Monday, June 18, 2012

Bulletin: Sandy Williams. (Illinois); High court sides with state in right to confront witnesses DNA case; The Huffington Post;

STORY: "High Court sides with State in DNA case," by reporter Mark Sherman, published in the Huffington Post on June 18, 2012.

GIST: " The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a rape conviction over objections that the defendant did not have the chance to question the reliability of the DNA evidence that helped convict him. The court's 5-4 ruling went against a run of high court decisions that bolstered the right of criminal defendants to confront witnesses against them. Justice Clarence Thomas provided the margin of difference in the case to uphold the conviction of Sandy Williams, even though Thomas has more often sided with defendants on the issue of cross-examination of witnesses. The case grew out of a DNA expert's testimony that helped convict Williams of rape. The expert testified that Williams' DNA matched a sample taken from the victim, but the expert played no role in the tests that extracted genetic evidence from the victim's sample. And no one from the company that performed the analysis showed up at the trial to defend it."

The entire post can be found at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120618/us-supreme-court-lab-tests/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.