EDITORIAL: "Justice? Dubious case," published by the Charleston Gazette on December 2, 2013.
GIST: "A West Virginia man has served a decade in prison for a Clarksburg rape
-- even though DNA evidence indicating his innocence reportedly was
hidden by prosecutors. A petition to free Joseph Buffey is scheduled for final arguments
Wednesday before Harrison County Circuit Judge Thomas Bedell. West
Virginians should watch this outcome closely. Buffey was a 19-year-old high school dropout and petty thief who was
convicted of raping an 83-year-old Clarksburg woman in 2001. The national Innocence Project says the teenager was interrogated for
nine hours and induced to make a taped confession because prosecutors
promised to drop three burglary charges against him. However, police
allegedly had to tell him details of the crime scene to include in his
statement. Later, lawyers from Allan Karlin & Associates and the Innocence
Project sought to reverse the conviction. Paul Cates of the innocence
group says: "Through subsequent investigation and discovery, we have learned that
the state conducted DNA testing at the time of the crime, which was
completed more than a month before Buffey's final plea hearing, that
excluded him as the perpetrator. But this testing was never disclosed to
the defense. ... DNA testing on sperm from the rape kit definitively
excluded Buffey and identified another male, also from Harrison County
and in prison on other charges, as the real perpetrator." The entire story can be found at:
http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Editorials/201312010020
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
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