INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ An Indianapolis man sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 beating death of his former girlfriend's toddler son is appealing his conviction over an autopsy report.
Fifty-nine-year-old Michael Ackerman is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction. The Indianapolis Star reports (http://indy.st/1LIqFXj ) his public defender argued Wednesday the autopsy report should not have been used as evidence because the forensic pathologist who wrote it had died and could not be questioned by the defense.
Ackerman was convicted last year in the death of 18-month-old Billy Wood. Ackerman was babysitting the child when he died.
The boy's cause of death was listed at the time of the autopsy as multiple injuries/undetermined. The autopsy report identified the injuries as a fractured skull and numerous internal injuries.
