"Kimberly Long knows how long she has been out of state prison -- 30
days -- but what she doesn’t know is if she’ll get to stay out. A cloud remains over her life as the Riverside County District
Attorney’s Office announced Friday, July 8, that an appeal had been
filed of a judge’s decision last month to vacate her conviction in the
bludgeoning death of her boyfriend in 2003. Long has denied involvement in the crime and about five years ago the
California Innocence Project, dedicated to the release of wrongfully
convicted inmates, took on her defense. Supervising Deputy District Attorney Gerald Fineman, who tried
Smith’s murder case that led to her conviction in 2006, told Judge Becky
Dugan about the appeal and the judge imposed a stay on Superior Court
proceedings until at least Jan. 6, to await any 4th District Court of
Appeal action. After a week long hearing, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Patrick Magers
found last month that Long's public defender did not provide effective legal counsel for his client. Magers found the defense attorney's actions came up short in several
areas, including not calling forensic pathologists as witnesses to
address the time of death, not completing DNA testing on certain
evidence and not introducing important circumstantial evidence for the
jury to consider. Long didn't have any blood on her or her clothing despite a
blood-spattered crime scene, but her defense did not introduce that
evidence. District attorney’s spokesman John Hall would not comment on the
reasons for the decision to appeal. Other options included filing murder
charges anew, or letting Magers’ decision stand, ending the
prosecution."
http://www.pe.com/articles/long-807790-district-attorney.html