On September 27, 2021, a unanimous SJC reversed the first degree murder conviction and life sentence of Attorney Wood's client Cara Rintala in a 47 page decision. After two trials in which juries could not agree on a verdict, the prosecutor called a bench chemist at a paint company to offer "expert" testimony in a third trial that paint found on the victim's body had been poured intentionally just before police arrived at the crime scene. His opinion convinced the third jury to convict. On appeal, the SJC accepted Attorney Wood's argument, supported by the affidavit from a professor of material science and several amicus briefs, that this "expert" opinion was junk science that was not reliable because it did not follow the scientific method and should not have been admitted. The decision is a powerful precedent that trial judges must demand that prosecutors who offer expert opinion purportedly based on new science first demonstrate its reliability - using the scientific method - before permitting the jury to hear it.

Attorney Wood and his associate Melissa Ramos immediately filed a motion seeking Ms. Rintala's release while the Commonwealth decides whether to attempt to retry her a fourth time.