The Evidence
The case against Matthew doesn't hold up.
A judge agreed. Here is why.
This is not a matter of opinion.
Matthew Ryan Rademacher's conviction was overturned by the judge himself — not by an appeals court, not by a technicality, but by the same court that convicted him, on the grounds that his legal representation was fundamentally defective. What follows is a factual account of what went wrong, what the medical evidence actually shows, and what is happening right now that threatens to repeat the same injustice.
The judge overturned the conviction himself.
That is not a small thing. It means the court that convicted Matthew looked at how that conviction was obtained and said: this was wrong. Matthew has been waiting for justice ever since.
Matthew's own lawyer failed him.
The most basic requirement of a murder defense is expert medical testimony. Matthew's attorney never provided it.
No pathologist was called to testify
In a first-degree murder trial hinging on the cause of a child's death, Matthew's defense attorney never called a pathologist to the stand. This is not a minor oversight — it was later found to be unlawful. A pathologist could have explained to the jury that Colton's injuries were consistent with the bleacher fall that occurred days earlier, not with abuse.
The conviction was overturned on grounds of improper counsel
The judge who presided over the original trial overturned Matthew's conviction himself, citing improper counsel. This is a significant and rare finding. It means the court determined that Matthew did not receive the competent legal representation the Constitution guarantees — and that this failure likely affected the outcome of the trial.
A new trial was ordered
As a result of the overturned conviction, Matthew is entitled to a new trial. He has been waiting for that trial while remaining incarcerated — six years after his initial arrest, despite the court's own finding that his original conviction was tainted.
Top doctors say it was an accident.
Some of the most respected medical experts in the country reviewed this case and reached the same conclusion: Colton's death was consistent with the bleacher fall, not abuse.
Colton fell from bleachers days before his death
Two-year-old Colton Sceviour fell from the top of bleachers at a softball game. This was a witnessed accident. The fall caused internal injuries that were not immediately apparent — a known and documented medical phenomenon in young children, where delayed deterioration follows a traumatic head injury.
Expert physicians concluded the death was accidental
Some of the top doctors in the country reviewed the medical evidence in Matthew's case and testified that Colton's death was consistent with the earlier bleacher fall — not with abuse. This testimony was available at the time of the original trial. The jury never heard it because Matthew's attorney failed to present it.
Matthew's actions were consistent with a caregiver responding to a medical emergency
When Colton lost consciousness in Matthew's care, Matthew did not understand what was happening. He believed Colton was choking and called for help immediately. His behavior was consistent with a panicked caregiver facing a sudden medical crisis — not with someone who had caused harm.
The prosecutor is blocking the truth.
Even after the conviction was overturned, the prosecution is attempting to prevent the very expert testimony that could have prevented this injustice from being heard at the new trial.
The prosecution is blocking expert medical testimony in the new trial
The same expert medical testimony that was wrongly withheld from the jury at the original trial — testimony from some of the top doctors in the country confirming the death was accidental — is now being blocked by the prosecutor from being used in the new trial. The prosecution appears to be attempting to secure a second conviction using the same flawed record that produced the first.
Matthew remains imprisoned while the court corrects its own mistake
Despite the overturned conviction, Matthew has not been released on bond. He is a farmer with deep local roots, no history of violence, and nowhere to go but home to his family's established farm. He poses no danger to anyone. Yet he remains behind bars while the legal process that wronged him slowly works to correct itself.
The system is failing Matthew a second time
The original conviction was a failure of the defense. What is happening now is a failure of the prosecution to pursue truth rather than a conviction. Justice for Colton Sceviour — a very loved child who deserved better — requires that the full medical evidence be heard. Blocking that testimony does not honor Colton. It buries the truth.
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