Sunday, June 3, 2012

Bulletin: Michael Arena; To be freed as a result of damaging false testimony from psychologist testifying for the state; The Statesman.


STORY: "Arena who fought questionable pedophile test, to be freed from prison, by reporter Chuck Lindell, published in the Statesman on June 1, 2012.

GIST: "Last month, the Texas Supreme Court threw out Arena’s sentence, ruling that a prosecution witness, Georgetown psychologist Fred Willoughby, provided damaging false testimony during his 1999 trial. Based on results from a questionable psychological test given when Arena was 16, Willoughby told jurors that Arena was a pedophile who was likely to strike again — but he overstated the test’s accuracy rate and scientific support, the court said. Willoughby told jurors that Arena was classified as a pedophile based on a test that required the teen to click through images of swimsuit-clad people of various ages while the computer secretly measured how long he viewed each photo. But according to the Supreme Court, Willoughby overstated the test’s 65 percent accuracy rate, saying it was 85 percent effective, and improperly testified that a Brigham Young University study certified its accuracy. Instead, the study raised serious questions about the test, noting that its ability to distinguish pedophiles from “nonoffenders was not significantly better than chance.”

Read the back story of Arena’s case here.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2012/06/01/arena_who_fought_questionable.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.