Delaware pediatrician Earl Bradley loses appeal in patient rapes



A Delaware judge has rejected an appeal from a former pediatrician serving life in prison after being convicted on several counts of raping young patients.

Superior Court Judge William C. Carpenter Jr. dismissed Earl Bradley’s latest appeal on procedural grounds Thursday.

In his appeal, Bradley cited 24 grounds for relief, including ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial errors, violation of his constitutional rights, and perjury by a detective.

Carpenter noted, however, that the appeal was Bradley’s second motion for post-conviction relief. Successive motions of that type are procedurally barred unless a defendant can meet one of two exceptions. The first involves pleading with particularity that new evidence exists, creating a strong inference that the defendant is innocent. The second involves demonstrating that a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to pending appeals, applies to the case and renders a conviction invalid.

Carpenter said Bradley’s appeal had failed to meet either exception, but was instead primarily focused on ineffective assistance of counsel and challenges to the seizure and admission of evidence that had been rejected in previous court rulings.

“Further, it is difficult for Bradley to assert that he is innocent here as he videotaped the criminal acts for which he was ultimately convicted,” Carpenter wrote.

Carpenter, who refused a request from Bradley to recuse himself from the case, also noted that Bradley has never expressed any remorse “for the devastating harm he inflicted upon young and helpless victims.”

“Instead, Bradley relentlessly attempts to blame others for his present situation, claiming he was wronged either by the court, the police, or his counsel,” the judge wrote. “The truth is that Bradley has been fairly treated at all stages of this litigation and he alone is responsible for his incarceration.”

Bradley, who waived his right to a jury trial after a motion to suppress evidence was denied, was convicted by Carpenter in 2011.

Bradley is currently imprisoned in Connecticut after being transferred from a Delaware prison last year. In deciding to transfer Bradley, the Department of Correction noted the impact he has had on many Delawareans, including workers and other inmates at Delaware’s maximum-security prison.

According to court records, police were able to document more than 100 incidents of sexual abuse by Bradley. Prosecutors presented 89 separate incidents captured on video recorded by Bradley between 1998 and 2009, involving 86 individual children.

The vast majority of victims were infants and toddlers, with an average age of about 3.

In 2012, the Delaware Supreme Court rejected Bradley’s argument that homemade videotapes showing him brutally attacking patients were seized illegally because police used a defective search warrant.

