Sunday, June 12, 2016

Publisher's note. Brief pause: I will be 'out of commission' for a short while due to a writing engagement but will be back in action before you know it. No tears please! (I get emotional!) Cheers: Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Dear readers. I will not be publishing new posts over the next few weeks  due to a writing engagement;  In the meantime, please keep in touch with me during this fallow period  at the address below if anything comes up of interest to this Blog  such as new cases, issues, legislation,  or developments of whatever sort. (I will be undoubtedly be checking out my emails from time to time.")

Best wishes;

Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; PS: The Ben Butler trial - which I have been following closely on the Blog - is ongoing in the UK. Keep up with developments by creating a Google alert for: "Ben Butler" and Ellie

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Bulletin: Davontae Sanford: Michigan; Major Development: Prosecutors allege Michigan State Deputy Police Chief James Tolbert fabricated a crucial piece of evidence during the 2007 murder trial of Sanford, then-14-years-old..."The fabricated evidence was a drawing of the crime scene, in which Michigan State Deputy Police Chief James Tolbert, in 2010, lied under oath and said Sanford had drawn the picture, indicating he had full knowledge of the scene. “Mr. Sanford being able to draw the sketch would demonstrate that all of the information came from Mr. Sanford’s recollection of his participation in the crime,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a powerpoint presentation she showed at a press conference. A sergeant from the department also testified that the initial sketch was written and signed by Sanford. But in 2015, Michigan State Police officials interviewed Tolbert during a reinvestigation of the case—this time, Tolbert confessing to drawing it and passing it off as Sanford’s. “When evidence undermining a conviction is discovered and a full investigation is completed, we do act,” Worthy said..."Sanford was officially released on June 8, a day after all charges against him were dropped. Just two weeks after Sanford pleaded guilty and was sentenced, Vincent Smothers, a self-proclaimed professional hitman, admitted to committing the murders, and provided evidence from the crime scene — evidence that Sanford had previously gotten wrong during his testimonies....It is believed Sanford, being young and naive, accepted his guilty plea at the time after suspected coercion from the Detroit Police Department, who led the teen to believe if he pleaded guilty he would be set free."


STORY: :Michigan Police Chief Lied About Crucial Drawing in Davontae Sanford Trial," by reporter Andrew Simontacchi,  published   by the Epoch Times on June 10, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Davontae Sanford sits in court as attorneys present their findings in Detroit on June 30, 2010. Sanford was just 14 when he told police he killed four people in a drug den. He was sentenced to at least 38 years in prison for the 2007 slayings."

GIST: "A former Michigan State police chief fabricated a crucial piece of evidence during the 2007 murder trial of then-14-year-old, Davontae Sanford. Sanford, now 23, was released on June 8 after spending the last 9 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. Sanford had been sentenced to at least 38 years in prison for the 2007 slayings of four people. The fabricated evidence was a drawing of the crime scene, in which Michigan State Deputy Police Chief James Tolbert, in 2010, lied under oath and said Sanford had drawn the picture, indicating he had full knowledge of the scene. “Mr. Sanford being able to draw the sketch would demonstrate that all of the information came from Mr. Sanford’s recollection of his participation in the crime,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a powerpoint presentation she showed at a press conference. A sergeant from the department also testified that the initial sketch was written and signed by Sanford. But in 2015, Michigan State Police officials interviewed Tolbert during a reinvestigation of the case—this time, Tolbert confessing to drawing it and passing it off as Sanford’s. “When evidence undermining a conviction is discovered and a full investigation is completed, we do act,” Worthy said. “On receipt of the MSP report regarding the Runyon St. murders, I directed that the evidence of Tolbert’s statement be shared with Mr. Sanford’s attorneys.” Worthy said: “New information has undermined Sanford’s confession and plea, and as a result, we agreed to vacate his convictions and dismiss the case. "Sanford was officially released on June 8, a day after all charges against him were dropped. Just two weeks after Sanford pleaded guilty and was sentenced, Vincent Smothers, a self-proclaimed professional hitman, admitted to committing the murders, and provided evidence from the crime scene—evidence that Sanford had previously gotten wrong during his testimonies....It is believed Sanford, being young and naive, accepted his guilty plea at the time after suspected coercion from the Detroit Police Department, who led the teen to believe if he pleaded guilty he would be set free."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2088478-michigan-police-chief-lied-about-crucial-drawing-during-davontae-sanford-trial/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Bulletin: Rodricus Crawford; Corey Williams: Louisiana; (The Corey Williams case is another disturbing Louisiana case, which like the Rodricus Crawford case (subject of a series of posts on this Blog) puts the state's criminal justice system under intense scrutiny -and cries out for remedy. The Williams case is particularly disturbing because it involves "newly uncovered evidence" found in the prosecutor's possession relating to a mentally handicapped 16-year-old, Corey Williams, who was arrested and convicted of a murder, and has since spent half of his life incarcerated for the crime.).."In an application for supervisory writ filed Friday, Williams' attorney say prosecutors hid evidence known as Brady material, information that could have impeached the testimony of other suspects and cast reasonable doubt as to Williams' involvement. That evidence, attorney Blythe Taplin writes, comes in the form of "a series of recorded interviews between witnesses and law enforcement that supported the defense case that two other men committed the murder." "Between midnight and 8:30 a.m., detectives conducted a series of interviews with witnesses that were never disclosed," Taplin wrote. "Although the older men originally tried to place the blame on Corey, the police detectives immediately realized this was a ruse to place the blame on the most compromised, and least threatening, of those nearby the shooting." In one audio tape an investigator is recorded telling a witness, "It sounds like to me y'all all decided y'all going to blame it on Corey," while another tape has a witness placing his suspicions on another man known as "Rapist." The Shreveport Times;


"A Shreveport man filed paperwork Friday to take his 1998 murder conviction to the Louisiana Supreme Court, citing newly uncovered evidence of his innocence. Jarvis Griffin was shot and killed Jan. 4, 1998 after the pizza delivery man pulled away from a drop off at a house on Virginia Street. A mentally handicapped 16-year-old, Corey Williams, was arrested and convicted of that murder, and Williams has since spent half of his life incarcerated for the crime. In an application for supervisory writ filed Friday, Williams' attorney say prosecutors hid evidence known as Brady material, information that could have impeached the testimony of other suspects and cast reasonable doubt as to Williams' involvement. That evidence, attorney Blythe Taplin writes, comes in the form of "a series of recorded interviews between witnesses and law enforcement that supported the defense case that two other men committed the murder." "Between midnight and 8:30 a.m., detectives conducted a series of interviews with witnesses that were never disclosed," Taplin wrote. "Although the older men originally tried to place the blame on Corey, the police detectives immediately realized this was a ruse to place the blame on the most compromised, and least threatening, of those nearby the shooting." In one audio tape an investigator is recorded telling a witness, "It sounds like to me y'all all decided y'all going to blame it on Corey," while another tape has a witness placing his suspicions on another man known as "Rapist." While U.S. Supreme Court attention is rare, it wouldn't be the first time the justices' decisions have benefited Williams' defense team. Originally sentenced to death for Jarvis' murder, in 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. With an IQ of 68, Williams fit the criteria, and his sentence was changed to life in prison..."For an intellectually disabled, innocent, teenager to be removed from death row and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, it isn’t a victory — it’s a tragedy every day that Corey remains in prison," Taplin said via email. "This state was supposed to protect kids like Corey. Given what we know now, it’s clear that we failed him." The evidence was only uncovered in 2015, when interim district Attorney Dale Cox found the recordings in old files and turned them over. The DA's office has previously opposed any defense motions for a lesser sentence but could not be reached before publication Friday. Williams' attorneys expect to hear back from the Supreme Court in 8-12 weeks."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/crime/2016/06/10/shreveport-man-appeals-life-sentence-highest-court/85720106/

Can new District Attorney James Stewart bring justice back to Caddo Parrish, Louisiana  for convicted men such as Rodricus Crawford and Corey Williams, and who knows how many other that have been convicted by the state's malevolent criminal justice system which has finally come under intense scrutiny? See the Shreveport Times story at the link below: "It’s too early to say what Stewart’s legacy will be. The office has been stained by allegations of racial bias and politics. It’s facing a federal class action lawsuit for allegedly violating the rights of black residents wanting to serve on Caddo juries. Anti-death penalty groups and activists are quick to point out the parish’s role as outlier in Louisiana, which has temporarily halted executions. Trust in the office among some in the public is stretched thin while others guard it with suspicion. Ben Cohen, Capital Appeals Project counsel, said he’s waiting to see if Stewart will bring justice back to Caddo Parish. Cohen is one of the attorneys representing Corey Williams, an intellectually disabled man serving life for the murder of a pizza delivery man. Williams was convicted as a teen and sentenced to die. His sentence was overturned after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled minors could not receive the death penalty. “I hope Judge Stewart develops a system for looking at these cases that were handled in the past (and a process to ensure it doesn’t happen again),” he said. via email.
 http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/watchdog/2016/01/08/setting-up-house-james-stewart-move/78503030/


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  Many people are asking how they can help  free and exonerate Rodricus Crawford.  Crawford himself,  his family, and Marlene Belliveau, who is advocating for Crawford,   believe that personal pleas directly  to District Attorney James Stewart or  Governor of the State of Louisiana John Bel Edwards to review the case before it is too late could help make a difference -  and would be most appreciated. The pleas can be sent as follows:

DA James Stewart
501Texas St, 5th Floor
Shreveport, LA  71101

(or) 

Governor John Bel Edwards
Office of the Governor
PO Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804

For more information with respect to this case, you may also contact Marlene Belliveau at : MarleneABelliveau@gmail.com ( for the Crawford family);
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: THE EIGHT POST  CHARLES SMITH BLOG SERIES:

Part One: 'TakePart'  tells the compelling  story of a sister's (Vicki Crawford-Sharp) efforts to save her brother from Louisiana's death row  - with the  fervent  support of a Canadian woman (Marlene Belliveau)  drawn to the case  by a horrific personal experience of her own.
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row.html 

Part Two: Marlene Belliveau's compelling   plea to Caddo Parrish's new  District Attorney James Stewart to spare an innocent father's  life and proclaim his innocence.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_28.html

Part Three: The Innocence Network files an Amicus Brief urging the US Supreme Court to reverse his conviction - asserting that the victim’s death resulted not from suffocation, but from a fatal illness.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_29.html

Part Four:  In his own words Rodricus Crawford - through an open letter - tells anyone who will listen that all he asks is for the new DA (James Stewart) "to do the right thing and re-examine the case...There's only one reasonable conclusion."
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_30.html

Part Five: Catholics lead calls for court to spare life of death-row inmate; Catholic News Service.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016_05_01_archive.html

Part Six: More on the perverse criminal justice culture in which Rodicrus Crawford - and many others - have been trapped: A recent study conducted by the 'Southern University Law Center’s Journal of Race, Gender and Poverty' which shows that "few Louisiana death row inmates are actually executed, since the majority have their verdicts reversed upon appeal, or are exonerated due to innocence findings".
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana.html

Part Seven: Good news for Rodricus Crawford and the rest of the more than 80 people on death row in Louisiana; It just got more difficult for the state to push forward on executions.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana_1.html

Part Eight: Publisher's view; (Editorial);  "Apart from the factual component of the case which cries out Rodricus Crawford's innocence - after he had been trapped  in Louisiana's  perverse criminal justice culture - we still have to view Rodricus in the context of a father wrongfully convicted of the  murder of his son,  charged with the most horrific offence in the criminal law, and  awaiting a meeting with the state's executioner."
 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=120008354894645705#editor/target=post;postID=3030613652084038518;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=8;src=link

See also  a  recent previous post on this Blog at the link below..."Louisiana's criminal Justice system under intense scrutiny: "Also real are the two additional problems tainting Louisiana's justice system as borne out by the following stories..."

 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/louisianas-criminal-justice-system.html

Fallibility of DNA: Scientific American: "When DNA Implicates the Innocent."..."Like any piece of evidence, however, DNA is just one part of a larger picture. “We're desperately hoping that DNA will come in to save the day, but it's still fitting into a flawed system,” says Erin E. Murphy, a professor of law at New York University and author of the 2015 book Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic DNA. “If you don't bring in the appropriate amount of skepticism and restraint in using the method, there are going to be miscarriages of justice.” For example, biological samples can degrade or be contaminated; judges and juries can misinterpret statistical probabilities. And as the Anderson case brought to light, skin cells can move." Peter Andrey Smith;


STORY: "When DNA Implicates the Innocent," by Peter Andrey Smith, published by Scientific  American on June 1, 2106.

SUB-HEADING: "The criminal justice system’s reliance on DNA evidence, often treated as infallible, carries significant risks"

GIST: "In December 2012 a homeless man named Lukis Anderson was charged with the murder of Raveesh Kumra, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire, based on DNA evidence. The charge carried a possible death sentence. But Anderson was not guilty. He had a rock-solid alibi: drunk and nearly comatose, Anderson had been hospitalized—and under constant medical supervision—the night of the murder in November. Later his legal team learned his DNA made its way to the crime scene by way of the paramedics who had arrived at Kumra's residence. They had treated Anderson earlier on the same day—inadvertently “planting” the evidence at the crime scene more than three hours later. The case, presented in February at the annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Las Vegas, provides one of the few definitive examples of a DNA transfer implicating an innocent person and illustrates a growing opinion that the criminal justice system's reliance on DNA evidence, often treated as infallible, actually carries significant risks. As virtually every field in forensics has come under increased scientific scrutiny in recent years, especially those relying on comparisons such as bite-mark and microscopic hair analysis, the power of DNA evidence has grown—and for good reason. DNA analysis is more definitive and less subjective than other forensic techniques because it is predicated on statistical models. By examining specific regions, or loci, on the human genome, analysts can determine the likelihood that a given piece of evidence does or does not match a known genetic profile, from a victim, suspect or alleged perpetrator; moreover, analysts can predict how powerful or probative the match is by checking a pattern's frequency against population databases. Since the mid-1990s the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization based in New York City, has analyzed or reanalyzed available DNA to examine convictions, winning nearly 200 exonerations and spurring calls for reform of the criminal justice system. Like any piece of evidence, however, DNA is just one part of a larger picture. “We're desperately hoping that DNA will come in to save the day, but it's still fitting into a flawed system,” says Erin E. Murphy, a professor of law at New York University and author of the 2015 book Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic DNA. “If you don't bring in the appropriate amount of skepticism and restraint in using the method, there are going to be miscarriages of justice.” For example, biological samples can degrade or be contaminated; judges and juries can misinterpret statistical probabilities. And as the Anderson case brought to light, skin cells can move. Since 1997, when researchers first showed that it was possible to gather genetic information about a person based on skin cells they had left on an object, this type of trace evidence, also known as touch DNA, has been increasingly collected from surfaces such as door and gun handles. (In some jurisdictions, such as Harris County, Texas, the number of touch DNA cases submitted for laboratory analysis increased more than threefold between 2009 and 2013, often as a means of identifying possible perpetrators for burglaries and thefts.) Commercial companies now sell kits to law-enforcement agencies that can generate a full genetic profile of an individual from as few as three to five cells. Independent labs and scientists working on such projects as identifying long-deceased individuals also employ the kits. Until recently, this type of DNA has been regarded as incontrovertible proof of direct contact. But a growing number of studies show that DNA does not always stay put. For example, a person who merely carried a cloth that had been wiped across someone else's neck could then transfer that person's DNA onto an object he or she never touched, according to a study published earlier this year in the International Journal of Legal Medicine. Similarly, Cynthia M. Cale, a master's candidate in human biology at the University of Indianapolis, recently reported in the Journal of Forensic Sciences that a person who uses a steak knife after shaking hands with another person transfers that person's DNA onto the handle. In fact, in a fifth of the samples she collected, the person identified as the main contributor of DNA never touched the knife. Cale and her colleagues are among several groups now working to establish how easily and how quickly cells can be transferred—and how long they persist. “What we get is what we get,” Cale says, “but it's how that profile is used and presented that we need to be cautious about.” At the forensics meeting in Las Vegas, Kelley Kulick, a public defender for the County of Santa Clara, presented the idea that Anderson's DNA hitched a ride on the medics' uniforms. Just how often transferred DNA ends in a wrongful accusation is unknown. “Although clear cases appear to be quite uncommon, I think it's probably more prevalent than we think,” says Jennifer Friedman, a public defender in Los Angeles and DNA specialist. “The problem is that what we don't see frequently is the ability to definitely prove that transfer occurred.” The erroneous interpretation of touch DNA for Anderson has now also become a contentious issue for two co-defendants on trial for the Kumra murder, Kulick says. No doubt DNA evidence remains an invaluable investigative tool, but forensic scientists and legal scholars alike emphasize that additional corroborating facts should be required to determine guilt or innocence. Like all forms of evidence, DNA is only one circumstantial clue. As such, Anderson's case serves as a warning that a handful of wayward skin cells should not come to mean too much."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-dna-implicates-the-innocent/

See also related by post by forensic blogger Mike Bowers  Forensics in Focus:( CSI DDS):  at the link below;  "With the FBI making a step to reel in its history of wayward forensic conclusions, Scientific American wades into the “restructuring” of DNA opinions in much the same way. The Fibbies had ample time and warning to rethink and retool their poorly validated use of human hair morphology when DNA profiling began to contradict hair IDs in earnest during the 1990’s. Better late than never, I guess. Now, in a stroke of irony, DNA is being seen in the media and some scientific forensic circles as subject to similar human foibles. Its all about the DNA from “touch.” The Santa Barbara’s District Attorneys Office put UCSB soccer star Eric Frimpong into prison (and after release deportation back to Ghana) in 2008 from a touch contact between a female student and his genitals. She was covered in seminal fluids from her unindicted “boyfriend.”  2 bitemark dentists showed up to finish the deal against him. These are same two DA bitemark experts in Bill Richards case from 1997 who recanted their testimony from that case in 2009. As you will read below, “touch” research is just starting after 20 years of DNA courtroom opinions in the US. In another irony, the testing of DNA “walking” into a crime scene and by direct inference, a sexual assault case, is reported from a forensic science graduate student. Odd? Not really as this is forensics."

 https://csidds.com/2016/06/07/the-bloom-is-off-forensic-dnas-infallibility-scientific-american/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Bulletin: Sonja Farak; Massachusetts; Superior Court judge wants to know why state didn't turn over paperwork showing Sonja Farak's addiction history, Mass Live reports..." But (Judge Richard) Carey, in considering defendants' motions to withdraw guilty pleas or have a new trial, said he wants to know what happened. "It also seems to me that the critical issue here is that documentation that was in that car, in that manila envelope, that reflected arguably a prior history for Ms. Farak. Who saw it, what they did with it, who disclosed it who didn't disclose it, why they disclosed it or didn't disclose it, when they disclosed it and when they didn't disclose it, is what this is all about," Carey said in a court session Monday on 10 cases in which Farak was involved. Carey noted in a past ruling on the cases that police listed Farak's mental health treatment records as "assorted lab paperwork." The records "shed light on Farak's long struggle with addiction and her drug tampering at the Amherst drug lab," he wrote. Ryan on Monday continued to argue for what he calls "the missing emails" from the state attorney general's office and state police."


STORY: "Superior Court judge wants to know why state didn't turn over paperwork showing Sonja Farak's addiction history,"  by reporter Buffy Spencer, published by 'Mass Live' on June 7, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION:  "Sonja Farak, left, stands during her arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, Mass., Tuesday Jan. 22, 2013. Farak is charged with stealing drugs and tampering with evidence while working as a chemist in the State Crime Lab in Amherst. Farak pleaded not guilty."

GIST: Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey on Monday summed up a main goal in figuring out what he should do with cases affected by former state chemist Sonja Farak's misconduct. He wants to know why Farak's mental health care records — found in Farak's car when she was arrested for drug thefts from the now-closed state police crime laboratory in Amherst in January 2013 — didn't come to light until the fall of 2014. They only came to light after lawyer Luke Ryan, representing defendants who were contesting the outcome of their drug cases because Farak was involved, was finally allowed to inspect evidence. Defense lawyers have said the state's withholding of the records is prosecutorial misconduct. A report released in May concluded there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct or obstruction of justice by the assistant attorney general or state police officers in matters related to the Farak investigation. The report was prepared by Special Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Velis and special Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Thomas Merrigan. But Carey, in considering defendants' motions to withdraw guilty pleas or have a new trial, said he wants to know what happened. "It also seems to me that the critical issue here is that documentation that was in that car, in that manila envelope, that reflected arguably a prior history for Ms. Farak. Who saw it, what they did with it, who disclosed it who didn't disclose it, why they disclosed it or didn't disclose it, when they disclosed it and when they didn't disclose it, is what this is all about," Carey said in a court session Monday on 10 cases in which Farak was involved. Carey noted in a past ruling on the cases that police listed Farak's mental health treatment records as "assorted lab paperwork." The records "shed light on Farak's long struggle with addiction and her drug tampering at the Amherst drug lab," he wrote. Ryan on Monday continued to argue for what he calls "the missing emails" from the state attorney general's office and state police. Even though 810 emails among those parties were given to defense lawyers, Ryan said some were clearly missing. For instance, he told Carey on Monday, although some of the emails showed that someone from the attorney general's office or state police replied to an email, the actual reply is not there. Carey asked the defense lawyers and attorney general's office representatives to try to work out among themselves a means for getting all the emails, and report to him if it can't be accomplished without a court order. He said he is particularly interested in seeing all the emails from January 2013 to the fall of 2014, since that is the time period between when Farak's mental health records were seized in the car to when Ryan found them after being allowed access to evidence. Carey said he would set aside a week or two weeks, perhaps in September, to conduct hearings on the current cases. He said he planned to have them resolved one way or another, be it by dismissal, a new trial or other means. After those cases are resolved, he said, he will address other cases filed with him relating to Farak."...An interim report by state Assistant Attorney General Thomas Caldwell said, "Ms. Farak began using controlled substances regularly in the last quarter of 2004; Ms. Farak was under the influence of controlled substances during a vast majority of her working hours from the last quarter of 2004 to her removal from the lab on Jan. 18, 2013." Earlier this year Farak testified under an immunity agreement before a grand jury investigating failures in the state crime lab. Caldwell wrote that she testified "about her extensive drug use; her siphoning of drugs from the lab's standards, which were used to test drug samples, from police-submitted samples of drugs, which were intended to be tested for evidentiary purposes in pending criminal cases, and from other chemists' samples; and her manufacturing in the lab of crack cocaine for her own personal use." Farak testified at that grand jury she first started using methamphetamine from the lab in late 2004 or early 2005, she said he enjoyed the "positive side effects" of the drug. She began to use it multiple times a day. Not taking the drug resulted in severe lethargy, irritability and lack of productivity and focus, to the point where she would have to call out sick.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/06/superior_court_judge_wants_to.html
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Friday, June 10, 2016

Bulletin: Bobby James Moore; Duane Buck: Dallas Morning News welcomes the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to scrutinize the way Texas implements the death penalty by taking on their cases..."Both cases show the importance of Supreme Court scrutiny of the way Texas imposes the death penalty. The review is so critical because once imposed, an execution can never be undone. We can’t allow ourselves to forget how human, and therefore inescapably fallible, the process leading up to a death sentence is."


"The Supreme Court has agreed once again to scrutinize the way Texas implements the death penalty. Rejecting Texas’ arguments that they need not interfere, at least four justices in each case decided that circumstances were unusual enough to merit another look. We welcome that scrutiny, and so should Texas. One case in particular reveals Texas’ stubbornness: Bobby James Moore. It’s as clear as a red stop sign to Texas officials and everyone else in the country that individuals with intellectual disabilities may not be executed. But Texas insists that its decades-old method for testing a defendant’s mental capacity is sufficient, despite widespread improvements in medical evaluations that have been adopted across the U.S. When a judge ruled that a modern test had shown that Moore, who’s been awaiting execution since his 1980 conviction for murder, suffers from intellectual disability severe enough to keep him out of the death house, Texas appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. That court ruled the modern test invalid, arguing that only the outdated methods maintained by Texas officials could suffice. Lawyers for Moore have called that absurd; we agree. In seeking the Supreme Court review, they noted other state high courts have ruled that “current, established medical standards in assessing intellectual disability” should be used. Texas’ insistence that only its older testing methods are valid is unreasonable. It also marks the state out as a unnecessary holdout against capital punishment limits that have proven wise and human. Texas serves no higher public good by being so stubborn. The other case involves another inmate on Texas’ death row, though its challenge is not so pointedly directed at the death penalty. Instead, it asks a broader question: “Whether and to what extent the criminal justice system tolerates racial bias and discrimination.” When jurors were determining whether to sentence Duane Buck to death, his lawyers called an expert witness who, astoundingly, told jurors that Buck would be more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black. That helped persuade the jury to sentence him to death. .......Both cases show the importance of Supreme Court scrutiny of the way Texas imposes the death penalty. The review is so critical because once imposed, an execution can never be undone. We can’t allow ourselves to forget how human, and therefore inescapably fallible, the process leading up to a death sentence is."
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/1553d4c209e232f6

Bulletin: Jane Ireland (psychologist); UK: Major Development: (Good News; HL); The entire discipline case against her - after complaints were made about a study published in 2012 in which she claimed one in five expert witnesses in the family courts were not suitably qualified - has been dismissed..."She was accused of reaching conclusions that were not justified by the data and of threatening fellow psychologists with legal action if they did not withdraw complaints. But the panel dismissed the entire case against her."Lancashire Evening Post


"Professor Jane Ireland was called to appear before the Health and Care Professions Council after complaints were made about a study published in 2012 in which she claimed one in five expert witnesses were not suitably qualified. She was accused of reaching conclusions that were not justified by the data and of threatening fellow psychologists with legal action if they did not withdraw complaints. But the panel dismissed the entire case against her."

http://www.lep.co.uk/your-lancashire/preston/case-against-uclan-psychologist-scrapped-1-7957252

Illinois State Police crime lab: ABC Investigative Team investigates the labs "forensic failures" - and knocks a proposal on the way to the Governor's desk that would keep information about them from defence lawyers and the public..."It's a sheep in wolves clothing," said Wheaton defense attorney Don Ramsell. Ramsell regularly subpoenas test results and data from the crime lab when he defends motorists charged with drunken driving. Under a proposal passed by the Illinois House on Tuesday, Ramsell says state police will be able to withhold some of the most crucial crime lab information. Including, he says, the kinds of mistakes uncovered by the I-Team last year. These mistakes included: test samples switched, names that didn't match, wrongly run vials of evidence, general inaccuracies, incorrect methods and destruction of evidence. "It's an attempt by the Illinois state police crime lab to try to limit the amount of information they have to turn over to the defense. This way they can hide whatever mistakes errors or method problems that you and the I-Team discovered last year," said Ramsell. The forensic failures discovered by the I-Team last fall appeared to put criminal cases in jeopardy and raised the possibility that charges and convictions would have to be thrown out due to faulty lab tests. But the legislation headed to the governor's desk would allow state crime lab officials to insulate themselves from future failures. Ramsell says they will do this by keeping the information under wraps."


STORY: "Proposal could hide forensic failures from public" by reporter Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone, published   by ABC7 Chicago  on June 1, 2016.

GIST:  "Nine months after the I-Team uncovered a pattern of forensic failures in the Illinois State Police crime lab, the General Assembly has passed a proposal that could keep such information from the public. The I-Team found a culture of law and disorder at state police crime labs last fall. We obtained internal audits and reports that revealed blood and urine testing errors and bad testing methods that jeopardized criminal cases. Now, legislation headed to Gov. Bruce Rauner would allow state police officials to make up their own rules and keep such information from defendants and the public. "It's a sheep in wolves clothing," said Wheaton defense attorney Don Ramsell. Ramsell regularly subpoenas test results and data from the crime lab when he defends motorists charged with drunken driving. Under a proposal passed by the Illinois House on Tuesday, Ramsell says state police will be able to withhold some of the most crucial crime lab information. Including, he says, the kinds of mistakes uncovered by the I-Team last year. These mistakes included: test samples switched, names that didn't match, wrongly run vials of evidence, general inaccuracies, incorrect methods and destruction of evidence. "It's an attempt by the Illinois state police crime lab to try to limit the amount of information they have to turn over to the defense. This way they can hide whatever mistakes errors or method problems that you and the I-Team discovered last year," said Ramsell. The forensic failures discovered by the I-Team last fall appeared to put criminal cases in jeopardy and raised the possibility that charges and convictions would have to be thrown out due to faulty lab tests. But the legislation headed to the governor's desk would allow state crime lab officials to insulate themselves from future failures. Ramsell says they will do this by keeping the information under wraps.  "The purpose of the law is to prevent the defense attorneys from getting any of the information we have been able to get in the past. They are going to try to set up rules so the mistakes and errors don't become the types of information they have to turn over any more," said Ramsell."

The entire story can be found at:

http://abc7chicago.com/news/new-law-could-hide-forensic-failures-from-public/1367365/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Bulletin: George Leniart; Connecticut; Significant Decision relating to expert evidence on the reliability of jailhouse informants; New trial ordered for convicted murderer accused of raping missing girl in 1996..."The state Appellate Court on Monday ordered a new trial for George Leniart, saying the trial judge improperly excluded key evidence including a videotaped interview of a prosecution witness and expert testimony on the reliability of jailhouse informants."


"A Connecticut court has overturned the conviction of a man serving life in prison for the 1996 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl whose body was never found. The state Appellate Court on Monday ordered a new trial for George Leniart, saying the trial judge improperly excluded key evidence including a videotaped interview of a prosecution witness and expert testimony on the reliability of jailhouse informants. Police said Leniart sexually assaulted and killed April Dawn Pennington, of Montville, in May 1996. Authorities said the girl snuck out of her house to meet with another teenager, Patrick "PJ" Allain and Leniart, who was 30 at the time.........Pennington's body was never found after that night.  Leniart was arrested in 2008 while serving a prison sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl. Authorities said he told other inmates he reaped and killed Pennington.
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Convicted-Murderer-Accused-of-Raping-Missing-Girl-in-1996-Entitled-to-New-Trial-382266521.html

Bulletin: Ivan Henry: British Columbia: (Aftermath 1): Exonerated: $8 million recovery in fiercely resisted civil suit: Go to the link below for a photograph of the notorious 1982 Vancouver police lineup photo, showing an officer holding Ivan Henry in a choke hold which was submitted to the B.C. Court of Appeal when it reconsidered Henry's sexual assault conviction in 2010. (And read the excellent CBC account of the court decision);


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ivan-henry-award-wrongful-imprisonment-1.3622588

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Keith Kutska: (Monfils Six): Wisconsin; His attorneys say the state “absurdly mocks” the defence's suicide theory..."Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded to that appeal in May, calling the suicide theory “so flimsy and unconvincing that no reasonable jury could have seriously entertained any doubt that he was murdered.” Schimel said, “The mere fact that 20 years after this conviction Kutska has dredged up evidence that was not presented at his trial is not a reason to give him a new trial.” In the response released Tuesday, Kutska’s attorneys say “Kutska has presented compelling evidence pointing toward suicide.” The reply says Dr. Mary Ann Sens rejected trial testimony from Dr. Helen Young, who presented the homicide conclusion that Monfils was beaten before entering the vat. The defense cites dismissed testimony from Dr. Sens, who found that Monfils was “indisputably alive when he entered the vat … There was no evidence confirming that any injury could only have been caused by beating.” Attorneys also argue that Kutska had ineffective counsel during the trial. “The tragic fact remains that Dr. Young’s claim to know what she did not know, combined with the defense counsel’s wholesale disregard of her assumptions, findings, and conclusions, profoundly misled the jury and courts." WBAY:


STORY:  "Kutska attorneys say state “absurdly mocks” suicide theory," by reporter Rhonda Roberts, published by WBAY on June 1, 2016.

GIST: "Lawyers representing a man sentenced to life in prison for a 1992 Green Bay murder have filed a reply with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, saying the State has embellished facts in the Keith Kutska case. Attorneys for Kutska, one of six men originally convicted in the murder of Tom Monfils, say the state “absurdly mocks” the defense theory that the victim killed himself. In 1992, Monfils was found dead in a pulp vat at the Green Bay mill where he worked with the six men who were accused in his murder. They were called the “Monfils 6” as the high profile case was prosecuted in Brown County. During Keith Kutska’s trial, the state made the case that Kutska and the other men beat Monfils and put his body in the vat. Kutska was painted as a ringleader out to get Monfils for reporting Kutska for theft. Last summer, Kutska was granted an evidentiary hearing to present a theory that Monfils killed himself. However, the judge presiding over the hearing found there was not enough evidence to prove suicide and denied Kutska’s request for a new trial. In March, Kutska’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, asking the state to grant a new trial. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded to that appeal in May, calling the suicide theory “so flimsy and unconvincing that no reasonable jury could have seriously entertained any doubt that he was murdered.” Schimel said, “The mere fact that 20 years after this conviction Kutska has dredged up evidence that was not presented at his trial is not a reason to give him a new trial.” In the response released Tuesday, Kutska’s attorneys say “Kutska has presented compelling evidence pointing toward suicide.” The reply says Dr. Mary Ann Sens rejected trial testimony from Dr. Helen Young, who presented the homicide conclusion that Monfils was beaten before entering the vat. The defense cites dismissed testimony from Dr. Sens, who found that Monfils was “indisputably alive when he entered the vat … There was no evidence confirming that any injury could only have been caused by beating.” Attorneys also argue that Kutska had ineffective counsel during the trial. “The tragic fact remains that Dr. Young’s claim to know what she did not know, combined with the defense counsel’s wholesale disregard of her assumptions, findings, and conclusions, profoundly misled the jury and courts.”.........There is no timeline for the Court of Appeals to make a decision in the Kutska case.........Kutska, Rey Moore, Dale Basten, Michael Hirn, and Michael Johnson remain behind bars for the murder of Monfils. Attempts for release on parole have been denied. Michael Piaskowski was released from prison after his conviction was overturned."

The entire story can be found at:
http://wbay.com/2016/06/01/kutska-attorneys-say-state-absurdly-mocks-suicide-theory/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Bulletin: Ivan Henry: British Columbia; Major development: B.C. judge awards Ivan Henry $8 million for wrongful imprisonment; (A case in which semen collected from several victims was never sent for testing to see if it matched the suspect - and an infamous lineup occurred in which three police officers are seen putting him into a choke-hold to 'encourge' his participation. HL); "In a ruling released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson concluded that the Crown’s wrongful non-disclosure of relevant information seriously infringed Ivan Henry’s right to a fair trial and demonstrated a “shocking disregard” for his Charter rights. Henry was convicted of serial sex offences in 1983, declared a dangerous offender and ordered jailed indefinitely. “If Mr. Henry had received the disclosure to which he was entitled, the likely result would have been his acquittal at his 1983 trial, and certainly the avoidance of his sentencing as dangerous offender,” said Hinkson in his 130-page ruling. “The Province is therefore liable for Mr. Henry’s wrongful conviction and subsequent lengthy period of incarceration.” Reporter Darryl Dyck; The Canadian Press;


"A B.C. man who spent 27 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted has been awarded $8 million in damages, much less than Ivan Henry was seeking at trial. In a ruling released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson concluded that the Crown’s wrongful non-disclosure of relevant information seriously infringed Ivan Henry’s right to a fair trial and demonstrated a “shocking disregard” for his Charter rights. Henry was convicted of serial sex offences in 1983, declared a dangerous offender and ordered jailed indefinitely. “If Mr. Henry had received the disclosure to which he was entitled, the likely result would have been his acquittal at his 1983 trial, and certainly the avoidance of his sentencing as dangerous offender,” said Hinkson in his 130-page ruling. “The Province is therefore liable for Mr. Henry’s wrongful conviction and subsequent lengthy period of incarceration.” The judge awarded a total of $8,086,691, including $7.5 million in damages to “serve the vindication and deterrence functions” of the Charter, $530,000 in compensatory damages and $56,000 in special damages. At trial, Henry had sought an award of more than $30 million in damages.........The judge dismissed a claim on behalf of Henry’s daughters for emotional distress and loss of guidance. Henry was arrested in July 1982 and charged with three counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault, involving eight different women.In March 1983 Henry, representing himself at trial, was convicted of 10 sex offences that occurred in 1981 and 1982.  His initial appeal to the B.C. Court of Appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution after he failed to come up with the $4,000 he needed to pay for trial transcripts.Henry maintained that he was innocent while serving his sentence and filed numerous appeals, motions and applications from prison, all of which were dismissed."
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-judge-awards-ivan-henry-man-8-million-for-wrongful-imprisonment

See Gary Mason's Globe and Mail  review of writer Joan McEwan's excellent  book on the Henry case  at the link below: "The tale, in all its ugliness, is laid out in a new book, Innocence on Trial: The Framing of Ivan Henry. It’s written by Vancouver lawyer Joan McEwen and is a remarkable undertaking of research. In meticulous detail, Ms. McEwen lays out the grotesquely thin, not to mention corrupt, case that was successful in putting an innocent 35-year-old man behind bars for 27 years. As the book makes clear, spending time in jail as a purported rapist is not a pleasant experience – even prisons have standards. Mr. Henry’s life tale is a pathetic one. Raised in Regina, he quit school in Grade 8 to flee an abusive home. He embarked on a life of crime, first petty and then not so petty. He spent time in prison for robbery and attempted rape. An angel he was not. Out of prison, he settled in Vancouver with a drug-addicted wife and two daughters. In 1982, the city was being terrorized by a serial rapist. Police were under increasing pressure to find who was doing it. One day, Mr. Henry was pulled over at a traffic stop. In quick order, he found himself being interrogated and then charged with assaulting 17 women. Mr. Henry chose to clumsily defend himself when he became convinced his legal aid lawyer was part of a conspiracy to put him behind bars. As was later revealed, Mr. Henry was nowhere near the scene where most of the crimes were committed. Police didn’t check out his rock-solid alibis. Semen collected from several victims was never sent for testing to see if it matched the suspect. Three police officers put him in a choke-hold for the police lineup photo. His prior conviction for attempted rape was erroneously allowed into evidence at the jury trial. And there were other, equally egregious examples of authorities abusing due process to get a conviction under any circumstances. Mr. Henry was ultimately found guilty of 10 sex crimes, declared a dangerous offender and sent off to prison to serve an indefinite sentence. In 1990, his dying wife confessed to a daughter that her husband was innocent. She had fingered him to get a $1,000 reward being offered by police that she used to support her drug habit. But it took 20 more years before an appeal court would recognize the miscarriage of justice and make Mr. Henry a free man. In Canada, the wrongfully convicted are never truly set free. Most are not exonerated by the courts – merely acquitted. Mr. Henry walked out of court with less support for his transition to life on the outside than a paroled murderer would get. And his transition has been difficult – with little financial means, he lives in the basement of his daughter’s home. He faces a fight to get government compensation for the 27 years he lost. Ms. McEwen was shocked when she dove into this case and discovered the extent to which Mr. Henry was railroaded into prison. She is rightfully distressed by the shabby way that people unjustly convicted of a crime, and robbed of a free life, are treated upon their release from prison. Mr. Henry’s tragic story deserves to be included in a gallery of the worst examples of wrongful convictions in our country’s history. Ms. McEwen would like to see him fully absolved of the crimes he didn’t commit, not just cleared. And if there is any justice in our sometimes fallible justice system, he will be."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-wrongfully-convicted-are-never-truly-set-free/article21481822/

Bulletin: Ben Butler: UK: On-going trial: DVD of Peppa Pig played to jury after father's claims girl died watching TV show, The Standard reports..."Butler’s barrister, Icah Peart QC, outlined the theory while cross-examining pathologist Professor Anthony Risdon last month, asking him: “Have you heard of Peppa Pig?” Prof Risdon said he knew the character but had not seen any of the cartoons: “I am a little old for that... my children are in their middle ages now.' Mr Peart continued: “In particular I am interested in a nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Five little Peppa Pigs jumping on the bed. One jumped off and bumped her head. Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said 'Don't let Peppa Pig jump on the bed'.” He said Ellie “was a Peppa Pig fan”, her bedroom was adorned with images of the character, and she had the Peppa Pig DVD that was played today in her room. “What I am talking about is someone jumping up and down on the bed and, as Peppa Pig does, jumps over backwards, falls down and hits her head on the concrete floor”, he said. “That's the kind of momentum I am talking about.”


"A DVD of children’s cartoon Peppa Pig has been played to an Old Bailey jury in the last part of the evidence in a child murder trial. The panel of eight women and four men sat for four minutes watching snippets of the popular TV show, featuring a visit of the fire brigade, a family dinner party, and a game of leap frog. Some of the jurors broke into smiles as the film, edited from a 63-minute DVD, was played in court eight. The cartoon has been played as evidence in the murder trial of Ben Butler, a father accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter Ellie by beating her around the head. Butler, 36, allegedly killed Ellie at his home in Sutton before concocting a plan with partner Jennie Gray, also 36, to cover up the murder. However, he claims the young girl may have suffered fatal injuries in a fall, having been jumping up and down on her bed to Peppa Pig. Butler’s barrister, Icah Peart QC, outlined the theory while cross-examining pathologist Professor Anthony Risdon last month, asking him: “Have you heard of Peppa Pig?” Prof Risdon said he knew the character but had not seen any of the cartoons: “I am a little old for that... my children are in their middle ages now.' Mr Peart continued: “In particular I am interested in a nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Five little Peppa Pigs jumping on the bed. One jumped off and bumped her head. Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said 'Don't let Peppa Pig jump on the bed'.” He said Ellie “was a Peppa Pig fan”, her bedroom was adorned with images of the character, and she had the Peppa Pig DVD that was played today in her room. “What I am talking about is someone jumping up and down on the bed and, as Peppa Pig does, jumps over backwards, falls down and hits her head on the concrete floor”, he said. “That's the kind of momentum I am talking about.” Butler is accused of murdering his daughter on October 28 2013, less than a year after she had been returned to his custody. The trial continues."
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/ben-butler-trial-dvd-of-peppa-pig-played-to-jury-after-fathers-claims-girl-died-watching-tv-show-a3266261.html

Bulletin: Danny Lee Hill: Ohio; Bite-mark evidence: Death row case; A judge has ruled that he can seek a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. Vindy.com.

The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer.
A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible.
Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.
Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later.
Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.
Attorneys for Hill and the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office argued the issue at a hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in December.
Judge Cosgrove’s decision focused on the main issue at the hearing — whether Hill was “unavoidably prevented” from filing a motion asking for permission to seek a new trial by deadline 120 days after his conviction.
- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.BYDtkOo5.dpuf
The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer.
A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible.
Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.
Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later.
Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.
Attorneys for Hill and the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office argued the issue at a hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in December.
Judge Cosgrove’s decision focused on the main issue at the hearing — whether Hill was “unavoidably prevented” from filing a motion asking for permission to seek a new trial by deadline 120 days after his conviction.
- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.YymDX7PO.dpuf
 
"The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer. A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time. Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later. Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one."
A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. - See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.73zZCYsQ.dpuis on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later. Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/

Louisiana's criminal Justice system under intense scrutiny: "Also real are the two additional problems tainting Louisiana's justice system as borne out by the following stories: The first - Pascal Calogero's commentary in the National Law Journal, headed: 'U.S Supreme Court should undo death-row injustice in Louisiana' - makes the point that Louisiana needs the high court's guidance on handling exculpatory evidence violations. It confronts the disturbing number of cases in the state where the prosecutors have withheld evidence pointing to innocence which, under the law, should have been turned over to the state. Pascal Calogero was an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from January 1973 to April 1990 and was the chief justice from April 1990 to December 2008. Since retirement, he has engaged in the private practice of law in civil cases. The second is an article in the 'Atlantic' headed "On the Defensive," which runs under the sub-heading: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out."..."Louisiana, incidentally, has one of the country’s highest rates of proven wrongful convictions. In Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola, about 20 men serving life sentences have been exonerated since 2001. Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, noted that every Louisianan her office has freed from that prison was black; every one had a trial at which the presentation of evidence lasted for less than one day; and every one was sent to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. A well-resourced defense lawyer, she said, could have prevented most of those injustices before they began."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  The Louisiana criminal justice system has been coming under intense scrutiny. The lightning rod, in recent times, has been notorious  prosecutor Dale Cox's  outrageous comment,  in the Shreveport Times that the state should kill more people.  Cox's obsession with the death penalty  has led to outrageous conduct in the courtroom which, not surprisingly has led to Louisiana's disgusting record of miscarriages of justice.  As reported by the New Yorker, "The autopsy report was sent to the office of Dale Cox, the first assistant district attorney of Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport. After reading the police reports, he decided to seek the death penalty. Cox told me that in the past forty years he had never prosecuted a man between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six who grew up in a nuclear family. “Not one,” he said. He believes that the “destruction of the nuclear family and a tremendously high illegitimate birth rate” have brought about an “epidemic of child-killings” in the parish. At the time that he learned of Crawford’s case, he was prosecuting another young black man accused of killing his infant. After the man was sentenced to life without parole, rather than death, Cox told a local TV station, “I take it as a failure that I was unable to convince the jury to kill him.” (This is so reminiscent as Charles Smith's fundamentalist beliefs in the purity of the nuclear (read 'Christian') law-abiding, church-going  family, which also led to a disturbing number of wrongful prosecutions.) No single parent, no marijuana, no  children from different fathers, no welfare, no family protection proceedings somewhere in the history. No this. No that. No recognition that his job was to follow the evidence objectively  and put all personal prejudice, ideology and bigotry aside. Cox was so committed to killing Rodricus Crawford, a young man, who had hardly had the opportunity to experience  life beyond his teens, that he invoked Jesus Christ and the Bible. The urge to kill Rodicrus  was so, so strong.  Can you imagine, as the Catholic News Service  reported,  the following language in a civilized court of law? "During the trial, in questioning Crawford’s pastor, Cox asked, “Referring to children, Christ said to his followers: Woe unto you, any of that would harm one of these. It would be better … as though you will never born. You will have a millstone put around your neck and dropped into the sea. Do you believe in that concept?” After some back-and-forth with the pastor, who said he believed not only in that passage from the Gospel but also in mercy, Cox asked him, “So, Pastor, then we should just ignore that Scripture from Christ?” Cox used the passage once more in his closing argument. Cox is the acting district attorney for Caddo Parish, or county, which accounts for nearly half of the Louisiana’s death sentences in the past five years." To make matters even worse, Cox took the outrageous, vindictive  step of sending Louisiana's  probation department  a memo "expressing regret that the state only used lethal injection for the death penalty, because “Crawford deserves as much physical suffering as it is humanly possible to endure before he dies.” At this point, as I write this post, I am thinking of Al Pacino's great movie "And Justice for All" - except for the fact that Rodricus Crawford is not a fictional character caught in a fictional, cruel, topsy turvy,  irrational,  justice system. His case is all too real. Also real are the two additional problems tainting Louisiana's justice system as borne out by the following stories: The first - Pascal Calogero's commentary in the National Law Journal, headed: 'U.S Supreme Court should undo  death-row injustice in Louisiana' - makes the point that Louisiana  needs  the high court's guidance on handling exculpatory evidence violations. It confronts the disturbing number of cases in the state where the prosecutors have withheld evidence pointing to innocence which, under the law,  should have been turned over to the state.  Pascal Calogero was an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from January 1973 to April 1990 and was the chief justice from April 1990 to December 2008. Since retirement, he has engaged in the private practice of law in civil cases. The second,is an article in the 'Atlantic' headed "On the Defensive," which runs under the sub-heading: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out." Read on!

STORY 1: "U.S. Supreme Court Should Undo Death-Row Injustice in Louisiana," by  Pascal Calogero, published by the National Law Journal on May 30, 2016.

GIST:  When I served as chief justice of Louisiana in 1990, Associate Jus­tice James Dennis (now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) and I dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court denied review to a death row inmate named Curtis Kyles. Kyles had petitioned the court for relief on his claims that his due process rights were violated when prosecutors suppressed exculpatory evidence at his death penalty trial in New Orleans in 1984. Five years later, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Kyles' conviction and death sentence on those precise grounds in Kyles v. Whitley, an important precedent in the Brady v. Maryland line of cases that governs the prosecution's obligation to disclose evidence that is favorable to the defendant in criminal trials. Of the four cases that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed on Brady grounds in the past four decades, three were from Louisiana: Kyles v. Whitley (1995), Smith v. Cain (2012), and Wearry v. Cain (2016). Just three months ago, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a decision much like the denial in Kyles similarly denying the Brady claim of Louisiana death row prisoner David Brown, this time over the dissent of three justices. As in Kyles' case two decades ago, Brown's case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has an opportunity to both correct the erroneous result in Brown's case and, equally importantly, to provide clearer direction to the Louisiana courts about the rules that govern the discovery rights of criminal justice defendants. Only through such guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court will Louisiana courts begin to enforce these rules meaningfully. Hopefully, such a ruling would ensure that Louisiana prosecutors' distressing pattern of failing to disclose evidence is finally ended.
Like Brady itself, Brown's case was never a whodunit. It was simply a who did what. At Brown's trial, prosecutors, without any direct evidence to prove which defendants actually killed the victim, argued that Brown was the worst of the worst and was personally responsible. At trial, Brown claimed that when he last saw the victim, he was alive. He said that he was unaware anyone had died until informed by law enforcement. Clearly, the jury did not credit Brown's account. They found him guilty and sentenced him to death. However, the jury was never told that one of Brown's co-defendants, Barry Edge, had confessed to an inmate that Edge and another co-defendant had decided to kill the victim on their own, and then they took his life. Prosecutors were well aware of the confession months before Brown's trial. However, the jury never heard this because they failed to disclose it to Brown, disregarding his plea for life and ignoring his constitutional right to any evidence that is favorable to him and could affect the outcome of the trial. It is the duty of prosecutors to adhere to standards set in the state and federal constitutions, especially in cases where they are seeking the ultimate punishment. In this case, the state had an obligation to evaluate the confession for its potential to exculpate any of the five defendants in this case, including Brown. Part of the Brady requirement is that prosecutors may not assess the potential materiality and favorability of evidence in the light most supportive to the state's case. But, what occurred in Brown's case is exactly what happens all too often in Louisiana courtrooms: the state either failed to recognize the value of the evidence or disregarded it, and then acted accordingly. In my time as a justice and then chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, I confronted cases like Kyles and Brown all too often. Brady issues are and have been, for decades, an endemic and persistent problem in Louisiana courts in both capital and noncapital cases. The Louisiana Supreme Court had a chance to address this in Brown, but instead, once again, neglected to do so."

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202758802489/US-Supreme-Court-Should-Undo-DeathRow-Injustice-in-Louisiana#ixzz4ARrGHfIT

STORY 2: "On the Defensive" by  Dylan Walsh, published by the 'Atlantic' on June 2, 2016.

SUB-HEADING: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out."

GIST: "Statewide, public defenders represent more than 85 percent of those who pass through the criminal courts, many of them black and uneducated. Without public defenders available, pretrial detainees awaiting representation will clog the jails, judges will be unable to clear dockets, detention costs will rise, and the state will sink, eventually, into a constitutional crisis for failure to provide adequate counsel. “I fully expect litigation around the state to ignite toward the end of this year or the beginning of 2016,” said Derwyn Bunton, the chief public defender of New Orleans, last October. His office had $850,000 less than its forecasted need, a budget gap of 15 percent. In January, his prediction came true: The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana for “indefinite denial of counsel” and “chronic underfunding of its public-defender system.”.........Criminal-justice reform is having its moment. In mid-October, President Obama embarked on a national tour to discuss reentry after detention and alternatives to incarceration. In January, he announced a decision to ban solitary confinement for juveniles held in federal prison. A handful of judges and cities are pushing for bail reform. Both Republicans and Democrats have advanced legislation to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses. The troubling economics of incarceration, aggressive policing in poor communities, and the wide-ranging discretion of prosecutors are all coming under scrutiny. But strangely absent from this discussion is the role of public defenders. “That’s a fatal omission,” said Jonathan Rapping, president and founder of the advocacy organization Gideon’s Promise. “If we believe in equal justice, then the single most important thing to do is make sure poor people have the kinds of lawyers richer people would have."..."Over the last several decades, as the criminal-justice system industrialized—sweeping people off the streets, processing them through courts, housing them in jails and prisons, and monitoring them with supervised release—this constitutional right has grown more important. “Public defenders are meant to be the friction in a system that’s often focused on efficiency, on whisking people through,” said Rapping. He contends that other reforms will bear little fruit without criminal-defense lawyers to uphold them. Implicit in Gideon is the idea that a client’s lawyer, more than anyone else, is in the best position to uncover abuses of due process. “The right to counsel is the vehicle through which all other rights are realized,” Rapping said. But as public defenders’ workloads climb, their ability to safeguard client rights suffers. A census of 22 states carried out by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that, between 1999 and 2007, the number of public defenders increased by 4 percent while their caseload increased by 20 percent. Until recently in New Orleans, public defenders assigned to misdemeanor courts each had upward of 19,000 cases per year, affording them an average of seven minutes for every client. Unsurprisingly, some detainees end up staying in jail waiting for attorneys for longer than the potential sentences for the crimes they were accused of. “You can’t dig into the details. There isn’t time to uncover the facts, to marinate in them, to do the research necessary,” Carson said about managing his caseload. “It becomes like herding cattle.”..."For public defenders, reliance on these court fees places them in the questionable position of drawing a salary from the guilt of those they represent; defendants who are found innocent pay no court costs. A class-action lawsuit filed in September on behalf of six New Orleans residents alleges that these “financial conflicts of interest have derailed the pursuit of justice.” But questionable ethics aside, this system has proved to be fiscally ineffective year after year. Despite a recent increase in the public defender’s cut of the court fee from $35 to $45, nearly every office operates at a loss. The small chunk of funding that comes from state appropriations—about $16.5 million in 2014—is spread thinner every year to stanch mounting deficits. Districts across Louisiana are firing lawyers and support staff, creating client waiting lists, canceling contracts with basic legal-research services, and dumping more cases on fewer attorneys for less compensation. What’s more, the 2017 annual budget, approved by the legislature, slashes public-defender funding by an additional 62 percent—a cut “that would require additional service restrictions on a scale unprecedented in the history of American public defense,” wrote the president of the American Bar Association in a letter to Louisiana’s governor.In September, the New Orleans office ran a $50,000 online crowdfunding campaign. Recognizing a strain of dark humor in the situation, HBO’s John Oliver called attention to the effort. Donations jumped. The office met its goal. In part, the campaign was needed to avoid immediate cuts in essential services. “But it was also to show that this is what it takes to secure the Sixth Amendment in Louisiana,” said chief defender Bunton. “It’s ridiculous and absurd that one of the original 10 Amendments of the Constitution relies on crowdfunding for its guarantee.”..."Louisiana, incidentally, has one of the country’s highest rates of proven wrongful convictions. In Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola, about 20 men serving life sentences have been exonerated since 2001. Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, noted that every Louisianan her office has freed from that prison was black; every one had a trial at which the presentation of evidence lasted for less than one day; and every one was sent to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. A well-resourced defense lawyer, she said, could have prevented most of those injustices before they began."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/on-the-defensive/485165/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (1):  Many people are asking how they can help  free and exonerate Rodricus Crawford. Crawford himself,  his family, and Marlene Belliveau,  who is advocating for Crawford,   believe that personal pleas directly  to District Attorney James Stewart or  Governor of the State of Louisiana John Bel Edwards to review the case before it is too late could help make a difference -  and would be most appreciated. The pleas can be sent as follows:

DA James Stewart
501Texas St, 5th Floor
Shreveport, LA  71101

(or) 

Governor John Bel Edwards
Office of the Governor
PO Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804

For more information with respect to this case, you may also contact Marlene Belliveau at : MarleneABelliveau@gmail.com ( for the Crawford family);

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: THE EIGHT POST SERIES:

Part One: 'TakePart'  tells the compelling  story of a sister's (Vicki Crawford-Sharp) efforts to save her brother from Louisiana's death row  - with the  fervent  support of a Canadian woman (Marlene Belliveau)  drawn to the case  by a horrific personal experience of her own.
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row.html 

Part Two: Marlene Belliveau's compelling   plea to Caddo Parrish's new  District Attorney James Stewart to spare an innocent father's  life and proclaim his innocence.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_28.html

Part Three: The Innocence Network files an Amicus Brief urging the US Supreme Court to reverse his conviction - asserting that the victim’s death resulted not from suffocation, but from a fatal illness.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_29.html

Part Four:  In his own words Rodricus Crawford - through an open letter - tells anyone who will listen that all he asks is for the new DA (James Stewart) "to do the right thing and re-examine the case...There's only one reasonable conclusion."
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_30.html

Part Five: Catholics lead calls for court to spare life of death-row inmate; Catholic News Service.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016_05_01_archive.html

Part Six: More on the perverse criminal justice culture in which Rodicrus Crawford - and many others - have been trapped: A recent study conducted by the 'Southern University Law Center’s Journal of Race, Gender and Poverty' which shows that "few Louisiana death row inmates are actually executed, since the majority have their verdicts reversed upon appeal, or are exonerated due to innocence findings".
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana.html

Part Seven: Good news for Rodricus Crawford and the rest of the more than 80 people on death row in Louisiana; It just got more difficult for the state to push forward on executions.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana_1.html

Part Eight: Publisher's view; (Editorial);  "Apart from the factual component of the case which cries out Rodricus Crawford's innocence - after he had been trapped  in Louisiana's  perverse criminal justice culture - we still have to view Rodricus in the context of a father wrongfully convicted of the  murder of his son,  charged with the most horrific offence in the criminal law, and  awaiting a meeting with the state's executioner."
 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=120008354894645705#editor/target=post;postID=3030613652084038518;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=8;src=link

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;