Australian mother imprisoned 20 years pardoned and freed because of doubt she killed her 4 children

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian woman who spent 20 years in prison was pardoned and released based on new scientific evidence that her four children died by natural causes as she had insisted. The pardon was seen as the quickest way of getting Kathleen Folbigg out of prison, and a final report from the second inquiry into her guilt could recommend the state Court of Appeals quash her convictions for murder and manslaughter. Folbigg was released from a prison in New South Wales on Monday following an unconditional pardon by the governor. The New South Wales attorney-general said there was reasonable doubt about Folbigg’s guilt based on new scientific evidence that the deaths could have been from natural causes.