just kept getting darker and darker, but they always believed that Shamus didn't kill his daughter.
“I said Shamus, did you do this? And he told me dad, I would rather put a bullet to my head than hurt my daughter… What do you do? You know you believe him,” said James King.
That was all they needed to stand behind their son, but they knew this was an uphill battle: he was behind bars, his 11-week-old daughter Harper was dead, and police assumed it was shaken baby syndrome.
Shamus stayed in jail for 158 days.
“I would have sold my soul to get my son out on bail. But we had a feeling…let's give it a couple of weeks,” said James.
On Monday a pathologist determined Harper died from a rare genetic condition. Shamus’ charges were dismissed, and he was free.
“Just like that,” said James, “Unbelievable.”
“We pulled the medical records, we research the medical records, we saw all the mistakes that were made in the medical records, we knew that… They jumped the gun on shamus,” said Heidi.
They say their months of suffering, praying, and waiting revealed problems from the bottom up.
“It's broken. The system is broken. They need better structure in place to get this correct,” Heidi said.
For this family, the battle is not over. The couple says many out there still believe their son is a killer.
“People are still saying he did it, that he got away with it,” said Heidi, “It's medically proven, and they just don't buy it. They don't want to believe it.”
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