STORY: "Man freed from death row blames conviction on racial bias," by AP reporter Michael Kunzelman, published by WRAL on November 20 2107.
GIST: "A biased autopsy and a prosecutor's racism and religious fervor
corrupted the murder case against a black man freed from Louisiana's
death row, a federal lawsuit says. Rodricus Crawford, 29, sued the Caddo Parish coroner and
district attorney's offices last Thursday, one year after the Louisiana
Supreme Court overturned his first-degree murder conviction in the death
of his 1-year-old son. Crawford's lawsuit claims authorities recklessly disregarded
medical evidence that his son, Roderius Lott, had pneumonia and died of
natural causes. Investigators accused Crawford of smothering the child
at their Shreveport home in February 2012. The suit also says Crawford was deprived of a fair trial by a
prosecutor with a "racist world view" who followed a "biblical command"
to secure the death penalty against black defendants. That prosecutor, former acting District Attorney Dale Cox,
is an outspoken advocate of the death penalty who told a reporter he
believes the state needs to "kill more people." Cox personally
prosecuted one-third of the Louisiana cases that resulted in death
sentences between 2010 and 2015, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center. Caddo Parish has a "well-known history of racism and the arbitrary application of the death penalty," the lawsuit says. The night before his son's death, Crawford and the child
were sleeping in a fold-out couch. Relatives called 911 after Crawford
woke up the next morning and noticed his son wasn't moving or breathing. The parish coroner had a "preconceived suspicion" that the
child had been smothered to death based on the family's race and
neighborhood where they lived, the suit says. The forensic pathologist
who performed the autopsy didn't take routine tissue samples that would
have shown the timing of the child's injuries, the suit says. The
pathologist also falsely claimed that bacteria found in the child's
blood may have come from a contaminated sample, it adds. Their "preconceived expectations and theories were based on
race and racism, and they operated with deliberate indifference to these
accepted professional standards of practice," the lawsuit says. The suit describes Crawford as a "proud and loving father"
and accuses Cox of falsely portraying him as an absentee dad during his
trial. "This argument was based on racial stereotypes and animus, and not upon the facts of this case," it says. Cox said Monday that he hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't
comment on its allegations. John Prime, a spokesman for both the
coroner and district attorney's offices, said he can't comment on
pending litigation. James Stewart, who also is named as a defendant in the suit,
became the first black district attorney in Caddo Parish after Cox
decided not to run for election. Crawford was sentenced to death in November 2013 and
remained on death row until the state Supreme Court reversed his
conviction last year. The district attorney's office declined to retry
him."
http://www.wral.com/man-freed-from-death-row-blames-conviction-on-racial-bias/17129648/
For more insights into Louisiana's perverse criminal justice system read the following Wrongful Conviction Blog post at the link below..."Anyone interested in criminal justice knows that our system is broken. Two recent cases out of Louisiana highlight just how broken our system really is."
https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2017/11/20/two-travesties-of-justice-and-not-a-single-apology-in-sight/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. 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/c
http://www.wral.com/man-freed-from-death-row-blames-conviction-on-racial-bias/17129648/
For more insights into Louisiana's perverse criminal justice system read the following Wrongful Conviction Blog post at the link below..."Anyone interested in criminal justice knows that our system is broken. Two recent cases out of Louisiana highlight just how broken our system really is."
https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2017/11/20/two-travesties-of-justice-and-not-a-single-apology-in-sight/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. 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/c
