PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The following breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies I am currently following, will hopefully help our readers navigate the pages of this Blog. I would very much appreciate your bringing any other cases involving flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, and related forensic matters to my attention at hlevy15@gmail.com; Best wishes. Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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CANADA:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARLES SMITH: THE AFTERMATH OF THE GOUDGE INQUIRY:
Applications to the Ontario Court of Appeal; Seven individuals who were convicted of serious crimes involving the death of a child as a result of Dr. Smith's faulty opinions have been granted extended time to file their appeals by the Ontario Court of Appeal in their bids to have their wrongful convictions overturned; Some names are covered by a publication ban:
The Appellants are:
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Tammy Marquardt, who was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder in the death of her son, Kenneth Wynne, 2 1/2.
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Richard Brant, who was charged with manslaughter but later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the 1992 death of his 2-month-old son Dustin.
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Maria Shepherd, who was convicted in 1992 of manslaughter in the death of her 3-year-old stepdaughter Kasandra.
0: A Scarborough father who was charged with second-degree murder in the 1992 death of his 5-week-old son, Gaurov.
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The father of a 13-month-old Scarborough girl who died Feb. 8, 1999.
0: The 18-year-old mother of a baby who died in 1996.
0: A 21-year-old mother charged with second-degree murder in the 1992 death of her newborn.
(To date, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) has secured the acquittals of William Mullins-Johnson and Sherry Sherrett by the Ontario Court of Appeal, on September 21, 2005, and December 7, 2009, respectively.)
0: Compensation; None of Dr. Smith’s many victims have received any compensation for their ordeals they have suffered. We will be watching to see if Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty follows through on his promise in May, 2010, that the government would make its long awaited announcement about compensation soon.
0: Review of shaken-baby syndrome cases by a panel of independent examiners;
0; Review of Dr. Smith’s forensic cases between 1981 and 1991.
0: Dr. Smith professional misconduct hearing before the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.
0: Law-suits launched against Dr. Smith and other parties by Some of Dr. Smith’s victims including Louise Reynolds, Brenda Waudby and William Mullins-Johnson.
0: Outcome of any criminal investigations relating to Dr. Smith.
0: Brenda Waudby's appeal of the rejection of her claim for compensation for emotional suffering by Ontario’s Victims of Crime Compensation Board.
0: The Ontario Government's progress in implementing recommendations of the Goudge report such as the "Coroner’s Council" which would act as a watchdog against the abuses within Ontario’s Coroners’ system that allowed Dr. Smith to cause so much harm to his innocent victims over the years with impunity.
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JURYGATE: Several provinces have been rocked by allegations that prosecutors have been secretly using police to gather information that will help the Crown pick a jury that will be favourable to its case. We will continue to follow the numerous cases in which jury vetting is being advanced as a ground in the Court of Appeal - including one which involves a conviction of first degree murder of a police officer;
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WINDSOR, ONTARIO: We follow the aftermath of revelations that several Doctors misread pathology reports - with disastrous consequences to some of their patients and a decline of trust in the hospital pathology system. (Drs. Barbara Heartwell and Olive Williams). (We are specifically keeping an eye on related applications for class actions working their way through Ontario's courts.)
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ROY SIMMONS; ONTARIO; The Goudge Inquiry into many of Dr. Charles Smith's cases heard shocking evidence of a 1990 case in which Smith mislabelled DNA evidence. Roy Simmons, the accused, was subsequently convicted of manslaughter and incest. We are following Simmons' attempts to obtain the original autopsy report - he was originally told it was missing and then that it existed - and his efforts to use it to clear himself.
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GREGORY CARTER; ONTARIO; Gregory Carter, 63, was charged Jan. 25, 2010 with fraud, obstructing justice and perjury. Durham police allege Mr. Carter falsely identified himself as a psychologist in family court proceedings, identifying himself as a doctor. Some of those hearings resulted in parents losing bids for custody of their children, police said. On June 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for holding himself out as a "doctor" and was suspended for three months. Local papers have reported that the possibility of a class action is being explored. We are following the criminal charges Carter is facing - a batch of new ones were recently laid - the potential class actions, and the family court case in which parents who lost their children to the authorities due to Carter's opinions attempt to get them back.
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LEIGHTON HAY: Lawyers for Leighton Hay persuaded Supreme Court of Canada on July 15, 2010, hairs to be sent for forensic testing that they hope will free Hay from prison after more than seven years in custody. (Hay is serving a life term in the July 2002 execution-style murder of Colin Moore, 51, a beloved member of the local Guyanese community.) We follow developments.
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CHARLES SMITH BLOG AWARD: I established this award in 2009 to honour authors anywhere in the world who have done outstanding work in exposing a miscarriage of justice involving flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, or a combination of both. Honourees to date are: 0: Kevin Morgan (AUSTRALIA): author of "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice, who single-handedly fought for and obtained the forensic materials which led to Colin Ross's pardon almost ninety years after he was executed. 0: Michael Hall (U.S.A.): For his excellent work in Texas Monthly exposing the miscarriages of justice that have occurred as a result of scent-lineups and the "experts" who conduct them, and 0: Sun-Sentinel reporter Paula McMahon (U.S.A.) for her ground-breaking reporting over a nine year period which led to the freeing and exoneration of Anthony Caravella. O:journalist Stewart Cockburn (AUSTRALIA) for his ground-breaking work in "The Advertiser" which exposed the miscarriage of justice suffered by Ted Splatt and triggered the Royal Commission which led to Splatt's exoneration. 0: Australian scientist Tom Mann (AUSTRALIA) for his sterling efforts to publicize the injustice perpetrated on Ted Splatt in the courts including the publication of "Flawed Forensics: The Ted Splatt case and Stewart Cockburn," a monumental book which demonstrates the tragic consequences which can unfold when science gets twisted out of proportion in the courts and those entrusted with the task of protecting our criminal justice system abdicate their responsibilities.
I welcome suggestions as to other authors who deserve to be nominated for this award for their work in exposing miscarriages of justice flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, or a combination of both at hlevy15@gmail.com; David Grann (U.S.A.) for his highly influential New Yorker story "Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?" which exposed the faulty arson "science" that contributed to the wrongful conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
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HANKS SKINNER: TEXAS; (U.S. SUPREME COURT); All eyes will be on the U.S. Supreme Court this fall to learn whether the Justices will allow order the State of Texas to conduct the DNA testing which Skinner says will prove he is innocent - or leave his fate in the hands of Texas Governor Rick Perry.
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CAMERON TODD WILLINGHAM: TEXAS; (TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION); We are closely following events relating to the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of murder and executed for the deaths of his three young children via arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas. Willingham's case gained renewed attention in 2009 when an investigative report in The New Yorker, drawing upon arson investigation experts and advances in fire science, purported to demonstrate that, contrary to the claims of the prosecution, there was no evidence that the house fire was intentionally set, and that the State of Texas executed an innocent man. An expert hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the original claims of arson were not sustainable; the Corsicana Fire Department disputes the findings. The case is of huge interest because of Texas Governor Rick Perry's insistence that Texas has never executed an innocent man. Perry has been accused of replacing four of the nine members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission in order to keep the truth from coming out - an allegation which, not surprisingly, he vigourously denies.
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DOUGLAS PRADE: The Douglas Prade case is one of several cases we are following involving post conviction applications to have DNA tested. Prade, a former Akron police captain, was convicted in 1998 for the murder of his ex-wife, Akron family physician Margo Prade, 41. His case was sent back to Summit County in a May 4 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court. The high court ruling means Hunter that the lower court will decide whether new DNA testing of forensic evidence from Prade's trial could detect potentially exonerating clues that a previous DNA test could not. In December, 2009, Prade's attorney, David B. Alden, argued before the high court that DNA technology now can detect a small amount of male DNA, even if it is mixed in with vast amounts of female DNA. If another person's DNA is found inside the bite mark, Alden said, a reasonable conclusion would be that Douglas Prade was not the killer.
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KENNETH REED JR. (LOUISIANA) has also been seeking post-conviction DNA testing. Reed Jr., 39, contends DNA testing — which was not available in 1991 — would exonerate him in the aggravated rape of a 16-year-old girl. IN June, 2010, "A Louisiana Supreme Court ruling Friday cleared the way for the evidence in a convicted Baton Rouge rapist’s 1991 case to be subjected to DNA testing. We are following developments.
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CLAUDE JONES: (TEXAS); EFFORTS TO DETERMINE IF HE WAS WRONGLY EXECUTED; This Blog has been focusing on the topical issue of whether the an innocent man has ever been executed by an American state. As Texas Observer scribe Dave Mann has put it, "It’s never been proven—without a doubt—that a state executed an innocent person. DNA testing has exonerated nearly 20 death row inmates in the United States before they were executed. But there hasn’t yet been a case in which a person was put to death for a crime that DNA evidence would later prove conclusively that he or she didn’t commit." So we are pursuing the case of the late Claude Jones. On June 11, a state judge ordered East Texas prosecutors to hand over key evidence from a 1989 murder case to the Innocence Project and The Texas Observer for DNA testing. The analysis may prove for the first time that Texas executed an innocent man. Advanced DNA testing—which didn’t exist at the time of trial—could prove whether Dixon or Jones committed the shooting inside the store."
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WILLIAM MACUMBER: ARIZONA; In essence, Mr. Macumber has been in prison for 35 years, another man has confessed, the State Parole Board has recommended clemency, and the governor is holding fast. No clemency. We follow developments in the case.
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LARRY SWEARINGEN: TEXAS; Larry Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of Melissa Trotter in 1998. Melissa Trotter went missing on 8 December 1998. Larry Swearingen was arrested three days later, and has been incarcerated ever since. The body of Melissa Trotter was found in a forest on 2 January 1999. Larry Swearingen was tried for her murder, and sentenced to death. He maintains his innocence of the murder. Several forensic experts have provided statements and testimony that support his claim. One of these experts, Dr Joyce Carter, is the former Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County in Texas who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at Larry Swearingen’s trial that in her opinion, Melissa Trotter had died 25 days before her body was found. In an affidavit signed in 2007, Dr Carter stated that she had looked again at the case and changed her opinion. She concluded that Melissa Trotter’s body had been left in the forest within two weeks of it being found. If accurate, this would mean that the body was dumped at a time when Larry Swearingen was already in custody. Swearingen remains on death row. We follow hos battle for his life, his freedom and his exoneration.
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JUDGE SHARON KELLER; CALIFORNIA; WILL SHE REMAIN ON THE BENCH? It's not every day that the Chief Justice of a state Criminal Appeals Court gets into sizzling hot water. That's why we're interested in Sharon Keller, Chief Justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Keller currently has complaints against her remain pending before both the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Texas Ethics Commission. After a five-hour hearing last month, the judicial commission left pending its decision on whether to discipline Keller. She faces five charges of judicial misconduct - including an allegation that she allowed a prisoner to be executed because his lawyer's request for a reprieve came after hours - and allegations of financial disclosure errors. The panel could remove her from the bench, censure her or take no action. Keller's lawyer charges that death penalty opponents were engaging in a calculated strategy to oust her from the court.
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JUDGE KEVIN FINE: TEXAS; Judge Fine caused an uproar when he issued a ruling in a capital murder case (the John Edward Green Jr. case) that was widely interpreted as saying that the death penalty in Texas was unconstitutional. All eyes - including ours - will be on the hearing he has scheduled to hold on November 8, 2010, to determine whether innocent people are at risk of being wrongly executed in Texas.
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ARSON JUNK SCIENCE CASES; It is possible that dozens of people have been convicted of the most serious crimes because courts allowed unscientific testimony by so-called arson experts - such as the junk-science testimony that led to the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. We are following activity in both the criminal and civil courts. Cases visited thus far include: David Williams, Ed Graf, Curtis Severns and Ernest Willis.
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DOG-SCENT JUNK SCIENCE CASES; It is possible that dozens of people have been convicted of the most serious crimes because courts allowed testimony by "dog handlers" such as Keith Pikett and John Preston - and the junk-science upon which their so-called "expert" opinions are based. We are following activity in both the criminal and civil court and in the political arena where there is pressure on state governments to conduct probes of all of Pikett's and Preston's cases. Cases visited thus far include Richard Winfrey Jr., Bill Dillon, Calvin Lee Miller, Michael Buchanek, and Gary Bennett;
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BITE MARK JUNK SCIENCE CASES: We have also been into miscarriages of justice caused by so-called bite mark "expert evidence." Robert Lee Stinson is a case in point. He was convicted on the basis of the opinion of dental scientist L. Thomas Johnson but freed after four Innocence Project experts convinced the Court that Johnson's opinion lacked a scientific basis. We also looked at the role played by bite-mark "experts" Dr. Michael West, a dentist, and Dr. Steven Hayne, a state pathologist in the wrongful convictions of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer. Bite mark "evidence" is at the heart of the Douglas Prade case noted above.
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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES REPORT ON FORENSIC SCIENCES IN U.S. LABS; The report, released in April, 1999, revealed disturbing deficiencies in many forensic fields - and that some of the forensic disciplines routinely embraced in the courts are neither financially sound or properly conducted. The report concluded that among the methods used, only DNA stood up to strict scrutiny. But what about fingerprint analysis, or ballistics or the study of bite marks or hair? None measured up, no matter what the drama on the CBS television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. "Nuclear DNA analysis has been subjected to more scrutiny than any other forensic discipline, with extensive experimentation and validation performed prior to its use in investigations," said a statement that accompanied the report. "This is not the case with most other forensic science methods, which have evolved piecemeal in response to law enforcement needs, and which have never been strongly supported by federal research or closely scrutinized by the scientific community." Among its findings: While there is evidence that fingerprints are unique to each person, that uniqueness does not ensure two prints will not be confused; The accuracy of shoeprints or tire track analysis is impossible to assess; There is no evidence that microscopic hair analysis can match hair with a specific person — though it might rule in or rule out groups of people. Bite-mark matches offer no scientific studies for support. The knowledge base for firearms analysis is fairly limited. We are monitoring the aftermath of the report in a bid to determine what, if anything, has changed.
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TARNISHED MEDICAL EXAMINER: DR. PAUL SHRODE; THE AFTERMATH; The spotlight has been on Dr. Paul Shrode (OHIO) since Governor Ted Strickland commuted Richard Nield's death sentence to life without parole partly on the basis of Shrode's flawed forensic opinion at the death penalty hearing. We will be keeping eye on a promised review of other cases involving Shrode's opinions.
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TARNISHED MEDICAL EXAMINER: RONALD TOOLSIE; TENNESSEE; This Blog has been following the Mitchell Delashmitt and Gussie Van cases, both of which involving allegations that Toolsie's opinions were flawed. Mitchell Delashmitt was recently allowed to plead guilty to lesser offences after prosecutors were confronted with the fact that Toolsie's medical license had been suspended. In November, 2009, it was reported that the former Bradley County medical examiner defrauded a company to obtain several prescription drugs and then unlawfully distributed them, according to a court affidavit. Toolsie was arrested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after his Oct. 28 indictment by a Hamilton County grand jury. He was charged with one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, one count of failure to keep required records of controlled substances and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.
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TARNISHED MEDICAL EXAMINER: DAVID KOFOED; NEBRASKA; Kofoed, Douglas County's former chief crime scene investigator, was sentenced to between 20 months and 4 years in prison for tampering with evidence in a 2006 Cass County case in which two men were wrongly charged in a double murder. (Nicholas Sampson and Matthew Livers). Kofoed plans to appeal his conviction; The men spent several months in jail before they were cleared. Defence lawyers have called for a review of cases in which he was involved. One of these cases involves Ivan Henk, who was convicted of murdering his young son, whose body was never found. A judge has noted that in both cases there were confessions by the suspects and a lack of physical evidence to corroborate them until Kofoed found a speck of blood that had previously been overlooked. We follow the calls for a review and law suits launched by his victims.
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HOUSTON CRIME LAB; This lab has been called "the worst crime lab in the country. It has been found to be underfunded, understaffed, and border-line criminally incompetent. One commentator called it "everything people think when they think of Texas, science, and justice." We are following the re-opening of cases in which convictions may have been tainted because of sub-standard work and procedures.
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AUSTIN DNA LAB; We are following developments in light of allegations made by Cecily Hamilton, a former DNA analyst with the police department, in a Feb. 11 memo detailing a hostile work environment, retaliation among workers and DNA-testing quality concerns. If Hamilton's allegations are true, as many as 2000 criminal cases could be affected.
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SAN FRANCISCO CRIME LAB: We are following the aftermath of revelations that prosecutors withheld from defence lawyers information they could have used to attack the credibility of former lab technician Deborah Madden who is currently before the courts on drug related charges.
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DNA FAMILIAL ISSUE; (BLOOMBERG NEWS); We are following the case of "Lonnie David Franklin Jr. of Los Angeles (dubbed "the Grim Sleeper") who has been charged with multiple counts of murder as a result of a controversial software program using "family DNA". is a former L.A. police mechanic and city trash collector who was never a suspect in the case. In 2009 his son, Christopher, was convicted of a felony weapons charge. His DNA was taken and put into a database the state runs that searches for familial links. The software does not exist elsewhere. The prosecution of this alleged serial killer is fraught with privacy concerns;
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JOSEPH ABBITT; The crimes involved two sisters, age 13 and 15. Joseph Abbitt was convicted in 1995 of the crimes. He spent 14 years in prison before he was cleared last year with the help of DNA evidence. We follow efforts to find the real killer - through DNA analysis - and his application for a Pardon.
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NEWLY CREATED FLORIDA INNOCENCE COMMISSION; After months of planning and budgeting for an innocence commission to study issues surrounding wrongful convictions throughout Florida, Chief Justice Charles Canady of the state’s Supreme Court created the Florida Innocence Commission early in July, 2010. The 23-member panel comprised of attorneys, legislators, judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials will present a report on criminal justice policy reform and preventing future injustices by June 2011 with final recommendations being presented the following year. Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos appropriated $200,000 to cover the commission’s expenses earlier this year and the Florida Bar Foundation approved a $114,862 grant for the commission’s work. There have been 12 DNA exonerations from across Florida to date. We follow developments;
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NORTH CAROLINA INNOCENCE INQUIRY COMMISSION: : Seventeen years ago, Greg Taylor was wrongly convicted of the September, 1991 murder of Raleigh prostitute Jacquetta Thomas, 26, whose body was found dumped on South Blount Street in Raleigh. Taylor had exhausted his appeals, but the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission reviewed the evidence against him last year and recommended the case to the three judge panel for further review. The commission is the only state-run agency in the country that investigates claims of innocence. Now the Commission has declared him innocent - the first time an inmate has been freed through the actions of the state's Innocence Inquiry Commission. We follow the new Comnmission's progress.
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ACLU (CALIFORNIA) DNA COLLECTION CASE; (JULY, 2010); During a court hearing a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals showed extraordinary interest in an ACLU lawsuit challenging the state's collection of DNA from people arrested, but not necessarily convicted, in felony cases. One judge said the court was struggling. We follow developments in the case.
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TEXAS OFFICE OF CAPITAL WRITS: (DIRECTOR BRAD LEVINSON); Texas lawmakers created the office in 2009 after a series of investigative reports and studies of the criminal justice system revealed serious problems with the quality of legal representation for indigent defendants on death row. Some of the lawyers whom judges had appointed to represent capital defendants had no death row experience, some had mental illness, some had abandoned their death row clients, and some of the lawyers chosen by judges were dead. So lawmakers created the Office of Capital Writs to provide better representation for people on death row who can't afford to pay their own lawyers to challenge their sentences." We follow developments;
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DOUGLAS PLUDE: Douglas J. Plude, 43, is scheduled to be retried Oct. 4. His conviction for first-degree intentional homicide was overturned two years ago by the Wisconsin Supreme Court because a key prosecution witness purporting to be an expert on injury mechanism analysis falsified his credentials. He is alleged to have poisoned his wife and drowned her in a toilet bowl. This case garnered international attention after the Associated Press ran a story by reporter Ryan Foley under the date-line Madison, Wis. ran yesterday under the heading "Toilet test contentious issue in Wis. slaying case. "If you are a female about 5 feet 8 inches tall, 140 pounds and willing to stick your head in a toilet, a northern Wisconsin prosecutor wants your help in proving a high-profile homicide case," the story began. "The Vilas County district attorney plans to recruit volunteers for a second round of controversial tests designed to prove that a woman was drowned by her husband in a toilet — and didn't commit suicide as he claims," it continued. "The experiments involve positioning women the size of the late Genell Plude of Land O' Lakes at a toilet to determine whether the version of events told by her husband, Douglas Plude, is plausible. Defense lawyers say it's junk science." We are following the case;
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DERRICK WILLIAMS: The Florida Innocence Project claims DNA tests prove that he is innocent. (Press conference held on July 27, 2010). he has been behind bars for 17 years. We will follow the case as pressure is brought on the Florida authorities for his release.
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MICHAEL ANTHONY GREEN: He was sentenced to 75 years in prison for the 1983 rape of a Houston woman based on faulty eyewitness identification. According to court records, a woman talking on a pay phone with her husband was abducted at gunpoint by two men at a Greenspoint-area gas station after midnight on April 18, 1983. They forced her in to a car with two other men. The men drove the victim to a secluded area where three of the men sexually assaulted her. The fourth man did not participate. He was to be released from prison in July, 2010, after DNA tests were finally conducted on exhibits in the District Court office all these years. We are following developments;
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AUSTRALIA; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HENRY KEOGH: This Blog has devoted numerous posts to the conviction and incarceration of Henry Keogh in August 1995 for the murder of his fiancée, Anna Jane Cheney in the face of what Dr. Bob Moles, who has deeply investigated the case, has called "a combination of fraud, deceit and manifest error." Dr. Moles and his colleagues have launched one of the most thorough, intensive attacks on pathology evidence in a criminal case that I have ever seen - and have come up over the years with cogent new evidence destroying the prosecution's forensic case, which the government stubbornly refuses to examine; In addition to following Mr. Keogh's battle for exoneration and freedom, we have been monitoring his attempts to have the pathologists who gave the forensic opinions which led to his conviction - Drs. Colin Mannock and Ross James - held accountable by their governing professional body.
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FERAH JAMA: The ordeal suffered by Ferah Jama as a result of a DNA-mixup - jailed for a sexual assault which may never have occurred - has led to calls for a national Commission to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in Australia such as exists in the United Kingdom. We are keeping an eye on developments.
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GRAHAM STAFFORD: Having finally been freed after many years behind bars, Graham Stafford has been calling for an independent investigation to route out Leanne Holland's killer. Although the Queensland police recently searched the 12-year-old student's former family home for forensic clues into the 1991 murder, Stafford and others take the position that another police investigation on top of the original investigation which led to his wrongful conviction has little likelihood of success. We will be following developments.
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SHANE DAVIS: Shane Davis was convicted by a Supreme Court jury in Brisbane in November 1991 of the murder of South African tourist Michelle Joanne Cohn at a Surfers Paradise apartment block on Boxing Day in 1990. He was sentenced to life in prison, but has always maintained his innocence and has even refused the opportunity of parole several times during the past five years. After spending 20 years behind bars, Mr. Davis has won his battle to have the forensic evidence used to convict him retested using modern technology which was not available at the time of his arrest. Attorney-General Cameron Dick has revealed DNA used in the Davis trial would be retested and new material located in South Australian laboratories would be examined for the first time. It marks the first Queensland case of DNA innocence testing following a suspect's conviction. We will be following developments.
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JAPAN: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MASURU OKINISHI: Doubts have been raised over the conviction of Masuru Okinishi who has been on death row since 1972. Okinishi, now 8n his mid-eighties was convicted of killing five women and injuring twelve others with poisoned wine. The doubts stem from the fact that the pesticide Okinishi confessed to using in his confession was not the one discovered in the wine. We follow developments as judges move the case towards a retrial - as well as reaction to numerous reports of false confessions obtained by police in contemporary Japan.
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TOSHIKAZU SAGAYA: Toshikazu Sugaya, 63, is a Japanese man who spent 17 years in jail for the murder of a four-year-old girl who was acquitted in March, 2010, at a retrial. He was released last year after fresh tests showed that evidence found at the murder scene did not match his DNA. Mr. Sugaya had admitted to the crime but later retracted his statement, saying it was made under duress. Judge Masanobu Sato said that Mr Sugaya had made a false confession after being subject to harsh police interrogation. The judge said that Mr Sugaya had not been told that he could consult with a lawyer or that he had the right to remain silent; "'I feel sorry as a judge that we did not listen to Mr Sugaya's truthful voice, and as a result, took away his freedom for 17 and a half years,'' he said. The Sugaya case has led to calls for safeguards to Japan's DNA system and curbs on police coercion. We continue to follow the situation as developments occur.
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UNITED KINGDOM;
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BENJAMIN GEEN: We are following this case because of its similarity between the Lucy (Lucia) de Berk case (Holland) and the tragic British Sally Clark case. Mr. Geen is a former nurse who was convicted of murdering 2 patients and injuring 15 others. His proponents argue that the Crown's central evidence - statistical evidence showing an unusual pattern of illnesses - was utterly flawed and without probative value.
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ALAN SHADRAKE: The 75-year-old free-lance British journalist was arrested by Singapore authorities in July, 2010, on charges of criminal defamation and contempt of court in connection with his new book, "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock," and then held overnight before being released. We follow developments;
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