#566 Maggie Freleng with Josh Burns
Wrongful Conviction
Lava for Good Podcasts
4.4 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On January 7, 2014, 37-year-old Brenda Burns gave birth to a baby girl, Naomi. Two months later, on March 15, 2014, Brenda was running errands, and Naomi was home with her father, Brenda’s husband, 37-year-old Joshua Burns. They had talked on the phone while Brenda was out, and all was well. When Brenda returned, she found Joshua tending to a cut on Naomi’s face. Naomi fell forward while on Joshua’s lap. He caught her, but she consequently cut her face on his hand. Naomi fell ill in the subsequent weeks. Her parents took her to doctors and emergency care multiple times, and the doctors sent her home with medicine each time. The final time, doctors declared that Naomi had retinal hemorrhaging. The doctor determined it was a result of child abuse and Shaken Baby Syndrome. Joshua was charged with second-degree child abuse. After a trial without updated scientific evidence, but with conflicting medical testimony, a jury found Joshua guilty, and sentenced him to one year in prison.
To learn more and get involved, visit:
https://unshakentruth.com/
https://www.instagram.com/unshakentruth76/
https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/justice-for-robert-roberson/
Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On March 15th, 2014, Josh Burns was at home in Brighton, Michigan, with his newborn |
| 0:11.0 | daughter, Naomi. His wife, Brenda, was out getting her first haircut after becoming a mom. |
| 0:17.8 | I got Naomi up from her nap, and I'm feeding feeding her a bottle and Brenda had called my cell phone. |
| 0:24.3 | There was a coffee table in front of us. |
| 0:26.5 | When I went to like put the phone down, I felt Naomi sliding forward off my knee, like about |
| 0:32.6 | to do a header into the coffee table. |
| 0:35.2 | So I like reached out my hand and kind of had to catch her by her face |
| 0:38.9 | and, like, propped her back up. She had, like, a little scratch on her cheek because I had to grab her. |
| 0:45.1 | So then Brenda gets home, and I'm like, I almost dropped Naomi. So she looks Naomi over. I mean, |
| 0:52.1 | she's a nurse, and Naomi was normal. She didn't even really cry from the event. |
| 0:57.6 | But over the following days, Naomi was pale, lethargic and nauseous, making several trips back and forth to the emergency room. |
| 1:07.3 | Ultimately, when at home, she went limp, struggled to breathe. And Josh, he called 911. |
| 1:13.8 | They were using an infant CPR breathing bag on Naomi. And we had to stop at a fire station and pick up a |
| 1:22.3 | fire paramedic to assist the paramedic in the back. And they were doing like 90 miles an hour down the freeway. |
| 1:29.5 | And I still have nightmares about it. |
| 1:32.3 | And we got to the pediatric ER, and they had been looking into all these different things. |
| 1:38.3 | And then they came and they did a bedside eye exam of Naomi, |
| 1:41.8 | and they found retinal hemorrhages in the backs of her eyes. |
| 1:45.7 | Next thing we knew, there's a child abuse pediatrician in the room. |
| 1:49.9 | And when the CPS worker came and interviewed us, he told us, he said, |
| 1:53.6 | well, the child abuse pediatrician says that this is shaken baby syndrome. |
| 1:58.5 | And we're like, what? |
... |
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