ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A Gwinnett County judge has vacated the murder conviction of a man who has spent 25 years in prison, ruling that advances in medical science have produced new evidence that could lead a jury to reach a different verdict.

Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Gallant granted Danyel Smith's extraordinary motion for new trial this week, a rarely used legal procedure that allows a convicted defendant to seek a new trial after the normal appeals process if newly discovered evidence likely would have changed the outcome of the case.

Shortly after learning of the ruling, Smith's fiancée, Latasha Pyatt, celebrated the decision.  Oh, we finally got the big win, the win that we've been waiting for and which seems like forever,  Pyatt told Atlanta News First.

Pyatt said she immediately called Smith, who is currently held at the Metro Transitional Center, to tell him the news.  When the shock subsided, he said,  Babe, let me call you back,'  she recalled.  Then when I talked to him, he said,  I almost fainted.' He said,  I told the guys in here, and everybody was so happy for me. They were crying. We were all crying.' 

In 2003, a Gwinnett County jury convicted Smith of felony murder and aggravated battery in the death of his 2-month-old son, Chandler. Prosecutors argued the infant died after being violently shaken, while the state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. Smith has maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration.

In her 14-page order, Gallant concluded Smith met every legal requirement for an extraordinary motion for new trial after presenting newly discovered medical evidence that was unavailable at the time of his trial.

 Mr. Smith's newly presented medical and scientific evidence provides a non-abusive explanation for Chandler's death,  Gallant wrote.

For years, attorneys with the Southern Center for Human Rights argued that advances in medical science show Chandler's death was not caused by violent shaking, but by underlying biological conditions that developed after birth.

During hearings o

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