Megan Winfrey: Texas; Federal Law suit calls dog scent lineups "contrived" and "the worst of junk science." Fort Bend Herald.

COUNTDOWN: 21 days to Wrongful Conviction Day: (Thursday October 2, 2014);

STORY: "Federal lawsuit in holdig pattern," by reporter David Emswiler, published by the Fort Bend Herald on September 8, 2014.

GIST: "The lawsuit filed by a San Jacinto County woman against a Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputy is in a “holding pattern” in federal court, according to Fort Bend County Assistant County Attorney Randall Morse. Morse said Monday that U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes has charged defense and plaintiffs with producing experts that each side will call. “So we did that and it took about a month to go through that process,” said Morse. “Now we are waiting on the judge. We may have depositions of those experts. It is up to the judge.” Megan Winfrey filed the suit in February against Keith Pikett, former county sheriff’s deputy, and no fewer than three San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office officials. ........After no physical evidence could be linked to the Winfreys, investigators called in Pikett, a self-trained dog handler who, at the time, worked for Fort Bend County. According to records, Pikett claimed that his bloodhounds could help police link suspects to unsolved crimes through scent lineups.
Pikett’s dogs smelled samples of Burr’s clothing and then smelled samples from the clothing of Richard Jr. and Megan and “alerted,” meaning, according to Pikett, that the scent profiles of the two younger Winfreys were on Burr’s clothes.........The prosecution in three cases used the same evidence from Pikett’s dogs whose names are listed in the original complaint — Quincy, James Bond and Clue. Megan Winfrey’s suit calls the dog scent lineups “contrived” and “the worst of junk science.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.fbherald.com/article_48aee3b1-2cda-590e-94f5-531e3b6bb652.html

For background on Wrongful Conviction Day see the following link:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2014/06/wrongful-convictions-day-aidwyc.html
 
Interested participants may sign up by contacting Win Wahrer of The Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted at: winwahrer@aidwyc.org.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;