Anthony Robinson; Illinois: Enough to make one weep: His ordeal (spending 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit) prompted an editorial in the Chicago-Sun Times making the point - all too familiar to readers of this Blog - that, 'Too often, justice misses the mark." Publisher's Note: It truly did miss the mark in this case - by miles. As the editorial notes: As the Sun-Times’ Andy Grimm reported recently, Anthony Robinson was convicted of the 2013 murder of Kelvin Jemison in the Bronzeville neighborhood, even though video showed the killer running from the scene and Robinson could barely walk, having been shot multiple times in the leg and foot in late 2012. Two co-defendants allegedly with Robinson were acquitted on a directed verdict. During post-conviction proceedings, Dr. Paul Goodman, a licensed doctor of podiatric medicine and surgery who has years of experience treating gunshot wounds, said “it would be impossible” for Robinson to have committed the crime because of extensive recent surgery on his shattered leg, according to court documents. A physical therapy report from when Robinson was released from the hospital on Dec. 5, 2012 — just four weeks before Jemison’s death — said Robinson was unable to stand without assistance. Also, two witnesses to the shooting said Robinson did not fit the description of the shooter. Yet Robinson was convicted by Cook County Circuit Court Judge James M. Obbish in a bench trial at which Robinson’s public defender did not investigate and introduce the medical evidence. Obbish sentenced Robinson to 55 years in prison."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Even before the medical evidence emerged, questions were raised about Robinson’s conviction.  No physical evidence connected him to the crime, and he did not make a confession.  The video, which was captured by a motion-sensitive camera at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Washington Park homes, showed a shooter with short hair; Robinson had dreadlocks when he was arrested. The day after the shooting, a detective tracked down Dwayne Rolle, who was with Jemison. Rolle identified Robinson as the shooter, but during the trial he testified he did so because detectives “made it seem like” the three youths were the killers — “so I went along with them.”  He denied Robinson was the killer."

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EDITORIAL: "Anthony Robinson spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Too often, justice misses the mark,  the  Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board,  published on April 15, 2024.

SUB-HEADING: "Evidence shows Robinson, who was exonerated and finally released April 8, could not have committed the murder. On many level, the justice system failed."

GIST: "Last week’s exoneration of a man who served 11 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit shows that even with a steady effort at reform, the criminal justice system can fall short on justice.

Everyone from police to prosecutors to defense lawyers to judges to lawmakers needs to keep working to make the system better.

As the Sun-Times’ Andy Grimm reported recently, Anthony Robinson was convicted of the 2013 murder of Kelvin Jemison in the Bronzeville neighborhood, even though video showed the killer running from the scene and Robinson could barely walk, having been shot multiple times in the leg and foot in late 2012. 

Two co-defendants allegedly with Robinson were acquitted on a directed verdict.

During post-conviction proceedings, Dr. Paul Goodman, a licensed doctor of podiatric medicine and surgery who has years of experience treating gunshot wounds, said “it would be impossible” for Robinson to have committed the crime because of extensive recent surgery on his shattered leg, according to court documents. 

A physical therapy report from when Robinson was released from the hospital on Dec. 5, 2012 — just four weeks before Jemison’s death — said Robinson was unable to stand without assistance.

Also, two witnesses to the shooting said Robinson did not fit the description of the shooter.

Yet Robinson was convicted by Cook County Circuit Court Judge James M. Obbish in a bench trial at which Robinson’s public defender did not investigate and introduce the medical evidence. 

Obbish sentenced Robinson to 55 years in prison. Robinson was released April 8 from the Stateville Correctional Center.

Even before the medical evidence emerged, questions were raised about Robinson’s conviction. 

No physical evidence connected him to the crime, and he did not make a confession. 

The video, which was captured by a motion-sensitive camera at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Washington Park homes, showed a shooter with short hair; Robinson had dreadlocks when he was arrested.

The day after the shooting, a detective tracked down Dwayne Rolle, who was with Jemison.

Rolle identified Robinson as the shooter, but during the trial he testified he did so because detectives “made it seem like” the three youths were the killers — “so I went along with them.” 

He denied Robinson was the killer.

Robinson’s conviction and prison sentence were upheld in 2017 by a unanimous panel of Illinois’ First District Appellate Court, in an opinion essentially saying the conviction was valid even though it was based on recanted testimony undermined by the video evidence and witnesses who said Robinson was not the shooter. 

The Illinois Supreme Court declined to take up the case.

The administration of justice failed on many levels, until Lauren Myerscough-Mueller of the Exoneration Project pursued post-conviction relief.

In many ways, Robinson’s case paralleled that of C.J. Rice of Philadelphia, who was shot in 2011, just a year before Robinson, after a witness said she saw him sprinting away from the scene of the shooting, which took place just five days after Rice himself had been shot. 

Rice was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for attempted murder. 

He was exonerated last month after a post-conviction process that included information from pediatrician Theodore Tapper (father of CNN’s Jake Tapper), who inspected the two dozen staples holding Rice’s torso together after he was shot. 

Like Robinson, Rice was in no condition to sprint from a crime scene.

It is clear now that Robinson should never have been prosecuted and convicted. 

As long ago as 2019, before the medical information surfaced, the nonprofit media outlet Injustice Watch raised questions about the case.

 To their credit, the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx did not oppose Robinson’s request for post-conviction relief, and Judge Obbish, a respected jurist, in effect overturned his own initial verdict, which lawyers say is unusual.

Since it was launched in 2007, the Exoneration Project has exonerated more than 200 individuals. A similar initiative, the Innocence Project, has helped free 240 people who were wrongly convicted.

It’s important to bring violent criminals to justice and make the city safer. But it’s also important to ensure innocent people are not convicted of crimes they didn’t commit."

The entire editorial can be reached at:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/editorials/2024/04/15/anthony-robinson-murder-innocent-exoneration-project-criminal-justice-wrongful-convictions-editorial

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801

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The West Memphis Three: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley: Arkansas: Major (Welcome) Development: Innocence Project reports that yesterday (April 19, 2024), more than 30 years after their wrongful convictions, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled, in a 4-3 opinion, that Damien Echols is entitled to petition an Arkansas court for new DNA testing on crime-scene evidence that could clear his name and that of his co-defendants - noting that the ruling not only opens up the door for the West Memphis Three to identify the true perpetrator in their case, but hopefully will also help countless other people who have been wrongly convicted in Arkansas seek justice.

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MESSAGE FROM:  THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: 

Learn more about yesterday's ruling and Damien, Jessie, and Jason's case — and then share the news of the DNA decision with your friends and family on social media.

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RELEASE: 'Breaking news in the West Memphis Three case.' The Innocence Project: April 19, 2024.

GIST: "In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were wrongly arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas — and became known as the West Memphis Three. Although no physical evidence tied them to the crimes, all three teens were convicted and ended up spending 18 years behind bars for something they didn't do.

But yesterday, more than 30 years after their wrongful convictions, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled, in a 4-3 opinion, that Damien Echols is entitled to petition an Arkansas court for new DNA testing on crime-scene evidence that could clear his name and that of his co-defendants.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruling not only opens up the door for the West Memphis Three to identify the true perpetrator in their case, but it hopefully will also help countless other people who have been wrongly convicted in Arkansas seek justice. Last June, the Innocence Project filed an amicus brief to the Court, supporting Damien's appeal for new DNA testing based on our decades of experience using advancements in DNA technology to establish innocence. This brief emphasized that such testing is critical even after a wrongly convicted person has been released from prison, given the collateral consequences of criminal convictions can significantly restrict a person's opportunities and it should never be too late to get to the truth.

Last June, the Innocence Project filed an amicus brief to the Court, supporting Damien's appeal for new DNA testing based on our decades of experience using advancements in DNA technology to establish innocence. This brief emphasized that such testing is critical even after a wrongly convicted person has been released from prison, given the collateral consequences of criminal convictions can significantly restrict a person's opportunities and it should never be too late to get to the truth.

A Crittenden County judge had erroneously denied Damien's request for new DNA testing because he is no longer in prison — but Arkansas' DNA access statute does not limit access to post-conviction DNA testing to only those who are incarcerated. 

The West Memphis Three deserve to be officially cleared of this crime. Yesterday's ruling brings justice one step closer for the West Memphis Three, and for many more wrongly convicted people seeking DNA testing in Arkansas."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

---------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

————————————————————————————

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801

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Tomas Gallo: Texas: (A discredited Psychologist George Dembowski case)…Major (Welcome) Development: Texas has taken intellectually disabled Tomas Gallo off of death row - resentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old-daughter, death row, William Melhado reports in the Texas Tribune - in a story refering to false testimony by Dr. George Dembowski, "a psychologist who examined the defendant, as evidence that Gallo should be removed from death row…"The Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists sanctioned Denkowski and barred him from evaluating people on death row in 2011 after his testing methods were criticized as unscientific."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Denkowski’s assessment of Gallo concluded that the defendant's IQ score should be higher than the test scores he obtained, in part, because Gallo is Hispanic, according to court filings. In his testimony, Denkowski argued Gallo’s score should be inflated due to his “low socioeconomic antisocial lifestyle,” and thus he could not be properly assessed by mainstream IQ tests. Ellis described Denkowski's evaluation as “entirely racist and not acceptable.” Dembowski evaluated over a dozen en on Texas' death row, several of whom were executed. Since the psychologist was reprimanded in 2011, Texas courts have sought to resolve the cases Dembowski was involved in.  In a 5-4 vote, the criminal appeals court narrowly approved the first claim of the filing, that Gallo's intellectual disability exempted him from execution. The court dismissed another claim, that Dembowski's false testimony violated Galllo's due process rights."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Wednesday’s decision was the second time this year that the criminal appeals court removed a man from death row based on intellectual disability claims. In March, Randall Mays was re-sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two sheriff's deputies in Henderson County."

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STORY: "Texas takes intellectually disabled Tomas Gallo off death row," by Reporter William Melhado, published by The Texas Tribune, on April 17, 2024. (William Melhado is an Austin-based general assignment reporter. He originally joined the Tribune in 2022 as a Poynter-Koch fellow. He previously worked as a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, an alt-weekly newspaper in New Mexico. Before pursuing a career in journalism, William worked as an educator for five years and taught science at a public high school in the Bronx, New York and taught at international schools in Tanzania and Nepal.)

SUB-HEADING: "The court re-sentenced Gallo to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter."

GIST: "Texas’ highest criminal court re-sentenced death row inmate Tomas Gallo to life in prison Wednesday, ruling that he is too intellectually disabled to be executed.

A Harris County jury sentenced Gallo to death for murdering his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. After Gallo babysat Destiny Flores, the young girl was found with a skull fracture and had been severely sexually assaulted.

During his 2004 trial, Gallo’s defense tried to convince jurors that he was intellectually disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 banned the use of the death penalty on people with intellectual disabilities based on the Eighth Amendment’s restriction of cruel and unusual punishments.

But decades later, in a rare instance of cooperation between the defense and prosecutors, both parties filed a findings of fact and conclusion of law together claiming Gallo’s intellectual disability precludes him from the death chamber.

Richard Ellis, Gallo’s lawyer, told The Texas Tribune that the cooperation of the Harris County District Attorney’s office was crucial to Wednesday’s decision from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

“They recognized this was an injustice,” Ellis said. “They recognized the long and overwhelming documentation that was provided to show Mr. Gallo’s intellectual disability.”

The joint filing also cited false testimony by Dr. George Denkowski, a psychologist who examined the defendant, as evidence that Gallo should be removed from death row. The Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists sanctioned Denkowski and barred him from evaluating people on death row in 2011 after his testing methods were criticized as unscientific.

Denkowski’s assessment of Gallo concluded that the defendant's IQ score should be higher than the test scores he obtained, in part, because Gallo is Hispanic, according to court filings. In his testimony, Denkowski argued Gallo’s score should be inflated due to his “low socioeconomic antisocial lifestyle,” and thus he could not be properly assessed by mainstream IQ tests. Ellis described Denkowski's evaluation as “entirely racist and not acceptable.”

Dembowski evaluated over a dozen en on Texas' death row, several of whom were executed. Since the psychologist was reprimanded in 2011, Texas courts have sought to resolve the cases Dembowski was involved in.  

In a 5-4 vote, the criminal appeals court narrowly approved the first claim of the filing, that Gallo's intellectual disability exempted him from execution. The court dismissed another claim, that Dembowski's false testimony violated Galllo's due process rights.

Wednesday’s decision was the second time this year that the criminal appeals court removed a man from death row based on intellectual disability claims. In March, Randall Mays was re-sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two sheriff's deputies in Henderson County.

The entire story can be read at

:https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/william-melhado/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

---------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

————————————————————————————

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801

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Melissa Lucio: Texas: One step closer to exoneration: (Another major development for this woman who once was granted a stay of execution with just 48 hours to spare.) The Independent (Reporter Katie Hawkinson) reports that a Texas judge has recommended that the conviction and death penalty sentence be overturned of this mother accused of killing her daughter, because of prosecutorial abuse (suppression of evidence) - and that her case will now go before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal to determine if the conviction and sentence will be overturned..."The move by Judge Arturo Nelson comes after Cameron County, Texas District Attorney Luis Saenz and Lucio’s attorneys filed a statement last week agreeing she should never have been convicted. Both sides agreed key evidence was suppressed at Lucio’s trial — and now, their statement has the support of Judge Nelson. With Judge Nelson’s signature, Lucio’s case will go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the only court that can vacate a conviction. “Judge Nelson found that critical information was withheld from the defense at the time of trial and that Lucio ‘met her burden of proof, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she would not have been convicted in light of the suppressed evidence,’” Lucio’s attorneys said in a statement on Monday."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Lucio was first arrested in 2007 after her two-year-old, Mariah, was found motionless in her family’s home. The child showed signs of a broken arm untreated for weeks, a head injury, bite marks on her back, and bruises across her body. Prosecutors said she beat her child to death. However, Lucio said the two-year-old sustained the injuries by falling down stairs. Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008. She was scheduled to be executed in 2022, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted her a stay with just 48 hours to spare. Now, Judge Nelson, the District Attorney’s office and Lucio’s legal team all agree suppressed evidence — such as a Child Protection Services report and witness statements — would have corroborated Lucio’s defence."

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STORY: Texas judge recommends conviction and death penalty sentence overturned for mother accused of killing daughter, by Reporter Katie Hawkinson, published by The Independent, on April 18, 2024. (Katie Hawkinson is a news reporter for The Independent based in Washington DC. She covers a wide range of topics with an emphasis on climate and social justice. Before joining The Independent in November 2023, Katie reported for Insider and the Daily Beast.)

SUB-HEADING: "Case will now go before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to determine if the conviction and sentence will be overturned."

GIST: "The judge who presided over the trial of Melissa Lucio, a Texas woman being held on death row for the murder of her child, has recommended her conviction and sentence be overturned.

The move by Judge Arturo Nelson comes after Cameron County, Texas District Attorney Luis Saenz and Lucio’s attorneys filed a statement last week agreeing she should never have been convicted. Both sides agreed key evidence was suppressed at Lucio’s trial — and now, their statement has the support of Judge Nelson.

With Judge Nelson’s signature, Lucio’s case will go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the only court that can vacate a conviction.

“Judge Nelson found that critical information was withheld from the defense at the time of trial and that Lucio ‘met her burden of proof, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she would not have been convicted in light of the suppressed evidence,’” Lucio’s attorneys said in a statement on Monday.

Lucio’s sons and daughter-in-law expressed their gratitude for Judge Nelson’s decision.

“We hope and pray the Court of Criminal Appeals will agree with the District Attorney, the defense, and Judge Nelson and our mother can come home to her family,” Bobby Alvarez, John Lucio and Michelle Lucio said in a joint statement.

“It’s been 17 years that we have been without her,” they continued. “We love her and miss her and can’t wait to hug her.”

Lucio was first arrested in 2007 after her two-year-old, Mariah, was found motionless in her family’s home. The child showed signs of a broken arm untreated for weeks, a head injury, bite marks on her back, and bruises across her body.

Prosecutors said she beat her child to death. However, Lucio said the two-year-old sustained the injuries by falling down stairs.

Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008. She was scheduled to be executed in 2022, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted her a stay with just 48 hours to spare.

Now, Judge Nelson, the District Attorney’s office and Lucio’s legal team all agree suppressed evidence — such as a Child Protection Services report and witness statements — would have corroborated Lucio’s defence.

Her son, Mr Alvarez, spoke to The Independent just days after Lucio received her stay. He vowed to keep fighting for his mother’s innocence — a fight that could end in the near future if the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals overturns her conviction.

“Even though we’ve got the stay it doesn’t mean the fight is now over,” Mr Alvarez previously told The Independent.""

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/melissa-lucio-judge-unfair-trial-b2530516.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

---------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

————————————————————————————

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801

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