the charles smith blog

Brief respite: (To allow me to fulfill a writing obligation); Back soon. Harold Levy; Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.

2012-02-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

Dear readers: A writing deadline has caught up to me! I should be able to begin posting again in about a week. In the meantime keep me up to date on any cases or matters worthy of note at : hlevy15@gmail.com. Best wishes.

Harold Levy: Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.

Chana Al-Alas and Rohan Way: "Shaken baby syndrome." Acquittals lead to call for Vitamin D infant death report.

2012-01-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Call for Vitamin D infant death report," by reporter Andrew Hosken, published on January 26, 2102, on BBC News, Radio Four.

GIST: "Dr Irene Scheimberg and Dr Marta Cohen believe their findings merit further investigation and research. "I think there should be a commission that studies all these cases [which would] take into consideration the age of the children, the gender, the race and the way in which the way these families live - particularly when the children are still alive and living in foster care when they could be back with their families," said Dr Scheimberg, based at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. The findings in children from London and Yorkshire followed the discovery by Dr Scheimberg in 2009 of congenital rickets in a four-month-old baby whose parents had been accused of shaking him to death. Chana Al-Alas,19, and Rohan Wray, 22, were acquitted of murdering their son Jayden after the jury learned that his fractures, supposedly telltale signs of abuse, could have been caused by his severe rickets. Dr Scheimberg also discovered rickets in Jayden's mother. Michael Turner QC, who defended Miss Al-Alas, told the BBC that he was shocked by the lack of knowledge about vitamin D deficiency of some of the expert witnesses at the trial, held at the Old Bailey."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16726841

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Rohan Wray and Chana Al-Alas; "Shaken baby syndrome." Irish paper points out physicians' ignorance of Vitamin D deficiency causing Rickets.

2012-01-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Quarter of Toddlers lack Vitamin D - study," published in the Irish Examiner on January 24, 2012."

GIST: "Last month a young couple walked free from court after being cleared of killing their four-month-old son after it was found he had been suffering from rickets. Rohan Wray and Chana Al-Alas of Islington, north London, fell under suspicion when baby Jayden died suddenly two years ago. But, following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey, charges of murder and causing or allowing his death were dropped. A quarter of all toddlers are lacking Vitamin D, according to research in the UK."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/quarter-of-toddlers-lack-vitamin-d--study-537076.html

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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Booker Diggins: New Orleans. Judge challenges prosecutors on "long hidden" exculpatory blood tests. Times-Picayune.

2012-01-29T00:15:00.000-08:00

Bulletin: Han Tak Lee: (Pennsylvania); Arson case. Federal appeals court grants another look at evidence to determine if science was flawed. The Associated Press.

2012-01-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

STORY: Han Tak Lee: "New look at evidence O'K'd in fatal 1989 Pa. fire," by reporter Ron Todt, published earlier today by the Associated Press.

GIST: "A federal appeals court has granted another look at the evidence in the case of a man convicted of killing his daughter in what authorities alleged was an arson fire two decades ago in eastern Pennsylvania. Defense attorneys and some arson specialists say that determination was made using what's now considered flawed science."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.chron.com/news/article/New-look-at-evidence-OK-d-in-fatal-1989-Pa-fire-2773501.php

Doug Prade: Former Akron police captain still waiting for DNA results from private lab. (14 months); Akron News Now.

2012-01-28T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Prade still waits for DNA testing," published by Akron News Now on January 23, 2012.
GIST: "Former Akron Police Captain Doug Prade got his wish more than a year ago: Additional DNA testing that he says will prove he did not murder his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, in 1998. It's now been 14 months since the items designated for testing were sent to a private lab near Dayton and no results have been released."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://akronnewsnow.com/news/local/item/19379-prade-still-waits-for-dna

Hassan Diab: He calls French extradition bid "a Kafkaesque nightmare." French forensic handwriting evidence found wanting; The Ottawa Citizen;

2012-01-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: Diab calls French terror extradition bid a Kafkaesque nightmare," by reporter Chris Cobb, published in the Ottawa Citizen on January 21, 2012.

GIST: "Justice Robert Maranger, who presided over Diab's two-year extradition hearing, ruled last June that Diab should be committed for extradition on the basis of much-disputed French handwriting evidence — but said the evidence was so weak that the case likely would be thrown out if Diab was tried in Canada. Evidence in extradition cases has a lower legal threshold than in domestic criminal cases. Much of the evidence French prosecutors sent to Canada in the case, including intelligence reports, was withdrawn during the extradition hearing and Diab's palm impression and fingerprints were found not to match impressions found around the bomb scene. Three handwriting experts brought in by Diab's lawyer Donald Bayne all criticized the analysis produced by a French specialist, saying it was incompetent and not produced to international standards."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/11983

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Cameron Todd Willingham: Dallas Morning News: Get on with a good faith arson cases review; The pursuit of justice demands it;

2012-01-26T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: Dallas Morning News editorial "Texas' arson review revisited" published on January 11, 2012.

GIST: "The abrupt resignation of Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado shouldn’t prevent a good-faith, thorough re-examination from taking place, in conjunction with the Innocence Project of Texas. Everything about the review is uncharted territory for the agencies involved, including the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which triggered the process despite challenges to its authority in arson matters. The effort could make a powerful statement that government agencies can and should responsibly test the bounds of their authority in the pursuit of justice."

THE ENTIRE EDITORIAL CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20120111-editorial-texas-arson-review-revisited.ece

Bulletin: Colin Matchim: Newfoundland. "Shaken Baby Syndrome" case. New medical evidence arising after conviction. Court will hold hearing. VOCM.

2012-01-25T04:56:00.001-08:00

'The Colin Matchim case will continue for at least another couple of months. Matchim was convicted of aggravated assault last May, after his infant daughter suffered permanent injuries in 2009. But Matchim's lawyers have made a request to enter new medical evidence that they say could change the outcome of the case. A hearing to decide whether or not to re-open the case will begin on March 20th." VOCM; (Earlier today);

Henry James: New Orleans; Innocence Project exoneree profile reveals fortuitous discovery - and failure to pick up on exculpatory forensic evidence

2012-01-25T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Henry James: Exoneree profile," published by the New Orleans Innocence Project;
GIST: "IPNO (Innocence Project of New Orleans) staff went through boxes and boxes of old evidence with Jefferson Parish Crime Lab Director Milton Dureau, all to no avail. Months later, Mr. Dureau was searching for evidence in an unrelated case and just happened to come across the evidence in Mr. James’s case. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s office quickly agreed to DNA testing, and the evidence was sent off to a lab. On September 26, 2011, the lab reported that its DNA testing excluded James as the perpetrator in the rape.........
"Henry James was wrongfully convicted for two reasons: like more than 75% of DNA exonerees, the victim mistakenly identified Mr. James as her attacker, and Mr. James’s lawyer failed to pick up on a vital piece of forensic evidence that might have cleared his client.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.ip-no.org/exonoree-profile/henry-james

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Andrew Mallard; Australia; Review of "Murderer No More" by Colleen Egan. "A fantastic story and very well written." David Whish-Wilson;

2012-01-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: David Whish-Wilson reviews "Murderer No More": Colleen Egan's book on Andrew Mallard's wrongful conviction. (Allen and Unwin (2010);

GIST: "Basically, Andrew Mallard was a patsy. Evidence that emerged subsequently demonstrates without a doubt that certain detectives investigating the murder knew that the forensic evidence disqualified Andrew Mallard as a suspect, but they not only concealed this from the defence team (such as it was) but continued to work him over until they got a conviction. He was interviewed for eight hours after coming straight out of the Graylands mental institution, then when he was set free he was befriended by an undercover copper who according to Andrew, not only gave him copious amounts of ganga but tried to fit him up with some jewellery taken from Pamela Lawrence’s shop".........

"It’s a fantastic story and very well written. Because of her access to Andrew Mallard much of the story is told from AM’s point of view, and this gives the narrative an immediacy and a focus that a more formal story might lack. Based on solid research, Murderer No More is a savage indictment of a criminal justice system that had no interest in freeing an innocent man from jail, preferencing the reputations of the police and lawyers who convicted him in what was essentially a miscarriage of justice – while also structured and written in such a way that it is a very intriguing, suspenseful and fascinating read."

THE ENTIRE REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://davidwhish-wilson.com/murderer_no_more_colleen_egan

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

West Memphis Three: Toronto Star reporter Linda Bernard's take on "West of Memphis" at the Sundance Festival;

2012-01-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Sundance 2012: Men wrongly jailed for West Memphis murders show grace," by Linda Bernard published earlier today in the Toronto Star.

GIST: "In the documentary West of Memphis, seen for the first time at Sundance Friday morning, several witness tearfully recant testimony onscreen, while DNA evidence points to a new suspect — Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch. The DNA findings put him at the scene of the murders and the film also uncovers evidence of a violent past and a criminal record. Most damning is new evidence gleaned from a crime hotline from people claiming Hobbs had confessed to a family member that he was involved in the murders, a confession one man claims to have overheard. In the doc, Hobbs’ nephew refers to it as “the Hobbs family secret.” The question now is whether the state prosecutor will reopen the investigation. Echols’ lawyer Stephen Braga told reporters said the new evidence is with the prosecutor and he has said he’ll review it."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.toronto.com/article/710884

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Case for requiring bone-density testing before convicting caretakers; Matthew Seeley; Brigham Young Law Review. (Great read);

2012-01-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Unexplained Fractures in Infants and Child Abuse: The Case for Requiring Bone-Density Testing Before Convicting Caretakers," by Matthew B. Seeley, Brigham Young University Law Review, 2011.

GIST: "Imagine that you are a young parent taking your four-month-old son to a routine checkup. During the examination, the pediatrician notices a bruise on his right leg. Her visage subtly changes as she closely examines the bruise. She informs you that she has reason to believe that your baby may have been physically abused and that you will have to immediately take him to the hospital for further testing. You are a bit insulted that the doctors would even think it was possible that you would hurt your baby, but you are confident that carefully researched, scientific tests that will be conducted at the hospital will quickly dispel this misunderstanding. You wring your hands as you wait for the result of the x-ray at the hospital. A doctor then approaches you and says that your baby has a large number of fractures in his legs and his ribs. Before you can ask, the doctor explains that these types of fractures in a baby of this age suggest, with near certainty, child abuse. He asks you how these fractures occurred. You are so aghast and surprised at the situation that you stutter as you say that you don’t know. You suggest that he must have some type of condition that makes his bones break very easily. This suggestion is met with dismissive incredulity. No, the doctor explains. The x-rays didn’t show any signs of such a condition. These types of fractures indicate that your baby has been abused. A child protection agent says that your baby will have to be taken into protective custody. Your baby will be placed with foster parents. You and your spouse will soon be charged with felony assault. You and your spouse will be labeled child abusers by incredulous authorities who simply shake their heads when you insist that your child’s fractures must have been caused by a medical condition. In short, your life will be turned upside down. How likely is this scenario?

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://lawreview.byu.edu/articles/1325789487_13Seeley.FIN.pdf

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Time Magazine takes on "The shaky science of shaken baby syndrome." Great read. HL.

2012-01-21T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "The shaky science of shaken baby syndrome" by reporter Maia Szalavitz published in Time Magazine on January 17, 2012.

GIST: "Given all this, it seems unjust to sentence people—most of whom have suffered the most grievous loss a parent can face— to years of prison in cases where the “triad” is the only evidence that the baby died from abuse. Perhaps in cases where abuse is suspected but cannot be proven, suspects might be monitored by child welfare authorities or precluded from working with children. But when the science is this shaky, it isn’t yet ready for the courtroom, where lives hang in the balance."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/17/the-shaky-science-of-shaken-baby-syndrome/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Brian Shivers. RTE News reports he has been found guilty of the Massereene murders.

2012-01-20T05:36:00.001-08:00

BACKGROUND: Sappers Quinsey, 23, and Azimkar, 21, were shot dead by the Real IRA as they collected pizzas with comrades outside Massereene Army base in Antrim town in March 2009. Duffy, 44, from Forest Glade in Lurgan, Co Armagh, and Shivers, 46, from Sperrin Mews, in Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, deny two charges of murder and the attempted murder of six others - three soldiers, two pizza delivery drivers and a security guard. The Prosecution's novel forensic evidence came under intensive attack. (U.S. expert) Dr (Mark) Perlin's forensic computer-based system strongly linked the two men to the getaway car used in the attack. But the academic's "true allele" method of analysing mixed genetic samples and deriving a likelihood ratio is relatively new and has never once been admitted as evidence in a UK or Irish court, and only on a few occasions in the United States...Patrick O'Connor QC, who represents Shivers, told Antrim Crown Court: "He (Perlin) is partisan and lacks all impartiality in relation to the merits and the limits of his system and that is a violation of his duty. He has demonstrated disdain and contempt for even the most eminent of those who do not follow his methods and that is why we suggest he is a man on a mission who has lost his objectivity." (UKPA);

THE ENTIRE RTE NEWS STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0120/massereene.html

Bulletin: Colin Duffy: Not guilty in murder of 2 sappers. Judge accepts dna evidence - but says not enough evidence to link him to the crime.

2012-01-20T05:13:00.001-08:00

STORY: "Massereene murders: Colin Duffy found not guilty" by reporter Henry McDonald, published in the Guardian earlier today.

GIST: "Diplock judge Mr Justice Anthony Hart told Antrim crown court that he was satisfied that Duffy's DNA was found on a seat belt buckle of the car believed to have been used by the gunmen and on a latex glove tip, but that the prosecution had failed to link the defendant to the murder plot. "I consider that there is insufficient evidence to satisfy me beyond reasonable doubt that, whatever Duffy may have done when he wore the latex glove or touched the seatbelt buckle, meant that he was preparing the car in some way for this murderous attack. And I therefore find him not guilty," the judge said. He said the prosecution had failed to link Duffy to the murder plot."

(A decision is awaited on the second defendant, Brian Shivers, 46, from Sperrin Mews in Magherafelt, Co Londonderry.)

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/20/massereene-colin-duffy-not-guilty

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Michael Arena: Flawed testimony of psychologist in sexual assault case before U.S. Supreme Court. Austin Chronicle;

2012-01-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Arena case meets the Supremes: Will the Supremes find innocence sufficient for vindication?" by Jordan Smith, published earlier today in the Austin Chonicle.

GIST: "The court has several issues before it – including whether the expert testimony of Williamson County psychologist Fred Willoughby was improperly allowed into evidence at Arena's sentencing hearing. Willoughby testified that a psychological examination of Arena using the "Abel Assessment" demonstrated that he was a pedophile and would be dangerous if released on probation. The problem, in part, is that the Abel Assessment – a visual test that purports to identify sexual preference in young children – has not been shown to be effective for determining sexual leanings of juveniles. (The State Board of Examiners of Psychologists subsequently sanctioned Willoughby for his failure to substantiate in-court opinions.) The state has argued – as it did last week – that Willoughby's inaccurate testimony had no impact on Arena receiving two decades behind bars."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-01-20/arena-case-meets-the-supremes/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Brenda Waudby: (Charles Smith case); Coerced plea alleged. Lawyers granted access to exhibits and affidavits. Peterborough Examiner.

2012-01-19T13:10:00.001-08:00

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will hurry up and finally and unequivocally clear her name;

HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

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

STORY: "Waudby court battle continues" by reporter Sarah Deeth published earlier today in the Peterborough Examiner.

GIST: "Fuerst issued an order allowing council to listen to tapes of the babysitter’s court proceedings. The babysitter was charged as a youth, so all court proceedings are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Fuerst also issued an order allowing both lawyers to access transcripts of the Deb. 16, 2006 court proceedings."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3442417

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Shirley McKie case; Fingerprint misidentification: Author of forensic science text says fingerprint testimony should be treated as "opinion."

2012-01-19T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Shirley McKie case: Fingerprint misidentification," by Jim Fisher published on January 9, 2012 on his blog.

GIST: "In 2011, the Scottish Special Services Authority (SPSA) held hearings on the SCRO fingerprint misidentifications in the McKie and Asbury cases. The proceedings featured 64 witnesses giving 250 hours of testimony over a period of five days. The authors of the SPSA report, published on December 14, 2011, concluded that human error (rather than a conspiracy) was to blame for the misidentifications. (A lot of people believe there was a conspiracy and cover-up, especially in the McKie case. I am one of them.) The authors of the report also concluded that fingerprint identification should be treated as opinion-based testimony rather than fact-based. This recommendation has angered members of the forensic fingerprint identification community worldwide. After researching and writing my book, "Forensics Under Fire" which contains a chapter on the Shirley McKie case, I agree that fingerprint identification testimony should be treated as opinion."

THE ENTIRE BLOG CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://jimfishertruecrime.blogspot.com/2012/01/shirley-mckie-case-fingerprint.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Wikipedia goes dark in protest: Criminal justice blogger Scott Greenfield's well articulated support - adopted by the publisher of this Blog.

2012-01-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: It is trite to say that without the Internet, I would not be able to obtain the necessary information and publish this Blog so it can be read by readers across the world. I therefore want add my voice to those who have chosen today to protest American proposed laws which could destroy the foundations of the Internet and place what remains under intolerable controls on the day that Wikipedia - a great source of information for this Blog and so many others - has chosen to go dark to register its own protest. I echo the well articulated views of Scott Greenfield in his post noted below.

HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
-----------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Quod approbo non reprobo," by criminal defence blogger Scott H. Greenfield published earlier today on his blog "Simple Justice."
GIST: "Unlike others, I am not a believer that information demands to be free, in the sense of copyright being an archaic concept and infringement an entitlement. I believe that people who create content are entitled both to own it, monetize it and prevent others from stealing it. Yes, stealing it. If someone else created it, then it's not yours to do with as you please, no matter how much you want to or think you ought to be allowed to. If you want content, create your own. But believing in the virtue of protecting the creation of content does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that these shockingly overbearing laws are the means by which enforcement of content ownership should be protected. The internet has created innumerable problems with enforcement of copyright, with servers far away delivering content to any computer for the asking. It's inadequate to ask nicely that people not steal. Yet the answer to this problem isn't to wield a hammer so large and powerful that it will undermine the internet, shut down upon demand and without recourse any website, no matter how large and significant or small and inconsequential. Worse still, the hammer is placed in hands so untrustworthy, so self-serving and manipulative, that the potential for damage to digital society is beyond anything imaginable."
THE ENTIRE POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2012/01/18/quod-approbo-non-reprobo.aspx?ref=rss

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Guilt by algorithm? The Atlantic's fascinating probe of what could be a new trend in corrections. (Gives me shivers! HL)

2012-01-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Misfortune Teller," by Nadya Labi published in the January/February issue of Atlantic Magazine.

GIST: "Berk’s expertise is being sought at nearly every stage of the criminal-justice process. Maryland is running an algorithm like Philadelphia’s that predicts who under supervision will kill—or be killed. The state has asked Berk to develop a similar algorithm for juveniles. He is also mining data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to forecast which businesses nationwide are most likely to be breaking OSHA rules. Back in Philadelphia, he is introducing statistics to the district attorney’s office, helping prosecutors decide which charges to pursue and whether to ask for bail. He may also work with the Pennsylvania sentencing commission to help determine whether and how long to incarcerate those convicted of crimes"

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/misfortune-teller/8846/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Englewood Four finally exonerated. Arrests due to false confesssions; not a shred of physical evidence. Innocence Project.

2012-01-17T17:18:00.001-08:00

STORY: Innocence Project press release published earlier today under heading, "The Englewood Four are Exonerated."

Gist: "Saunders, Richardson, Thames and Swift have spent most of their adult lives in prison. They were between the ages of 15 and 18 when they arrested. Based on false confessions and without a shred of physical evidence, they were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 30-40 years in prison. Their cases, and others in Cook County, reveal a dangerous pattern of injustice based on false confessions. The Innocence Project is calling on Cook County to conduct a review of all cases involving juvenile confessions. In the past four months, ten people have been exonerated through DNA testing in Illinois after being unjustly convicted based on confessions they gave as teenagers."

THE ENTIRE RELEASE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://ip.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=7301.0

Juan Smith. "Meet your winner." The Agitator announces winner of the "worst prosecutor award," Any guesses? Clue: Aversion to exculpatory DNA results

2012-01-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Meet your winner," published in the Agitator on January 15, 2012.

GIST: "In this November New York Times profile that I didn’t catch when researching Bradley to nominate him, Bradley actually shows some contrition, going so far as to say the DNA results in the Morton case—which, again, he fought like to prevent from ever happening—have changed him. I hope that’s the case, but I’m inclined to think that after the Morton case, after having once advised another prosecutor to seek plea agreements that allow evidence to be destroyed so it can’t be tested in the future on an innocence claim, and after doing all he could to bury any investigation into the Cameron Todd Willingham case, Bradley’s period of penance should probably last more than a few months."

THE ENTIRE AGITATOR POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.theagitator.com/2012/01/15/meet-your-winner/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Juan Smith: Blogger identifies the worst judge ever. Guess who! (Clue: hidden evidence), The Urban Politico.

2012-01-16T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "The worst judge ever," published in the Urban Politico on January 12, 2012.

GIST: " Last March we wrote a post about a highly controversial Supreme Court decision authored by Justice Thomas where he decided that a Black man (John Thompson) had no right to sue the New Orleans District Attorney's office that had wrongfully convicted and imprisoned him for 18 years after it was discovered that the District Attorney's office had intentionally buried evidence that would have proved the man's innocence. It doesn't get much lower than that. In one of the most bizarre and illogical decisions ever handed down by the Supreme Court (which is really saying something), Justice Thomas, writing for the majority, said that John Thompson could not sue the New Orleans prosecutor's office because he could not prove that there was a "pattern" of hiding evidence committed by the prosecutor's office in other cases besides his own."

THE ENTIRE POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.theurbanpolitico.com/2012/01/worst-judge-ever.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Zabeth and Paul Bayne; Jeffrey Smith; Shaken baby syndrome; Bayne's supporter applauds Fifth Estate documentary "Diagnosis Murder."

2012-01-15T17:02:00.001-08:00

POST: Ron Unruh, who has fought valiantly to expose the injustice inflicted on the Bayne family - revealed in the excellent CBC Fifth Estate documentary on "Shaken Baby Syndrome" broadcast on Friday January 13, 2012 - has set out his views on the program in a post on his blog.

GIST: "Fifth Estate considerately, wisely held off the broadcast of this show until the Bayne family was no longer under the review period assigned for the first three months that the children were back with their parents. The Baynes were not vindictive in the interview. They plainly expressed how the ordeal had affected them personally and how helpless they had been within a child protection system that assumes guilt until proven innocent. Last night’s show may become a resource to prevent other innocent and grieving parents from being presumed guilty."

THE ENTIRE POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://ronunruhgps.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-waited-i-watched-i-am-pleased-you.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Powerful CBC Fifth Estate "shaken baby syndrome" documentary "Diagnosis Murder" posted on-line with excellent resource materials;

2012-01-14T05:11:00.000-08:00

THE DOCUMENTARY IS AVAILABLE FOR ACCESS FROM CANADA ONLY AT:

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/diagnosismurder/history.html

RESOURCE MATERIALS FOUND ON THIS SITE INCLUDE:

O: AN INTERVIEW WITH REPORTER GILLIAN FINDLEY; (CANADA ONLY);

O: AN EXTENDED INTERVIEW WITH KEITH FINDLEY CO-DIRECTOR OF THE WISCONSIN INNOCENCE PROJECT; (WORLD WIDE ACCESS);

O: AN INTERVIEW WITH PEDIATRIC NEUROPATHOLOGIST DR. WANEY SQUIER, (WORLD WIDE ACCESS);

O: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. JOHN PLUNKETT. (WORLD WIDE ACCESS);

O: A HISTORY OF SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME;

O: A NEW YORK TIMES STORY ENTITLED "SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME FACES NEW QUESTIONS IN COURT.")

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

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: The Fifth Estate has performed an important public service by posting its important documentary "Diagnosis Murder," broadcast yesterday, on its web-site - and by posting an array of informative resource materials, including a history of shaken baby syndrome cases. (A previous Fifth Estate documentary broadcast was one of the first major exposees of the havoc being wreaked by a false God of forensic pathology named Dr. Charles Randal Smith, an unquestioning exponent of the "shaken baby syndrome.") I found myself getting angrier and angrier last night as I observed the utter unwillingness of the shaken baby zealots to even consider new research which shows their their theory is flawed - and their indifference to the suffering of all the innocent people they are willing to sacrifice in order to catch baby killers. Innocent people, ensnared by a disproved medical theory: People like Jeffrey Smith, in Ontario, and Zabeth and Paul Bayne in British Columbia, whose cases have been depicted on the show. Three people out of hundreds who may have been wrongfully accused of terrible crimes involving children over the years - with horrendous consequences to themselves and their families - because of "shaken baby syndrome," in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. Start watching (if you are fortunate enough to be in Canada) - and reading!

HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER: THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;

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

Shirley Rees Smith - Not a "case" but a woman ensnared by a medical theory called "shaken baby syndrome," who protests her innocence." ProPublica.

2012-01-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "A far cry from CSI" by reporter A.C. Thompson, co-published by Outfront and the Los Angeles Times on January 11, 2012.

GIST: "Shirley Ree Smith has spent the past 14 years in prison or virtual house arrest while the nation’s two most influential courts have engaged in legal bickering over whether her conviction in the 1996 death of her seven-week-old grandson was grounded in facts, not speculation. (Michael Robinson Chavez, Copyright, 2011, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.) This story was co-published with the Los Angeles Times [1]. ´California Gov. Jerry Brown is considering granting clemency to Shirley Ree Smith, a grandmother convicted in 1997 of shaking to death her 7-week-old grandson, Etzel Glass. Sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, Smith insists she’s innocent...

"Whether or not Smith is ultimately pardoned, her story provides a window into the increasingly rancorous scientific debate about shaken baby syndrome, a once-widely accepted theory that violent jostling can cause fatal head injuries in infants. Based on studies dating back to the 1960s, many doctors came to believe that a signature trio of symptoms — bleeding and swelling of the brain, and hemorrhaging of the retinas — provided conclusive proof that someone had shaken a child to death. But now a growing number of experts have doubts about the diagnosis. Official reviews in Canada and Britain have uncovered cases in which people were wrongly convicted based on the shaken baby theory."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.propublica.org/article/a-far-cry-from-csi/single

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: CBC Fifth Estate "shaken baby syndrome" documentary "Diagnosis Murder." Tonight (Friday 13, 2012) at 9.00 PM.

2012-01-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Bulletin: CBC Fifth Estate takes on Shaken Baby Syndrome in documentary called "Diagnosis murder" to run on January 13, 2012 at 9.00 PM. "The fifth estate investigates shaken baby syndrome. For decades the diagnosis virtually guaranteed convictions, shattering the lives of thousands of parents, babysitters and families. Now new evidence questions whether the syndrome even exists and whether some of those convictions may have been wrong."

MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.tbtv.com/shows.aspx?showid=37

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Juan smith: "Court Ruling Reignites Debate Over Sharing Evidence." Helpful context from NPR.

2012-01-13T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Court ruling reignites debate over sharing evidence," by Carrie Johnson, published by NPR on January 12, 2012.

GIST: "It's not every day that eight justices on the U.S. Supreme Court throw their weight behind a defendant convicted of busting into a New Orleans home, demanding drugs and money at gunpoint and leaving five dead bodies on the ground. But that's exactly what happened Tuesday in Washington, where nearly every member of the high court ruled that Juan Smith should get a new trial. Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissenter. The case is bringing new attention to prosecutor misconduct and evidence-sharing lapses that led to the dismissals of other blockbuster convictions, including the corruption case against the late Alaska senator Ted Stevens."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/12/145102823/court-ruling-reignites-debate-over-sharing-evidence

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Juan smith: "See no evil": Robert L. Garrett sees Judge Clarence Thomas rehabilitating a witness who may not have seen anything: Slate;

2012-01-12T13:27:00.001-08:00

STORY: See no evil: Judge Clarence Thomas rehabilitates an eyewitness who may not have seen anything," by Robert L. Garrett published in "Slate" on January 11, 2012.

GIST: "In my own research reading the trials of the first 250 people exonerated by DNA tests, I saw countless examples of eyewitnesses who were certain at trial and claimed they would never forget that face—but subsequent DNA tests showed they were wrong. Most cases, like the murders in Smith v Cain, do not involve any DNA that can be tested at the crime scene. That is why it is so important that police proceed with caution. Police know to take careful notes when a person says he is pretty sure he cannot identify anyone. They know they may not have an eyewitness at all. They know they had better investigate and try to find other evidence, rather than risk a lineup. That shaky or non-eyewitness may easily pick out a lineup “filler” and damage his credibility. Eyewitnesses generally pick out fillers as much as one-third of the time. Worse, the eyewitness may pick out an innocent man. For these reasons it is important for police to use careful procedures to document and test the memory of an eyewitness.

Good police officers know all that, but do prosecutors? If prosecutors hide their investigative work from the defense, there can be no end to the miscarriage of justice."

THE ENTIRE COMMENTARY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/01/clarence_thomas_in_juan_smith_eyewitness_dissent_after_another_harry_connick_sr_case.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Juan Smith: Political animal Steve Benen takes on something very dark and ugly - "Clarence Thomas' brand of justice." Washington Monthly.

2012-01-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Clarence Thomas' brand of justice," by reporter Steve Benen published on January 11, 2011 in the Washington Monthly.

GIST: "Has Thomas never heard of “reasonable doubt”? Prosecutors had no fingerprints, no weapon, no DNA, and no physical evidence of any kind. They had one witness, who said he never saw the faces of the murderers."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/clarence_thomas_brand_of_justi034689.php

Bulletin: CBC Fifth Estate posts video promo of its "shaken baby syndrome" doc "Diagnosis Murder" - To be broadcast Friday Jan. 13, 2012, 9.00 PM.

2012-01-11T18:37:00.001-08:00

"It's a scenario as horrifying as it is heartbreaking: a frustrated parent ... a baby that just won't stop crying ... and suddenly, what were tender, cradling arms become instruments of death. At least this is how Shaken Baby Syndrome has been characterized in countless court cases in recent years. But what are the scientific foundations of this diagnosis?

Gillian Findlay examines the conventional wisdom around Shaken Baby Syndrome, discovering that those who question it often feel targeted by those who believe passionately in it. And yet new science suggests the so-called syndrome may be a physical impossibility.

"Diagnosis Murder" tells the story of several Canadian parents who say they were wrongfully accused--and the leading-edge medical researchers who believe they're telling the truth. The stakes are high: Some have gone to jail. All have had their other children taken away from them.

One couple recently had their children returned after a four-year battle. Even though the courts in B.C. cleared Zabeth and Paul Baynes of charges they had shaken their baby, the couple feel they will carry the stigma for life. Another man in Ontario has now had his case put up for judicial review, giving him hope that his name may too be cleared.

Is Shaken Baby Syndrome conclusive evidence of murder? Or is it a scientific hypothesis that has convicted an untold number of parents as killers -- when their children actually died from other causes?

THE FIFTH ESTATE;

THE VIDEO PROMO (AVAILABLE IN CANADA ONLY) CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/diagnosismurder/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Juan Smith: Supreme Court opinion seen as "blunt memo" from court to prosecutors. Lyle Denniston; SCOTUSblog.

2012-01-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

COMMENTARY: "Opinion recap: Blunt memo to the D.A." by Lyle Denniston; SCOTUSblog.

GIST: "The fact that the Court’s lead opinion — only Justice Clarence Thomas dissented — was written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., added to its authority and raised its visibility. While the opinion virtually brushed off the prosecutors’ defense of Smith’s conviction, Thomas (the author of the majority opinion last Term in the Thompson case) used almost five times as much space (19 pages) as Roberts had, seeking to demolish Smith’s challenge."

THE ENTIRE COMMENTARY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/01/opinion-recap-blunt-memo-to-da/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Supreme Court overturns Juan Smith multiple murder conviction: The Associated Press.

2012-01-10T08:02:00.001-08:00

STORY: "Supreme Court overturns Juan Smith multiple murder conviction," published by the Associated Press earlier today.

GIST: "The high court voted 8-1 to order a new trial Tuesday for Juan Smith, who was convicted of five murders at a 1995 party. The only witness to identify Smith gave inconsistent statements about whether he could recognize or identify Smith as one of the killers. Prosecutors under former New Orleans district attorney Harry Connick never gave Smith's lawyers those statements. Prosecutors are required to do this under Supreme Court precedent. Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court that "the undisclosed statements alone suffice to undermine confidence in Smith's conviction."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/189484/288/Court-overturns-New-Orleans-murder-conviction

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Garland Leon "Butch" Martin case: Arson science? Misleading testimony: "Texas debate over arson science is reignited." Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

2012-01-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Texas debate over arson science is reignited," by reporter Yamil Berard, published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, on January 8, 2012.

GIST: "A number of forensic scientists and others are calling for additional reviews of arson-murder cases like Martin's because evidence was analyzed by methods now called into question or proved wrong. Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission say they don't have the jurisdiction to investigate these cases, but they have told the Texas Innocence Project to team up with the State Fire Marshal's Office to determine whether the state has incarcerated people for arson-murders based on outdated science."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE READ AT:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/08/3642858/texas-debate-over-arson-science.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/08/3642858/texas-debate-over-arson-science.html#storylink=cpy

Bulletin: Duane Buck: The Associated Press reports that he faces execution once again having lost his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

2012-01-09T09:02:00.001-08:00

STORY: "Texas inmate whose execution stopped at last minute loses appeal to U.S. Supreme Court," published earlier today by the Associated Press.

GIST: "Buck was sentenced to die for killing his ex-girlfriend and a man at her Houston apartment in July 1995. Buck's lawyers argued he deserved a new sentencing trial because a psychologist testified black people were more likely to be violent in prison. Attorneys contended it was improper to inject race into the sentencing decision."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/f866372a425f435f9b2a79925fc36760/TX--Texas-Execution-Appeal/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Texas; State fire marshal resigns as arson Inquiry sparked by Willingham case begins; Reporter Brandi Grissom: The Texas Tribune.

2012-01-09T05:41:00.001-08:00

STORY: "State Fire Marshall Resigns as Arson Inquiry Begins," as reported earlier today by reporter Brandi Grissom in the Texas Tribune.

GIST; "Asked why Maldonado resigned, spokesman Jerry Hagins said the agency does not discuss personnel issues. “The personnel change won't affect the work of the State Fire Marshal's office,” Hagins wrote in an email. In October, after discussions with the Texas Forensic Science Commission and the Innocence Project, Maldonado had agreed to cooperate with a review of old arson cases to determine whether faulty science might have led to wrongful convictions. At the commission’s meeting on Thursday, an update is expected on the progress of the review. The agreement came after more than two years of heated controversy at the science commission over the Willingham case. Willingham was executed in 2004. He was convicted of arson in the 1991 fire that killed his three daughters. Several scientists who reviewed the evidence shortly before and after Willingham’s execution had concluded the deadly blaze was not intentionally set."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/cameron-todd-willingham/state-fire-marshal-resigns-arson-inquiry-begins/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Unreliable arson (fire pattern) evidence: Innocent people in prisons. Report of the Arson Research Project;

2012-01-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am grateful to Paul Bieber for bringing the Arson Research Project, of which he is Director, to our attention. Mr. Bieber writes that a report which he kindly makes available to our readers touches on "fire pattern evidence presented in several of the questionable arson convictions contained in your blog and many more cases yet to be identified." He informs us that, "Research conducted by The Arson Research Project has confirmed what many of you have known for a long time; that determining the presence of an ignitable liquid by examining the resulting burn patterns or by determining that the fire burned abnormally hot in a post-flashover environment is extremely unreliable, and that conclusions based on this type of evidence have no place in a courtroom. This type of unreliable testimony is not as common as it used to be, but an unknown number of people continue to suffer its consequences in our nation's prisons." He goes on to say that, "The attached report, Fire Pattern Analysis and Case Study Review in Post-Flashover Fires, is the final report produced by The Arson Research Project secondary to a live-burn study conducted last October where four burn cells were burned beyond flashover - one with an ignitable liquid and three without. Maximum temperatures created by the fires in each cell were recorded and the burn patterns were compared. The suspicious burn patterns used to convict the defendants in the three case-studies reviewed in the report were created in every burn cell, regardless of ignitable liquids. Burn pattern samples were then removed from each burn cell and presented for examination, along with photographs and diagrams, to thirty-three experienced fire investigators in a blind study. This was the first study of its kind to measure the accuracy with which fire investigators are able to actually do what countless investigators have testified to; determine the presence of an ignitable liquid by examining the burn patterns created in a post flashover fire. The results were shocking, but not surprising. The accuracy of the fire investigators in identifying which samples contained an ignitable liquid was equivalent to flipping a coin, 50/50. This study confirmed that expert testimony in this area is no more reliable than a random guess. If you follow the national controversy regarding dubious arson convictions based on bad science, you will already be familiar with the case-studies contained in the report; those of Ed Graff, Todd Willingham and George Souliotes. Based on just this type of evidence, Willingham was executed in 2004, while Graf and Souliotes continue to serve life prison sentences (Souliotes is scheduled for a federal evidentiary hearing later this month in California where this report and the results of this research will be submitted in Souliotes' behalf). The conclusions in this report deal with exactly the type of evidence used to convict the defendants in the case-studies, and the same type of evidence that is an ongoing issue in the review of dubious arson convictions nationwide. Perhaps this report, and its conclusions, will be helpful to you. The Arson Research Project was founded for the purpose of objectively examining the reliably of evidence used in the investigation and prosecution of arson, and to identify arson convictions based on unreliable evidence. If you are aware of specific cases where this type of evidence was used to obtain an arson conviction, or our research and expertise can be of assistance to you, please don't hesitate to contact me." The Live Burn Report can be accessed at:

http://www.thearsonproject.org/live-burn-results

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Anthony Melendez: New development in seeking DNA tests. Sole surviving defendant. (One defendant Executed.) Texas Moratorium Network.

2012-01-08T05:15:00.001-08:00

Bulletin: Based on release from the Texas Moratorium Network (January 7, 2012); "There is a new development in the effort to get evidence back for DNA testing in the case of Anthony Melendez, the only living defendant in a case of possible innocence. One of the other defendants in this case, David Spence, was executed by the state of Texas on April 3, 1997 while George W. Bush was governor. The new development is detailed below in an article from today’s Waco Tribune-Herald, but for background information first read an older article here from May 15, 2011 by the same reporter that starts out: Nearly 30 years after a grisly crime known as the Lake Waco murders rocked the city and drew national attention, efforts are under way to exonerate the only living defendant through DNA testing of shoelaces used to tie up one of the victims. If the testing were to show the wrong people were convicted in the 1982 slaying of three teenagers, the ramifications could be much greater than simply freeing a man from prison. Because one of the four defendants in the case, David Wayne Spence, was executed, exoneration also could constitute the first proof of wrongful execution in modern U.S. history. Coincidentally, the attorney for the sole surviving defendant who is trying to get the evidence to have the DNA tested is Walter Reaves, the last appellate attorney for Todd Willingham before his execution."

THE ENTIRE RELEASE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.texasmoratorium.org/archives/1883
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Morton and Thompson cases; Prosecutors gone wild; Conrad Black asks how many wrongful convictions the public will stand for; Huffington Post.

2012-01-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE: "Prosecutors gone wild: How many wrongful convictions will the public stand for?" by Conrad Black, published in the Huffington Post on January 6, 2012.

GIST: "Morton and his counsel have been assisted by the Innocence Foundation, which specializes in using DNA evidence to seek the exoneration of convicts. It and like-minded groups have sometimes been harassed by prosecutors and threatened with charges of obstructing justice. Innocence and Morton's own counsel claim that in this case Anderson disobeyed "a direct order from the trial court to produce the exculpatory police reports from the lead investigator," (a claim the investigator himself corroborates). Morton and his counsel have asked for a "court of inquiry" to determine whether Anderson and Davis should be charged criminally for abetting what they knew to be a false conviction."

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/conrad-black/supreme-court-michael-morton_b_1189021.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: CBC Fifth Estate takes on Shaken Baby Syndrome; "Diagnosis Murder." Friday January 13, 2012. 9.00 PM.

2012-01-07T19:33:00.001-08:00

Bulletin: CBC Fifth Estate takes on Shaken Baby Syndrome in documentary called "Diagnosis murder" to run on January 13, 2012 at 9.00 PM. "The fifth estate investigates shaken baby syndrome. For decades the diagnosis virtually guaranteed convictions, shattering the lives of thousands of parents, babysitters and families. Now new evidence questions whether the syndrome even exists and whether some of those convictions may have been wrong."
MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.tbtv.com/shows.aspx?showid=37

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

"U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory: Kirk Holcombe case; Were crime lab problems withheld from some defendants? McClatchie News.

2012-01-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Were army crime lab problems withheld from some defendants?," by Michael Doyle and Marisa Taylor, published in McClatchy Newspapers on December 30, 2011.

GIST: "Did the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory properly notify hundreds of defendants about potential problems that involved a different lab analyst? Some attorneys fear that the answer is no; what happened with Holcombe, they worry, may be a recurring problem. "I think USACIL intentionally withholds, I don't want to say their bad laundry, but their bad paperwork," Holcombe's attorney Duane Kees said. "USACIL knows exactly what's going to happen when they turn it over: It automatically calls into question their findings." Based near Atlanta, the Army crime lab processes evidence used against members of all branches of the military. The analysts handle more than 3,000 cases annually, examining everything from blood and semen to hair strands and handguns."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/29/v-print/134411/were-army-crime-lab-problems-withheld.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Paul and Zabeth Bayne, B.C. CBC News story shows the price children pay when the "shaken baby syndrome" proponents get it wrong.

2012-01-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "B.C. childeren spent years in limbo after shaken baby accusation: Court proceedings dragged on for 4 years," by reporter Kathy Tomlinson, CBC News, published on January 3, 2012.

GIST: "During their first weeks back home, the children clung to the parents. “They were sleeping in our room,” Zabeth said. “They could not be apart from us or there were tears." Although the shaken baby diagnosis was wrong, it took an unnecessarily long time to get it overturned and to bring the children home, she said. "It’s not acceptable, and you see the damage that’s done, waiting for process," Zabeth said. Paul compares the slow pace of the court case to driving slow motion during an emergency. “It feels like your children are at home and someone’s trying to break into the house and you get a phone call — to get home as quick as you can. And your car is stuck in first gear. You’re driving five miles an hour trying to get home. It’s like, ‘Come on. Let’s go. Let’s go!’ It’s frustrating sitting in court saying ‘Let’s get going.’” Zabeth says she and her husband were reluctant to complain in court, because the judge held so much power over their family. “Any frustration [over delays] can be twisted, and viewed that ‘Oh, there’s a temper there.’"

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/02/bc-childrenreturned.html

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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com.

Stephen Lawrence: "Police under fire." Blottr. Science helped resolve case years later - but good policing at outset may have made it unnecessary. HL

2012-01-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Police under fire from Lawrence and Filken," published on Blottr on January 4, 2012.

GIST: "When police first appeared on the scene it appeared as if they saw the killing as simply another gangland fracas. Stephen Lawrence was left bleeding on the pavement while the police officers attempted to arrest and interrogate his friend. The police forces also failed to follow up a number of anonymous tip-offs they were sent in the aftermath of the killing. In the inquiry it was revealed that many people that had given evidence never saw their information reproduced by the police. One of the more shocking errors was when only four days after the murder when the police were performing surveillance on the Acourt’s house and failed to act when someone left the house carrying what was probably a binliner filled with the clothes they had been wearing during the murder."
The entire story can be found at:

http://www.blottr.com/uk/breaking-news/police-under-fire-lawrence-and-filkin

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Gary Dobson. (UK). Excellent account of the science that led to a breakthrough in the Stephen Lawrence case. Paul Peachey. Independent;

2012-01-05T00:15:00.001-08:00

BACKGROUND: (Wikipedia); Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a Black British teenager from Eltham, south east London, who was murdered in a racial attack while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993.^[1] Witnesses said he was attacked by a gang of white youths chanting racist slogans.^[2] After the initial investigation, five suspects were arrested but not convicted.^[3] It was suggested during the course of investigation that the murder had a racist motive and that Lawrence was killed because he was black, and that the handling of the case by the police and Crown Prosecution Service was affected by issues of race. A public inquiry was held in 1999,^[4] headed by Sir William Macpherson that examined the original Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation and concluded that the force was "institutionally racist". The inquiry has been called 'one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain'.^[5] The then–Home Secretary Jack Straw commented in 2012 that ordering the inquiry was "the single most important decision I made as Home Secretary".^[6] The results of the inquiry were published in 1999 as the Macpherson Report. On 18 May 2011, following a cold case review,^[7] it was announced that two of the original suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were to stand trial for the murder in the light of "new and substantial evidence" becoming available.^[8] A jury was selected on Monday 14 November 2011, and the trial started on the following day. On 3 January 2012, Dobson and Norris were found guilty of Lawrence's murder,^[9] and were sentenced on 4 January 2012 to recommended minimum life terms of 15 and 14 years respectively^[10] for what the judge described as a "terrible and evil crime".^[11] The sentences would have been far longer but the crime had been committed before adulthood, requiring sentencing as juveniles.^[11]

ENTIRE WIKIPEDIA ACCOUNT CAN BE FOUND AT:

STORY: "The science that helped convict Gary Dobson," by reporter Paul Peachey, published in the Independent on January 3, 2012."

GIST: "This was a breakthrough, and as close as the undemonstrative Mr. Jarman would concede to a eureka moment. It was, he conceded, "a very significant finding." The discovery gave fresh impetus to the search. If a bead of blood was found, surely it must be more likely that more could be found on the jacket? At the time of the murder, the science was not far enough advanced to check for tiny specks of blood, so the scientists did not bother with anything more than a search with the naked eye. But from around 2000, DNA science was far enough advanced to put bloodstains of less than one millemetre through full DNA analysis."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-science-that-helped-convict-gary-dobson-6284465.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Ricky Dale Wyatt: Texas; Released after 31 years; Prosecutors withheld evidence on rape charge; Must now fight for exoneration; Observer;

2012-01-04T16:34:00.000-08:00

BACKGROUND: "Ricky Dale Wyatt was cleared after spending 31 years in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. A Dallas County judge released Wyatt and recommended that his 1981 rape conviction be overturned based on DNA and other evidence. Tragically, attorneys who prosecuted Wyatt 31 years ago contributed to this miscarriage of justice by concealing evidence of his innocence. The case was built on faulty eyewitness testimony, yet the victim originally described a perpetrator much taller and heavier than Wyatt. The prosecution dismissed these inconsistencies, arguing that the defendant’s appearance could have changed in the interval between the crime and his arrest. But there were documents in the prosecutor’s file proving that his appearance had not changed. Had this been shared with the defense as required by law, Wyatt may never have been found guilty. The efforts of the Dallas District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit to seek the truth in this case are exemplary. The Unit helped secure DNA testing of biological evidence, which supported Wyatt’s innocence although it was somewhat degraded. This evidence, as well as the discovery of prosecutorial misconduct at trial, compelled authorities to further investigate the case and ultimately to call for Wyatt’s release. Ten Dallas exonerees also attended today’s hearing to show support for Wyatt and to celebrate his freedom. Mr. Wyatt plans to live with his nephew Robert Smith, who testified at his trial and who now ministers to people returning from prison. Wyatt and his family will greet supporters and speak to the media at a press conference outside the Dallas County Courthouse. The Innocence Project is assisting with Wyatt’s adjustment to the outside world after three decades of wrongful imprisonment. We anticipate his full exoneration later this year. (The Innocence Project);

STORY: "After 31 years locked up, Ricky dale Wyatt is free but not quite exonerated," by reporter Leslie Minora, published on January 4, 2012 in the Texas Observer.

GIST: "As of today, Wyatt -- convicted of the rape of a stranger and identified in a police photo line-up in 1981 -- is a free man, but he is not technically an "exoneree." Previously withheld evidence reveals police conducted but did not record a live line-up in which the victim did not identify Wyatt as her attacker. Wyatt's attorneys also say prosecutors and police withheld evidence that shows he did not resemble the victim's description of the perpetrator: For starters, there is a difference of several inches and more 20 pounds, according to Jason Kreag, who is with the Innocence Project of New York. "It definitely is a case that demonstrates the importance of prosecutors, at the time of the trial, playing by the rules," Kreag said.."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/01/after_31_years_locked_up_ricky.php

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Shirley Rees Smith; Shaken baby syndrome; N. Y. Times asks California governor to grant pardon as a result of "misguided" SCOTUS decision.

2012-01-04T16:12:00.001-08:00

STORY: "A very likely miscarriage of Justice." Editorial published by the New York Times on January 3, 2012.

GIST: "Ms. Smith was convicted of shaking her grandson to death. When the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned her conviction in 2006, it found “no demonstrable support” for it. There was “no physical evidence” and “no other evidence” of the severe bleeding or swelling that are the most common signs of shaken baby syndrome. The court concluded “there has very likely been a miscarriage of justice in this case.” This fall, however, five years after Ms. Smith was released, the Supreme Court overruled the Ninth Circuit, which means that she must complete her sentence unless it is commuted. The Supreme Court acknowledged that “doubts about whether Smith is in fact guilty are understandable...But the court’s majority ruled — after a bitter six-year, three-review tug of war with the Ninth Circuit — that the federal appeals court did not have enough authority to overturn the state court’s conviction."

THE ENTIRE EDITORIAL CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/opinion/a-very-likely-miscarriage-of-justice.html?_r=3

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Susan Nelles: ( Part 8); Fascinating "feminist critique" calls Grange Inquiry "witch hunt" and says media dropped ball. Elaine Buckley Day.

2012-01-04T00:15:00.001-08:00

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: I am pleased to have the opportunity to devote some space to a newly published book: "The Nurses Are Innocent: The Digoxin Poisoning Fallacy," by Gavin Hamilton M.D. The title refers to the investigation of the deaths of babies at the Hospital for Sick Children in 1980 and 1981 for which a nurse named Susan Nelles was charged with murder. (My first free-lance story for the Toronto Star described Ms. Nelle's discharge at her preliminary hearing). I later wrote in the Star about the public inquiry in which Justice Samuel Grange found that babies had been murdered in spite of testimony which shredded the validity of digoxin tests conducted by Ontario's Centre for Forensic Sciences and raised a significant doubt as to whether any babies had been murdered. Now Dr. Hamilton, a retired radiologist, has, at least in my mind, provided the real reason for the deaths of the unfortunate babies at the renowned hospital: A toxin found in natural rubber which is technically like digoxin, which was used in disposable plastic syringes and intravenous devices. As the late Dr. Peter Macklem, the above noted witness at the Grange Inquiry, says in his preface to this book: "What can be learned from this black stain on Canada's judicial system? One lesson certainly stands out: We cannot ever again allow a group of unqualified amateur diagnosticians to make life and death decisions about such important matters as potential serial murders." Dr. Macklem's comments have me thinking about the so-called arson experts in Texas who concluded with such compelling certainty that Cameron Todd Willingham had set the fire which killed his family - and were proven to have been so terribly, terribly wrong. (Willingham, an innocent man, was executed in Texas). Dr. Hamilton also has a tantalizing theory that a certain now-disgraced pathologist named Charles Smith may have been responsible for turning the tragic deaths into murders. He points out that "In 1980 - which was at the beginning of what was to become known as the digoxin baby poisoning epidemic period, he was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomic pathologist - with an expressed keen interest in performing autopsies on children who had died suddenly." This book can be purchased through Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.ca/Nurses-Are-Innocent-Digoxin-Poisoning/dp/1459700570

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: While digging into old files on the Susan Nelles case I uncovered a fascinating article published in a periodical called "Studies in Political Economy," by Elaine Buckley Day called "Witch Hunt: A feminist critique of the Grange Royal Commission into deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children." The article provides a thorough description of the police investigation followed by a demonstration of how, "nurses became scapegoats for events that could not be easily explained, and their voices were considered inauthentic both because they were women and they were nurses."

GIST: "Media coverage of the Commission did not focus on the testimony of the doctors. Cable television only began broadcasting live daily when Susan Nelles began to testify. As a result the public did not see and hear the doctors' testimony. At least six of the nurses who testified during the Grange proceedings reported that they were approached by strangers who recognized them as a result of their television exposure and asked them when doctors could be expected to testify.is This left the public with many false impressions. First, it confirmed the popular view that doctors are "scientific experts" whose knowledge would be too difficult for the average person to understand. Secondly, testimony such as that of the clinical pharmacologist, Dr. Stephen Spielberg, as to the possibility of medication error received little attention, as did the disagreement among the "experts" as to causes of death, flaws in testing methods used to detect the presence of digoxin, and the fact that it was the nurses who first began to raise questions concerning the increasing number of deaths."

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

"Why were women, especially nurses, treated differently from doctors throughout the Commission proceedings? The argument presented here is that this treatment bolsters and sustains male dominance through the suppression of women's knowledge. By not listening to nurses, the Commission did more than dismiss their evidence. It defined a particular viewof reason and expertise. Armed with these definitions and the power to make them hegemonic throughout the hearings, it proceeded to attack women not as knowledgeable participants in events but as potential purveyors of evil acts. Seen in this light, the Commission was indeed a witch hunt."

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

TO RETRIEVE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE:

spe.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/spe/article/download/.../10095

Enter the above address:
Click on "by author" in search box on left;
Click on initial "D."
Click on "Day. Elaine."

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

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Susan Nelles: (Part 7): Who were the "real true victims" of the "inappropriate prosecution." Book review of "No Normal Conscience," by Sharon Shore.

2012-01-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

Susan Nelles: (Part 6); Demeanour evidence. Prosecutors tried to use it against her - and failed. Excerpt from a cross-examination.

2012-01-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: I am pleased to have the opportunity to devote some space to a newly published book: "The Nurses Are Innocent: The Digoxin Poisoning Fallacy," by Gavin Hamilton M.D. The title refers to the investigation of the deaths of babies at the Hospital for Sick Children in 1980 and 1981 for which a nurse named Susan Nelles was charged with murder. (My first free-lance story for the Toronto Star described Ms. Nelle's discharge at her preliminary hearing). I later wrote in the Star about the public inquiry in which Justice Samuel Grange found that babies had been murdered in spite of testimony which shredded the validity of digoxin tests conducted by Ontario's Centre for Forensic Sciences and raised a significant doubt as to whether any babies had been murdered. Now Dr. Hamilton, a retired radiologist, has, at least in my mind, provided the real reason for the deaths of the unfortunate babies at the renowned hospital: A toxin found in natural rubber which is technically like digoxin, which was used in disposable plastic syringes and intravenous devices. As the late Dr. Peter Macklem, the above noted witness at the Grange Inquiry, says in his preface to this book: "What can be learned from this black stain on Canada's judicial system? One lesson certainly stands out: We cannot ever again allow a group of unqualified amateur diagnosticians to make life and death decisions about such important matters as potential serial murders." Dr. Macklem's comments have me thinking about the so-called arson experts in Texas who concluded with such compelling certainty that Cameron Todd Willingham had set the fire which killed his family - and were proven to have been so terribly, terribly wrong. (Willingham, an innocent man, was executed in Texas). Dr. Hamilton also has a tantalizing theory that a certain now-disgraced pathologist named Charles Smith may have been responsible for turning the tragic deaths into murders. He points out that "In 1980 - which was at the beginning of what was to become known as the digoxin baby poisoning epidemic period, he was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomic pathologist - with an expressed keen interest in performing autopsies on children who had died suddenly." This book can be purchased through Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.ca/Nurses-Are-Innocent-Digoxin-Poisoning/dp/1459700570

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: How do prosecutors attempt to prove guilt in cases such as the prosecution of Susan Nelles where there is the evidence of scientists on one hand - and an accused person who has utterly no motive, for whom the alleged crimes would be totally out of character? All too often they attempt to establish guilt through so-called "demeanour" evidence. The Nelles case fits this picture. Prosecutors attempted to establish at the preliminary hearing through the testimony of a Dr. Fowler that Nelles, who he barely knew, demonstrated a "very strange expression." Judge David Vanek declined to find that this evidence raised an inference of guilt, as he ruled:

"On Sunday, March 22nd, at about 5am. Dr. Fowler testified that he did not see Nelles that morning until he was about to leave the hospital; and that as he was leaving he saw Nelles sitting at one end of the desks in the nurses’ station apparently writing up the final report in Cook’s medical chart. He said he knew she had been involved with Pacsai and had given the digoxin before and was anxious to see what she looked like at this time. He glanced in her direction and said that she had a very strange expression on her face and no sign at all of grief. He said he thought this was very strange that this would be her appearance at a time such a terrible thing had happened. With respect, while it appears that Dr. Fowler went to school with Nelles’ father many years ago and may have had some isolated transactions with him since, he barely knew Susan Nelles, if at all; he knew nothing about her emotional range, her reaction to stress, or her manner of expressing her grief. I am unable to find any evidence of guilt from what a doctor thought from a passing glance was “a very strange expression” on the face of a young woman he barely knew, who had suffered a most harrowing experience, and was engaged in the very emotionally disturbing duty she was bound to perform of writing up the final death note as part of her other difficult duties on the occasion of the death of a baby in her care."

A report on Vanek's decision can be found on the Networked Knowledge site at:

http://netk.net.au/Canada/Morin39.asp

Defence lawyer Austin Cooper did a superb job of establishing the inadequacy of this evidence in his cross-examination of Dr. Fowler. He includes a portion of his cross-examination in an article published in Edward Greenspan's Counsel for the Defence"The Defence of Innocence." (See link for the entire article - it's fascinating - below.)

GIST OF CROSS-EXAMINATION:

Now, as to Susan Nelles, was she a close friend of yours?
No.
Did you ever visit her house?
Never.
Or her apartment?
Never.
Has she ever visited your house?
Never.
I think you said you knew her for one year?
Just because she was on the ward.
On the ward?
Her brother is a resident on the ward and I knew her father.
Have you ever had lunch with her?
Never.
Or coffee?
Never.
Or dinner?
Never.
Ever had a sort of meaningful conversation with her about anything other than whether a baby has or hasn't had its medication or has turned blue?
Never.
Okay, so you never worked a twelve-hour shift in her company?
Never.
Did you ever see her since her arrest on March 25 other than around the court or whatever?
No, I've never seen her since then.
Did you ever see her grieving after a relative had died?
I have never seen her grieving because I don't know her. I've never seen.
Did you ever see her upset, ever?
Never.
Ever see her cry?
No.
Did you ever see her angry?
No.
Did you ever see her depressed or elated?
No.
Did you ever see her sad or shocked?
No.
Well, I'm going to suggest that you really don't know much about the lady's emotional range. You'll agree with that?
I've seen many nurses who are looking after sick patients, and her reaction, again, was very unusual.
Well, I didn't ask you that. I asked you, I suggest that you don't know much about her emotional range?
No.
You just don't know much about it?
No, except that it's unusual, under the circumstances, for a person to have that reaction.
Okay. Well, a number of witnesses here have described Susan Nelles as being a cheerful person. Do you know her well enough to even know about that?
No.
She's easy to get along with; Do you know her well enough to even know that?
No. I don't work with her.
You don't work with her. She's conscientious and eager. You don't know that, I guess?
No, I don't know that.........

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE - INCLUDING THE REST OF THIS PORTION OF THE CROSS-EXAMINATION - CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.criminal-lawyers.ca/criminal-defence-news/the-defence-of-innocence-1990
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Susan Nelles: (Part 5): Nursing Association made connection between Smith and Nelles investigation in submissions to the Ontario legislature.

2012-01-01T00:15:00.000-08:00

Beyond DNA. Part 2: Grits for Breakfast sees innocence focus in Dallas shifting to non-DNA cases.

2011-12-31T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Beyond DNA: Innocence focus in Dallas shifting to non-DNA cases, published in Grits for Breakfast on December 29, 2011.

GIST: Besides so-called "Brady violations," though, the concern was expressed by others, IMO accurately, that "DNA evidence may have raised the bar to a level too often unattainable by cases without it." Certainly there are still categories of non-DNA cases to mine for valid innocence claims. An examination of arson cases by my employers at the Innocence Project of Texas and the state fire marshal, initiated at the recommendation of the Forensic Science Commission, could discover false convictions based on flawed forensics testimony. Nobody has thoroughly vetted (nor to my knowledge, even identified) the 2,000 or so cases where former Fort Bend Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett claimed to have used his dogs in "scent lineups." And there are other similarly discrete categories of cases to explore.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/12/beyond-dna-innocence-focus-in-dallas.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Beyond DNA: Part 1: Why freeing the wrongfully convicted through science was the easy part. Leslie Minora. The Texas Observer. (Great read. HL).

2011-12-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: Beyond DNA: Difficult tests for the justice system; Freeing the wrongfully convicted on through science was the easy part. Now what," by Leslie Minora, published in the Texas Observer on December 29, 2011.

GIST: "In the meantime, the sheer number of DNA exonerations — and the efforts to uncover how the courts failed so miserably — have revealed troubling gaps in the criminal justice system: Eyewitnesses are more fallible than jurors might think; forensic evidence isn't always reliable or interpreted correctly; the way police run lineups can lead to wrongful convictions. The trouble is, those problems may just as easily plague cases in which no DNA exists. Modern science has shown the justice system the tip of the iceberg, but how many innocent men and women are suffering in prison and likely to stay there because they have no evidence to test? Where do law enforcement and innocence advocates, faced with sorting out the guilty and innocent, go from here?"

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2011-12-29/news/beyond-dna-difficult-tests-for-the-justice-system/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Susan Nelles: (Part 4); Did Charles Smith play a role in transforming innocent baby deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children into murders?

2011-12-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: I am pleased to have the opportunity to devote some space to a newly published book: "The Nurses Are Innocent: The Digoxin Poisoning Fallacy," by Gavin Hamilton M.D. The title refers to the investigation of the deaths of babies at the Hospital for Sick Children in 1980 and 1981 for which a nurse named Susan Nelles was charged with murder. (My first free-lance story for the Toronto Star described Ms. Nelle's discharge at her preliminary hearing). I later wrote in the Star about the public inquiry in which Justice Samuel Grange found that babies had been murdered in spite of testimony which shredded the validity of digoxin tests conducted by Ontario's Centre for Forensic Sciences and raised a significant doubt as to whether any babies had been murdered. Now Dr. Hamilton, a retired radiologist, has, at least in my mind, provided the real reason for the deaths of the unfortunate babies at the renowned hospital: A toxin found in natural rubber which is technically like digoxin, which was used in disposable plastic syringes and intravenous devices. As the late Dr. Peter Macklem, the above noted witness at the Grange Inquiry, says in his preface to this book: "What can be learned from this black stain on Canada's judicial system? One lesson certainly stands out: We cannot ever again allow a group of unqualified amateur diagnosticians to make life and death decisions about such important matters as potential serial murders." Dr. Macklem's comments have me thinking about the so-called arson experts in Texas who concluded with such compelling certainty that Cameron Todd Willingham had set the fire which killed his family - and were proven to have been so terribly, terribly wrong. (Willingham, an innocent man, was executed in Texas). Dr. Hamilton also has a tantalizing theory that a certain now-disgraced pathologist named Charles Smith may have been responsible for turning the tragic deaths into murders. He points out that "In 1980 - which was at the beginning of what was to become known as the digoxin baby poisoning epidemic period, he was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomic pathologist - with an expressed keen interest in performing autopsies on children who had died suddenly." This book can be purchased through Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.ca/Nurses-Are-Innocent-Digoxin-Poisoning/dp/1459700570

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog

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

Dr. Gavin Hamilton's suspicion that Charles Smith's propensity to find murder where babies die of natural causes led to the baby deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children being categorized as homicides - and the prosecution of nurse Susan Nelles for murder is the subject of a story by Brian Bethune published in Maclean's on December 22, 2011.

"Then there was the Charles Smith factor," wrote Bethune. "The persuasive, incompetent and now disgraced pathologist began his career at Sick Kids in 1980. It’s impossible to evaluate Smith’s exact role in a murder investigation that arose because of findings made in the hospital’s autopsy rooms, but Hamilton is sure it was significant: “I smell him,” he says in an interview, “I smell his presence.”

In "The Nurses are Innocent: The Digoxin Poisoning fallacy," Hamilton makes his case for Smith's possible involvement as follows:

O: The series of HSC cardiac ward baby deaths became defined as murder by intentional digoxin poisoning from interpretations of specimens taken in the HSC autopsy rooms by members of their Department of Pathology.

O: The natural causes for the findings and even evidence that surfaced that was obviously exonerating, were dismissed.

O: Although a panel of HSC attending physicians and nurses had concluded that the deaths were from natural causes, a murder theory rose out of the autopsy rooms - a theory promoted and defended by the Crown prosecutors and by those operating under the aegis of the office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario.

O: Charles Smith was a link between the Hospital for Sick Children and the Chief Coroner's Office. ( He had worked (for the Hospital) as a pathologist working in the Department of Pathology since 1980 - while also working as a pediatric forensic pathologist on a fee-for-service basis for the Chief Coroner of Ontario.)

More specifically, Hamilton argues that: "Dr. Smith was hired as a resident in pathology at the University of Toronto (which included the Hospital for Sick Children) from 1978 to 1980. In 1980 - which was at the beginning of what was to become known as the digoxin baby poisoning epidemic period, he was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomic pathologist - with an expressed keen interest in performing autopsies on children who had died suddenly."

But Hamilton points out that, "To the dismay of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children and the criminal justice system of Canada, Justice Goudge determined conclusively that Dr. Smith's interpretations had incorrectly assigned child autopsy findings to murder as the cause of death in twenty cases from 1981 to 2001."

The 1981 date is a significant link according to Hamilton because, "In 1980-1981 , during the apparent rise in the number of of Hospital for Sick Children cardiac ward deaths, all of these deaths had been studied carefully and discussed by the nursing staff and attending physicians , who attributed them to natural causes."

"However," he writes, " based on interpretations of specimens taken in the autopsy rooms by the pathology department, these "natural deaths" suddenly became the focus of an intensive murder investigation - murder by intentional digoxin, perpetrated by the attending nursing staff."

"Is it just a coincidence that, shortly after Dr. Smith was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomical pathologist, a murder theory arose, based on interpretations of specimens taken in the autopsy rooms by a pathologist?"

Hamilton also seizes on several disturbing findings of the Goudge Inquiry to buttress his theory, including:

O: Smith's "quick" assumption of the role of a forensic pediatric pathologist always working out of the pathology department of the Hospital for Sick Children - even though he lacked formal pathology training;

O: Smith's overly intimate relationship with the Ontario Chief Coroner's Office which bolstered his reputation and tried to cover up his misdeeds.

O: "His willingness ability to craft his interpretation of autopsy findings to suit a preconceived and often erroneous opinion that child murders has been committed.

O: Smith's disregard of the neutrality and respect for science expected of a forensic expert as indicated by his admission to the inquiry that when his career began in the 1980's he believed his role was to act as an advocate for the Crown "and make a case look good " - an admission which Hamilton deems relevant "to the baby deaths that the crown prosecutors were alleging to be murder by digoxin poisoning."

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

There is no question in my mind that Gavin Hamilton has made a strong case for the influence of Charles Smith in the police investigation that led to the sorely flawed decision to charge nurse Susan Nelles with murdering babies at the hospital.

Indeed there are two other factors which to my mind reinforce his conclusion: the "get tough against child abuse" prosecutorial attitude which was prevalent at the hospital at the time and a "think dirty" attitude deeply rooted in Ontario's Chief Coroner's Office.

We need to look no further than Justice Goudge's report to confirm the sick atmosphere at the hospital at the time where he concludes:

"Dr. Smith failed to understand that his role as an expert witness was not to support the Crown. At the Inquiry he was candid on this point. He had never received any instructions in giving expert evidence. He acknowledged that, when he first began his career in the 1980's, he believed that his role was to act as an advocate for the Crown and "to make a case look good." He explained that the perception originated, in some measure, from the culture of advocacy that he said prevailed at Sick Kids at the time. In the early 1980's, there was a legitimate concern at Sick Kids that child abuse was under-reported, under-detected, and under-prosecuted. Dr. Smith was part of that advocacy culture and perceived that his job, at least in part, was to reverse those trends."

The over-zealous anti-child abuse attitude had been the subject of an exhibit filed at the inquiry - the judgment given by the judge in the case of two parents from Northern Ontario charged with physically abusing their one-year-old son following an investigation in the mid-eighties by the hospital's SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) Team. ( A renowned bone disease expert in California later concluded after viewing the x-rays from the Hospital that the lesions were more consistent with bone disease than with fracture.)

Ontario Court Judge Judge Peter Nasmith criticized the arbitrary actions of a Children's Aid Society in the case, noting that, " it was "obviously influenced (perhaps controlled) by the child abuse team at the Hospital for Sick Children." Nasmith went on to say that: "No doubt the real fly in the ointment here is the child abuse team at the Hospital for Sick Children as they moved from a position of possible abuse to a diagnosis of abuse. This was a surprising stance for them to take, and I think it underlines the need for a protection agency receiving reports under (child) protection legislation and for courts in these cases to continue to scrutinize the zeal of the well-meaning people who are so understandably devoted to fighting the scourge that is child abuse. This zeal has created a subtle dynamic that can somehow convert a suspicion of child abuse into a presumption of child abuse."

Charles Smith worked closely with the Hospital for Sick Children SCAN Team which had been involved in several of the cases probed by the Goudge Inquiry.

In a case set in Timmins, Ontario where a 12-year-old girl was charged with manslaughter in connection with a death in 1988 as a result of Smith opinion (backed up by the SCAN Team) that she had shaken the 16-month-old girl she was baby-sitting for, Judge Patrick Dunn reject Smith's opinion in it's entirety, and accepted the evidence of the defence expert witnesses over the hospital's witnesses.

Judge Dunn took the extraordinary step of rejecting Smith's opinion ( even though he had conducted the autopsy and seen first-hand what he had reported on) - and then flailing the approach taken by the hospital staff.

"In a section called "Problems in the HSC Inquiry," Dunn rules: "For reasons I am about to discuss, there are flaws in the H.S.C. (sic) approach and hence their opinion about shaking should not be given great weight. I am not talking now about whether shaking exists or whether it or some other mechanism killed Amber. I mean that the fact gathering process, the communication procedures, and the documentation of the medical opinion of the H.S.C. doctors involved in this case are such that I am led to question the conclusion that they drew, based on the facts as these erstwhile and well-meaning doctors understood them."

One would have expected that following a trial in which the work performed by Smith and the SCAN Team was assessed to determine what went wrong and how the hospital's work could be improved in the future. (After all, a 12-year-old babysitter had been wrongfully charged one of the most serious crimes in the Code as a result of their opinions and observations.)

Instead, as Justice Goudge notes in his report, the Hospital went into damage control at a special meeting called to review the case.

"In January 1992, SCAN physicians, Dr. Smith, and Crown counsel met to discuss Justice Dunn's reasons for judgment," Goudge wrote.

"No one present at that meeting appears to have taken to heart Justice Dunn's many criticisms of Dr. Smith and other hospital physicians. Rather, they concluded that the judge did not adequately understand the science of shaken baby syndrome."

Smith would later lie in Court under oath that after the trial Dunn told him, during the course of an airplane flight, that he believed the babysitter was guilty and that he believed the opinions provided by the Hospital for Sick Children's doctors.

In another murder case before the Goudge Inquiry an Ontario Superior Court Justice reject a "statement" taken by a member of the Sick Kids SCAN team on the basis that the team had violated her right to counsel, and not properly cautioned her that the "statement" could be used against her at her trial.

This case, which originated in 1999, is yet another example of the prosecutorial atmosphere that reigned at the Hospital for Sick Children for years. (The type of atmosphere in which innocent deaths of babies can be transformed into murders).

A senior prosecutor later "stayed" the charge on the basis that to continue the case would not be in the interests of justice because doing so could result in an injustice.

By this time, the statement of claim in a legal action against Smith alleged the woman was jailed for approximately three weeks until bail could be obtained, and following media coverage was stigmatized by members of the community as a "baby killer," with all of the physical and mental stress that that would entail.

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

The other factor that to my mind reinforce Dr. Hamilton's conclusion that Charles Smith played a significant role in the sorely flawed decision to charge nurse Susan Nelles with murdering babies at the hospital is the "think dirty" attitude that was well rooted in the Chief Coroner's office when then Chief Coroner Dr. James Young formalized it on a protocol issued to all coroners, pathologists, and chiefs of police in Ontario on April 10, 1995.

"Unfortunately, in this day and age, child abuse is a real issue, and it is extremely important that all members of the investigative team "Think Dirty," The "think dirty" protocol, which was discontinued after Dr. Young stepped down in 2004, stipulated.

"They must actively investigate each case as potential child abuse, and not come to a premature conclusion regarding the cause and manner of death until the complete investigation is finished, and all members of the team are satisfied with the conclusion."

During the nine years the protocol remained in effect, these words communicated through "think dirty" slides that were used in presentations to coroners throughout the province and other members of the death investigation teams.

During the course of the Goudge Inquiry, Commission Counsel Linda Rothstein tracked down the genesis of the "think dirty" approach through her questioning of former deputy chief coroner Dr. Jim Cairns in the following exchange.

"MS. LINDA ROTHSTEIN: Where did you first hear that expression, Dr. Cairns?

DR. CAIRNS: I think I first heard that expression from Jack Press.

MS. LINDA ROTHSTEIN: Who was he?

DR. CAIRNS: Jack Press had been a Toronto homicide officer who had -- when he retired, had moved over to be the liaison officer for Dr. Hillsdon Smith with -- with police.

MS. LINDA ROTHSTEIN: And in what context did Dr. -- did -- sorry -- did Jack Press use that terminology?

DR. CAIRNS: I think probably as it's explained here, don't -- don't accept things as they are. Think of more sinister applications or there may be a more sinister explanation."

We learn from the Goudge report that Hillsdon Smith was the Provincial Forensic Pathologist between 1975 and 1994.

To bring matters full circle, before retiring and joining the Chief Coroner's staff, Jack Press was one of the investigating officers in the investigation of Susan Nelles in connection with the deaths of babies at the hospital for Sick Children.

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

In sum, this humble Blogger concludes that Dr. Hamilton has managed to place Charles Smith's fingerprints all over the transformation of the natural deaths of babies at the Hospital for Sick Children into murders.

I also smell Smith's presence.

To my mind, Susan Nelles, a loving, devoted nurse branded as a serial killer, was a victim of a perfect storm: A persuasive, unprincipled pathologist lacking training in forensic pathology, who set out to vindicate dead children as he tried to ingratiate himself with police and prosecutors, a hospital which had declared war on child abuse and saw it in the most innocent circumstances, and a Chief Coroner's office which operated under the principle of " think dirty" - rather than instructing the province's pathologists, coroners and police officers to be dispassionate and objective - and to think "truth."

POSTSCRIPT: It is important to stress that Justice Goudge endorsed major changes within the Chief Coroner's Office after Dr. Barry McLellan took over from Dr. James Young in April 2004 - and that he heard evidence from the director of the Hospital for Sick Children SCAN team that changes had already been made which would make it unlikely that there would be any future debacles of the sort that tainted the previous era.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com.

Susan Nelles: (Part 3); Questions put to Dr. Gavin Hamilton author of "the Nurses are Innocent," by Defining Canada:

2011-12-28T00:15:00.000-08:00

THE ENTIRE Q AND A CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.definingcanada.ca/In 1980 - which was at the beginning of what was to become known as the digoxin baby poisoning epidemic period, he was hired by the Hospital for Sick Children as an anatomic pathologist - with an expressed keen interest in performing autopsies on children who had died suddenly.2011/11/17/qa-with-gavin-hamilton-m-d-author-of-the-nurses-are-innocent/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Susan Nelles: (Part 2); Maclean's magazine story on Hamilton book: "The Baby Killer At Toronto Sick Kids Was Rubber;"

2011-12-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

Susan Nelles: (Part 1): Important new book by Dr. Gavin Hamilton showing how errors of diagnosis led to an innocent nurse being charged with murder; "The Nurses Are Innocent: The digoxin poisoning fallacy;

2011-12-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

Michael Morton: Use of unscientic evidence in the courts subject of Texas Tribune story: "Murder cases put questionable evidence to test."

2011-12-25T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Murder cases put questionable evidence to test," by Brandi Grissom (Texas Tribune) as published in the New York Times on December 24, 2011.
GIST: "Before he dismissed the wrongful murder charges against Mr. Morton last week, Judge Sid Harle recounted the faults the case exposed in the Texas justice system. Among them: the use of so-called junk science in the courtroom. “The courts and the sitting judges need to be ever mindful about their role as gatekeeper in regard to the admission of science,” Mr. Harle said. “Your case illustrates the best and the worst of what can happen.” Despite scientific advancements like DNA testing, the use of unreliable scientific techniques in the criminal justice system persists. While some judges say they work to ensure only reliable scientific evidence is presented to juries, criminal justice advocates say that more must be done to root out an array of pseudoscientific practices that can have life-or-death consequences. “What passes for science in courtrooms is not always, in fact, science,” said Kathryn Kase, interim executive director of the Texas Defender Service, which represents death row inmates"
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/us/murder-cases-put-questionable-evidence-to-test.html?_r=1

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Lindy Chamberlain: Fourth inquest ordered. Excellent background from the Guardian.

2011-12-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Dingo baby case that divided a nation could be closed at last," published in the Guardian on December 20, 2011.

GIST: "At her trial in 1982 Lindy Chamberlain said in her defence that dingo saliva was not found on Azaria's jumpsuit because the baby was wearing a jacket on top. No jacket was found in the initial searches but in 1986, while Mrs Chamberlain was serving a life sentence, an Englishman, David Brett, fell to his death from Uluru, landing beside the jacket which was half-buried close to dingo lairs. Within days Chamberlain was released and a Royal Commission later exonerated her and her husband who had also been convicted as an accessory to the murder. The three previous inquests resulted in mixed verdicts, the first stating that a dingo had taken the baby. Then further investigations, involving a British pathologist, suggested the wounds - indicated by blood stains on the clothing - could not have been caused by a dingo and indicated a cut throat. That inquiry concluded that Chamberlain-Creighton should be sent for trial for murdering Azaria. The third returned an open verdict. John Lawrence, a lawyer involved in the Royal Commission, said the new inquest would be a final legal chapter that would conclude a dingo was responsible."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/20/dingo-baby-lindy-chamberlain-inquest

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Joseph Thomset and George Lowder: Ontario Court of Appeal Justice's book reopens 128-year-old mystery - and bungled forensic investigation. The Star.

2011-12-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Judge's book reopens 128-year-old murder mystery," by Legal Affairs reporter Tracey Tyler, published in the Toronto Star on December 21, 2011.

GIST: "In his new book The Lazier Murder, Justice Robert Sharpe argues that amateur detective work and a community "out for blood" unjustly sealed the fate of two men...The footprint evidence was crucial but flawed. There were large gaps where the trail had broken off and nobody could follow the tracks all the way. As they tramped through the snow carrying lanterns, the searchers left footprints of their own, a confusing pattern of as many as 12 to 15 different boot markings. The victim’s brother-in-law had arranged for the Belleville police chief, Hugh McKinnon, to come to Picton to head up the investigation. McKinnon obtained boots from the suspects and attempted to compare them with the footprints by placing them directly into tracks in the snow, hopelessly contaminating the evidence."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1105061--judge-s-book-reopens-128-year-old-murder-mystery

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Charles Smith: Canadian Press sees the revocation of his medical license as one of the "most significant news events" of 2011.

2011-12-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

STORY: "The year in headlines: 2011 saw no shortage of Canadian, international news." The Canadian Press. An in-brief look back at some of the most significant news events of the last 12 months, in chronological order.

GIST: "February: Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons revoked the licence of disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith, whose shoddy work and misguided testimony resulted in a series of wrongful convictions."

THE ENTIRE "YEAR IN HEADLINES" CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.inews880.com/News/National/Article.aspx?id=315515

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Brenda Waudby; Bid to have coerced guilty plea overturned; Another delay. Case put over until January 19, 2012. Peterborough Examiner;

2011-12-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Waudby case back in court Jan. 19," published earlier today by the Peterborough Examiner.

GIST: "The case has been moving in incremental steps, but her lawyer Julie Kirkpatrick said she anticipates matters to move much more quickly in the new year. Waudby is arguing that she was coerced into pleading guilty to a charge of child abuse. Waudby was wrongfully accused of her 21-month-old daughter Jenna Mellor's murder in 1997. That charge was withdrawn in 1999, weeks after Waudby pleaded guilty to a charge of child abuse. Brenda Waudby's application to have a child abuse conviction overturned will return to court Jan. 19 in Newmarket."

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL); It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will hurry up and finally and unequivocally clear her name;

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3413216

Paul Cortez: (New York). Fight to overturn conviction raises serious forensic concerns - including the fallibility of fingerprint evidence,

2011-12-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: On November 27, 2005, Catherine Woods, was found stabbed to death in her Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. Paul Cortez was later charged with the crime, tried and convicted. I am grateful to fellow blogger Lynne Blanchard (Justice for Brad Cooper) ) for drawing this case to my attention, because of the disturbing allegations that Cortez was convicted because his lawyers failed to confront the State's vacuous forensic evidence which, in fact, pointed to another individual as the killer. (I am also following developments in the Brad Cooper case and have placed a link to "Justice For Brad Cooper" on the blog). Of particular concern to this blog was the defence lawyer's alleged failure to have torn to shreds what the state had claimed was the discovery of a bloody fingerprint. As the web-site "Free Paul Cortez" notes: "Upon seeing the dark brown staining that was no more and no less the end result of the chemical processing (that was, incidentally, performed three different times and then electronically enhanced via computer before anyone could even see anything resembling a fingerprint), the public was easily fooled by tabloid pictures of what was then touted as a “bloody” fingerprint. Had a fingerprint expert been called, he or she could have easily explained that the fingerprint attributed to Paul was a latent one and the blood spatter from the assault overlaid this latent print in the form of a smear; that it was, in fact, pre-existing. The fact is, there was never any actual “bloody” fingerprint. What the public saw was not a “bloody” print but the dark stain of the chemicals used to make the invisible print visible. The Prosecutors – as well as Paul’s own defense lawyers – continued bandying about the phrase “bloody fingerprint” for no other purpose than to keep that idea firmly planted in the jurors’ imaginations." I have devoted recent posts to a public inquiry in Scotland which illustrated the fallibilty of fingerprint evidence - and the need for the examiner's conclusions to be kept in perspective. (The inquiry was called because of the wrongful prosecution of a detective named Shirley McKie). For this reason, I will be following developments in the Cortez case on this blog - including his efforts to overturn the conviction - with great interest.

The "Free Paul Cortez" blog can be found at:

http://freepaulcortez.org/?page_id=1007#crime

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Colin Matchim; Newfoundland; "Baby-shaking" case; Gets 60 days time served for breaking bail; CBC NEWS.

2011-12-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Matchim sentenced for contacting baby's mother," published earlier today by CBC News.
GIST: "When he was first charged, he was granted bail. A condition of the bail was to have no contact with the baby's mother, Kate Coombs. The court was told Wednesday that Matchim contacted Coombs by phone and email. He pleaded guilty to the no-contact charges in October. Matchim has been in custody since his conviction in May on the assault charge. He has yet to be sentenced for that conviction. His lawyers are attempting to have new evidence entered and have the trial re-opened."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/12/21/nl-matchim-contact-sentence-1221.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Shirley McKie: (Scotland). Commentary: fingerprint experts must re-examine their "certainty". Prof. Jim Fraser; The Scotsman.

2011-12-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Fingerprint experts need to examine their certainty - and cultural change will take time" published in the Scotsman.

GIST: "The McKie affair is often referred to as the “Scottish case” in the forensics world and you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a distinctively Scottish problem. But like all “disasters” of this type, unearthing cause, effect and contributory factors is complex and tricky. An international survey by the University of Strathclyde showed that more than 80 per cent of fingerprint experts believe identification is certain. The issues go well beyond Scotland, and other countries would do well to consider the inquiry recommendation that fingerprint examiners should discontinue claims of 100 per cent certainty."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts-blog/analysis_fingerprint_experts_need_to_re_examine_their_certainty_and_culture_change_will_take_time_1_2008740

THE INQUIRY'S WEB-SITE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thefingerprintinquiryscotland.org.uk/inquiry/CCC_FirstPage.jsp

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Michael Morton: Momentous development. He is officially exonerated; Former prosecutor Anderson faces felony allegations; YNN;

2011-12-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Morton exonerated, Anderson faces felony allegations" by reporters John A. Salazar & Anne Szilagyi published on YNN earlier today.

GIST: "Judge Sid Harle formally exonerated Michael Morton in a Georgetown courtroom Monday. Now, Morton’s attorneys are seeking a “court of inquiry” into whether or not there was prosecutorial misconduct during the original investigation that led to Morton's conviction."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://austin.ynn.com/content/headlines/282059/morton-exonerated--anderson-faces-felony-allegations

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Lindy Chamberlain: (Australia). "Dingo theory had merit from start of Azaria case." A valuable perspective from Malcolm Brown; Sidney Morning Herald;

2011-12-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Dingo theory had merit from start of Azaria case," by reporter Malcolm Brown. published earlier today in the Sidney Morning Herald.

GIST: "Most of this ''dingo evidence'' was available to the coroner Denis Barritt, whose finding 30 years ago this month was that a dingo had taken the baby and that her parents, the pastor Michael Chamberlain and his wife, Lindy, were not responsible. After that, everything got muddied. It included the intrusion of British forensic pathologist Professor James Cameron who examined the jumpsuit Azaria had worn and, some 20,000 kilometres away, pronounced that the baby's throat had probably been cut and that there was a bloodied handprint of a young adult on the fabric. That evidence was flawed and later discredited. But the most fundamental issue was the evidence of Joy Kuhl, a forensic biologist who identified material found in the the car and on scissors as blood and then proceeded to identify foetal haemoglobin, indicating that the blood had come from Azaria. Ms Kuhl, it was alleged, had gone beyond the bounds of her expertise. Even if it had been blood, it had been in the car for more than a year before she set out to analyse it, and the haemoglobin underwent a process of ''denaturing'', or changing in its properties. Ultimately, it was found there was no blood at all, or so little as to be inconsequential."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/dingo-theory-had-merit-from-start-of-azaria-case-20111219-1p2ke.html

Chana Al-Alas and Rohan Wray: (UK): Why a growing number of parents are being falsely accused of shaking their baby to death. The Mail.

2011-12-19T04:43:00.001-08:00

STORY: "The disturbing reason why a growing number of parents are being falsely accused of shaking their baby to death" by Sue Reid published in the Daily Mail on December 18, 2011.

GIST: "But until now, few have pointed out one of the most worrying aspects of the crisis: babies with a vitamin D deficiency display remarkably similar symptoms to those who have been deliberately shaken by their parents or carers. This may have led to other controversial criminal trials of parents accused of harming their children when — like the Wrays — they were completely innocent."

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2075884/Parents-guard-accusations-babies-shaken-death-continue-grow.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Shirley McKie: (Scotland). Fallibiliy of fingerprint evidence exposed. Police officer had sworn fingerprint at crime scene wasn't hers.

2011-12-19T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: Fingerprint evidence "should be regarded as opinion not fact (a public inquiry has recommended) published in the Telegraph on December 15, 2011.

GIST: "Tom Nelson, the director of forensic services at the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), publicly apologised to Shirley McKie and her family for the “errors that took place” and the “subsequent pain” it had caused them. Mr Nelson said the inquiry’s report “challenges the infallibility of fingerprint evidence”, and added: “We accept that this will be a huge cultural change for fingerprint examiners across the world.’’ Miss McKie, a former detective constable with Strathclyde Police, was tried for perjury after insisting a fingerprint found in the home of murder victim Marion Ross in 1997 did not belong to her. She was later cleared of lying under oath and in February 2006 was given £750,000 in an out-of-court settlement. The investigation was ordered after a former police officer was accused of perjury when a fingerprint found at a murder scene was wrongly identified as hers"

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8957319/Fingerprint-evidence-should-be-regarded-as-opinion-not-fact.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Raymond George Morgan: (Australia). Body mapping. Junk Science? Entire New South Wales Court of Appeal decision;

2011-12-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: The Brisbane Times reported on an Raymond Morgan's successful challenge to robbery convictions based in part on the appeal court's rejection of the so-called science of body mapping. The entire decision of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales can be read at the link below.

GIST: "On the voir dire, the appellant led evidence from two other experts, Dr Richard Kemp, a forensic psychologist, and Mr Glenn Porter, a forensic scientist. Each of them had been asked to provide a critique of Professor Henneberg's expert certificate. Dr Kemp provided a report, and Mr Porter an expert certificate. Both of them gave oral evidence."

THE ENTIRE DECISION (RELEASED ON DECEMBER 1, 2011) CAN BE READ AT"

http://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/action/PJUDG?jgmtid=155923

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Lindy Chamberlain: (Australia). Coroner orders new Azaria inquest: (Set to begin February 24, 2012 HL; ) 'The Age."

2011-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

STORY: (Northern Territory) Coroner to hold new Azaria inquest 30 years on," by reporter Malcolm Brown, published earlier today in "The Age."

GIST: "In October 1982, Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail. Michael Chamberlain, found guilty of being an accessory after the fact, was given a suspended sentence. A royal commission was ordered after a community campaign. In June 1987, it exonerated the Chamberlains, whose convictions were quashed. In December 1995, a third coroner's inquest returned an open verdict. Dr Chamberlain said he and his ex-wife had campaigned for a new inquest to establish that Azaria had been taken by a dingo. "We believe that new evidence will indicate that dingoes can in fact kill babies," he said. "I trust that the truth will now be determined.""

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL); The order for a new inquest is welcome even though so many years have passed. Indeed, it is of paramount importance that the death record reflect the true cause of death - and make utterly clear for posterity that Lindy Chamberlain is innocent.

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/nt-coroner-to-hold-new-azaria-inquest-30-years-on-20111217-1p0c3.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Raymond George Morgan: Junk Science: The Brisbane Times places tainted evidence - including body mapping - in the dock; (Great read (HL);

2011-12-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Tainted evidence: Science in the dock," by Stuart Washington published earlier today in the Brisbane Times.

GIST: "Earlier this month Morgan won a retrial because the expert's evidence was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal. The court found the body mapping was ''simplistic'' and did not use one measurement. In the appeal court's view, the ''science'' of body mapping used in the case of Morgan was wearing no clothes. So much for all those toned and svelte CSI forensic investigators running around on television each week. Morgan's robbery convictions have been overturned at a time when increasing concerns are raised about ''junk science'' appearing before the courts: unreliable expert evidence leading to contaminated criminal trials. At its worst, such evidence could result in innocent people being sent to jail. At the very least, such evidence could tilt trials unfairly."

THE ENTIRE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/tainted-evidence-science-in-the-dock-20111216-1oyn7.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Grits for Breakfast's top 10 Texas criminal justice stories of 2011. (Almost half of them raise crucial forensic science issues! HL.)

2011-12-16T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Biggest Texas criminal justice stories of 2011," published by Grits For Breakfast on December 15, 2011.

GIST: Four of the ten picks (an eye-catching percentage) evolve around crucial forensic issues and will be familiar to devotees of this Blog: "The Michael Morton exoneration" (Number 1!), "the Forensic Science Commission and the Wilingham denouement," "Eyewitness ID reform," and "When criminal convictions trump scientific truth."

THE ENTIRE POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/12/biggest-texas-criminal-justice-stories.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: George Denkowski, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders courts to review death sentences; Psychologist's unscientific methods questioned;

2011-12-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

START: "Appeals court orders re-evaluation of 2 death penalty cases," by reporter Brandi Grissom, published earlier today in the Texas Tribune.

GIST: "Prosecutors regularly relied on Denkowski to perform psychological evaluations to determine whether a murder suspect would be eligible for execution. But in 2009, other psychologists and defense lawyers complained to the TSBEP that Denkowski used unscientific methods that artificially inflated intelligence scores to make defendants eligible for the death penalty. In his 2006 evaluation of Steven Butler, who was convicted in the shooting death of a store clerk, Denkowski rejected other IQ test scores that indicated Butler was well below average intelligence. He discounted behavioral evaluations from Butler’s family and friends, who said that Butler couldn’t understand the rules of basketball, had to have others read menus for him and that he had failed basic classes."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/death-penalty/appeals-court-orders-re-evaluation-2-death-row-cas/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Amanda Knox: Reasons for decision released; "Judges trash prosecution's case and tactics." ABC News.

2011-12-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Amanda Knox: Judges trash prosecution's case and tactics" by reporter Phoebe Natanson, ABC News, published earlier today.

GIST: "The court challenged police tactics during an all night interrogation that prompted Knox at one point to say that she had a "vision" that falsely implicated Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner she worked for. The next morning, Knox tried to retract her statement. In the report the judges show they are in agreement with Knox's defense, stating that due to the "obsessive duration of the interrogations" it is "totally comprehensible that she would find herself in a situation of great psychological pressure -? which to call it stress would reduce it -? which makes one doubt the actual spontaneity of the declaration." (Italian government's DNA evidence - and evidence collection techniques - had proven to be disastrously flawed. HL);

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/amanda-knox-judge-trashes-prosecution-tactics-reasoning/story?id=15161870

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Gregory Carter: (Whitby, Ontario); Denies falsely calling himself "psychologist." Trial continues. Toronto Star.

2011-12-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Therapist denies falsely calling self 'psychologist," by reporter Urban Affairs Reporter Carola Vyhnak published in the Toronto Star on December 13, 2011."

GIST: "Carter, 65, whose services were used in child custody cases, was not a psychologist but a psychological associate, court has heard. That designation is a notch below and doesn’t permit him to make diagnoses. He has pleaded not guilty to fraud under $5,000. Two charges have been dismissed for lack of evidence but he still faces three counts of fraud. Clients have testified they believed he was a psychologist based on his office signs and business cards, which identified him as “Dr.” But Carter, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy, testified that if anyone had ever questioned his title or qualifications, he would have set them straight"

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1101503--therapist-denies-falsely-calling-himself-psychologist

Bulletin: "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory." Third installment of HBO documentary series on the West Memphis 3 to run on January 12, 2012.

2011-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

GIST: "The final installment of the Paradise Lost documentaries on the case of the West Memphis Three is set to premiere on HBO January 12. "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," tells the entire story, from the 1993 murder of three young boys in Arkansas to the release and partial exoneration of Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley in August." (Extensive forensic DNA testing in this case using advanced techniques revealed that no genetic material recovered from the crime scene belonged to any of the three imprisoned men. (HL);

FROM PRESS RELEASE:

The award-winning HBO documentary series “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” (1996) and “Paradise Lost 2: Revelations” (2000) spawned a worldwide movement to free the West Memphis 3 for wrongful murder convictions. Set to debut on HBO in Jan. 2012, “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” will have its theatrical premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, with a number of prestigious festival dates to follow this fall. This film tells the entire story, from the arrests in 1993 to the growing movement, through the entire appeals process and the uncovering of new evidence, concluding with their release.

THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2011/12/paradise-lost-3-purgatory.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Timothy Hennis: Editorial page editor Steve Ford plants some worrisome seeds of doubt. North Carolina News and Observer.

2011-12-15T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Deadly crimes: Scenes of doubt" by Steve Ford published in the North Carolina News and Observer on December 11, 2011.

GIST: " Cumberland County investigator learned that samples taken from Eastburn's body had not been tested for DNA, a procedure that was not well developed in the mid-1980s. In 2005 he had the samples sent to the SBI crime lab. The match came back: Hennis, to an utter certainty. The New Yorker piece, by Nicholas Schmidle, doesn't fail to note that our valiant SBI lab was found to have misreported or withheld blood evidence in ways advantageous to prosecutors Could those DNA results have been similarly twisted by people frustrated that Hennis had gone free? Or could the DNA findings have reflected an instance of consenting adults doing what adults sometimes do? Not that Hennis used that excuse when the Army recalled him to active duty, court-martialed him, convicted him and sent him to Leavenworth for execution."

The commentary can be found at:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/11/1700974/deadly-crimes-seeds-of-doubt.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Charles Smith blog listed on new comprehensive list of "Top Forensic Science Blogs On The Web" published by Itsgov.

2011-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This blog is honoured to have been included as "a bit unorthodox" in a comprehensive list of "top forensic science blogs on the web." The list has been published by "Itsgov." According to its description: "ITSGOV was founded in May, 2011 with the sole purpose of becoming the go-to destination for all things related to forensic science and CSI. We currently have a staff of passionate individuals and practitioners providing content, as well as various guest authors who have pledged to offer their assistance whenever time allows. The project is very ambitious, requiring numerous resources and sacrifices, however we believe that in time ITSGOV might become the ultimate resource of its kind on the internet." The comprehensive list can be found at:

http://www.itsgov.com/top-forensic-science-blogs.html

Harold Levy. Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Commentary: John Thompson. National Law Journal presents: "A call for prosecutorial accountability."

2011-12-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "A call for prosecutorial accountability," by Deborah Jane Cooper published in the National Law Journal on December 12, 2011.'

GIST: "Psychologists Ann Tenbrunsel and David Messick, in a 1999 article in Administrative Science Quarterly, studied the effects of sanctioning systems on decisions and cooperation, finding that "a weak sanctioning system can actually decrease cooperation, decrease expectations of cooperation, and influence perceptions of the situation," promoting a focus on a cost-benefit analysis of the decision rather than an ethical analysis. A strong sanctioning system predicted the highest level of rule compliance. How do we create strong sanctioning systems in the context of prosecutorial accountability?" (Some of the most disturbing miscarriages of justice have involved prosecutors who failed to disclose exculpatory forensic reports or actual evidence to the defence. HL.)

The commentary can be found at:

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202535064834&A_call_for_prosecutorial_accountability&slreturn=1

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Amanda Knox: Inside story of the grassroots campaign that helped free her; (Excellent guide for mobilizing against miscarriages of justice.)

2011-12-13T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "The grassroots organization that helped free Amanda Knox," by Bruce Fisher, published in Groundreport on December 12, 2011.

GIST: "The positive showing of support observed for Amanda and Raffaele has been carelessly misrepresented by the media, often suggesting that the support was orchestrated by a PR firm at an estimated cost of one million dollars. These ridiculous rumors all stemmed from the fact that Amanda’s parents hired a PR firm headed by David Marriott to organize interviews with the press, essentially working as a buffer between the family and relentless journalists. The agreement with Marriott has never been discussed publicly so the million dollar estimate parroted by the media is fabricated nonsense. The truth is the support for Amanda and Raffaele stemmed from many individual voices that stood up against an injustice."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.groundreport.com/World/The-Grassroots-Organization-That-Helped-Free-Amand/2943029

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Mark Duggan: Police watchdog investigator admits "mistake" at pre-inquest hearing. The Mirror;

2011-12-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

STORY: Duggan Inquiry: Police watchdog investigator admits "mistake" over information that Duggan fired at officers first," published earlier today in the mirror.

GIST: "Mr Mansfield also told the court that the family had requested that an independent pathologist carry out tests on Mr Duggan's body, and for them to be given the chance to discuss their findings with the original pathologist - but this had not been allowed."

THE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/12/mark-duggan-inquiry-police-watchdog-invesigator-admits-mistake-over-information-that-duggan-fired-at-officers-first-115875-23629983/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Chana Al-Alas and Rohan Wray: "Shaken baby syndrome" case. More detailed report of the directed verdict; the Mirror.

2011-12-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: " Young couple cleared of killing baby son" published in the Mirror on December 9, 2011.

GIST: "She added: "The real criminality in this case is that, if the money spent on this case had been directed to fulfilling the 1991 Government directive that breastfeeding mothers be given vitamin D supplements, this death would not have occurred and rickets, which is now back up to epidemic proportions in this country, would have been wiped out.""

the entire story can be found at:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/09/young-couple-cleared-of-killing-baby-son-115875-23622632/#ixzz1g5tzSSz8

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

"Shaken Baby Syndrome:" Rioch Edwards-Brown; U.K. Once falsely branded a baby batterer she is nominated for prestigious Daily Mail award.

2011-12-11T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Falsely branded a baby batterer - now Rioch Edwards-Brown's a fighter for justice" by Beth Hale, published in the Daily Mail on November 24, 2011. The story of a woman who has been nominated for a recently launched award for women who deserve to be recognized for their work. (Ms. Edward=Brown runs a support group called "The Five Percenters" - in reference to what she describes as, "The 1 in 20 cases routinely misdiagnosed as "Shaken Baby Syndrome.")

THE WEB-SITE CAN BE ACCESSED AT:

http://www.sbs5.dircon.co.uk/five.htm

GIST: "Rioch suddenly realised the finger of suspicion was pointing at her and Ian — and they were devastated when two social workers revealed they would apply to take Riordan into care within days. Reeling with shock, they sought legal help and were able to keep Riordan. Three months later, with clear medical evidence pointing to injuries caused by birth trauma rather than abuse, a High Court judge threw out their case. However, it took eight years before the shaken baby accusation was removed from council and hospital records..."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE ACCESSED AT:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2065430/INSPIRATIONAL-WOMEN-OF-THE-YEAR-Falsely-branded-baby-batterer--Rioch-Edwards-Browns-fighter-justice.html#ixzz1foor9u5F

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=6408887284438140301

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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

"Shaken Baby Syndrome:" Mark Hansen calls it "Unsettling science," and says experts are still debating whether the syndrome exists. ABA Journal.

2011-12-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Unsettling science: Experts are still debating whether baby shaking syndrome exists" by Mark Hansen. published in the American Bar Association Journal on December 1, 2011."

GIST: "To be sure, the vast majority of doctors still regard it as a valid and reliable diagnosis, one whose scientific basis has been proven time and time again by decades of peer-reviewed research, clinical experience and caregiver confessions. But a small and apparently growing number of forensic experts have begun to question many of the assumptions upon which the diagnosis rests—like whether shaking alone can produce the kind of traumatic head injuries attributed to SBS in the absence of other injuries, like a broken neck, or whether a child who has been shaken violently would immediately be rendered unconscious."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/unsettling_science_experts_are_still_debating_whether_shaken_baby_syndrome_/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Mike Peterson; Judge bars blood experts from remarking on his guilt. WRAL.

2011-12-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Blood experts not allowed to remark on Peterson's guilt," published earlier today on WRAL.

GIST: "Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline planned to bring in other blood evidence experts who were hired by the state eight years ago but never testified at Peterson's trial. They believe Peterson is guilty of murder, she said, which backs up Deaver's findings. Rudolf objected to the move, saying their opinion about the verdict is irrelevant. Witnesses should be allowed only to review Deaver's tests and results, he said, not bring in new evidence as to whether the jury was right. "The issue here is," Rudolf argued, "did Duane Deaver mislead the court first of all, so that the court qualified him as an expert and allowed him to give the opinions that he gave based on those tests, and No. 2, did he mislead the jury?” Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson agreed with Rudolf, cutting off what appeared to be Cline's main line of defense against a new trial."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10482820/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Chana Al-Alas and Rohan Wray: U.K. Shaken Baby Syndrome case; Pair acquitted. defended on basis that Jayden had rickets; BBC News.

2011-12-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Pair cleared over Jayden Wray death," by as reported by BBC News on September 9, 2011.

GIST: "The prosecution said the brain damage could only have been caused by the trauma of Jayden having been shaken or his head having been hit against something. But the defence said it was only after Jayden died that it was discovered he had rickets owing to an undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency in his mother. This would have caused him to have weak bones, including a weak skull, and could have caused a series of fractures. The medical condition was also blamed for complications which led to his death.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16107085

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

"Shaken Baby Syndrome;" Shirlee Ree Smith; "Latest victim of the junk science." Commentary by Michigan lawyer Mark Satawa.

2011-12-09T00:15:00.001-08:00

SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME." COMMENTARY: "Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Effective Death Penalty Act: A lethal combination" by criminal defence lawyer Mark Satawa published on December 6, 2011. (Mark A. Satawa practices in the area of criminal defense, specializing in forensic evidence and shaken baby cases. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Criminal Defense Lawyers of Michigan, and is a frequent continuing legal education speaker on shaken baby cases, most recently on April 3, 2009, at the NACDL annual forensic science seminar in Las Vegas. )

GIST: "By all accounts, Shirley Ree Smith was a loving mother and grandmother, just trying to help her daughter raise her young children. Now, she is the latest victim of the junk science associated with shaken baby syndrome, in combination with the United States Supreme Court’s worship of procedure over substance, or legal technicality over true factual innocence. The result? Another innocent person sits in a jail cell, convicted of a crime that she likely did not commit."

THE ENTIRE COMMENTARY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.protectingyourfuture.info/shaken-baby-syndrome-and-the-aedpa-a-lethal-combination

Bulletin: Michael Mermel: (Chicago); Lake County prosecutor retiring under fire for comments where DNA did not match the defendant. Chicago Tribune.

2011-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

STORY: "Under fire, Lake County prosecutor retiring. Michael Mermel loses backing of county officials after string of inappropriate comments," by reporter Lisa Black, published by the Chicago Tribune on December 8, 2011.

GIST: "The sheriff had forced the issue last week, publicly asking for Mermel's dismissal for what Curran called "inappropriate" comments by Mermel to the media. Just days earlier, The New York Times published an article in which Mermel, explaining why DNA from sperm found inside a young murder victim didn't match the defendant, repeated his earlier assertions that the 11-year-old girl was sexually active..."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-michael-mermel-retires-20111208,0,1633906.story

Kathleen Folbigg: Australia; Jailed 30 years; Canadian academic says experts misinterpreted repeated unexplained deaths in a single family.

2011-12-08T00:15:00.001-08:00

STORY: "Bad evidence convicted Folbigg of killing children - academic" by Stuart Washington published in "The Age" on December 5, 2011.

GIST: "Now, after six years researching the case, a legal academic living in Canada believes Folbigg was wrongly convicted based on unreliable evidence from medical experts And Emma Cunliffe is calling for NSW to introduce the same ''last resort'' mechanism that was used in the Northern Territory to quash Lindy Chamberlain's murder conviction. The attack on the reliability of expert evidence in Folbigg's trial follows a court ruling on Friday allowing Jeffrey Gilham a retrial on his charge of murder, and possibly even an acquittal, after evidence from experts was found to have been flawed. The claims by Dr Cunliffe in her book Murder, Medicine and Motherhood stand against the combined weight of the jury verdict in Folbigg's 2003 trial and two unsuccessful appeals..."

The story can found at;

http://www.smh.com.au/national/bad-evidence-convicted-folbigg-of-killing-children--academic-20111204-1odjg.html

Bulletin: Deborah Madden: She pleads not guilty to federal charge of fraudulently making off with cocaine she was supposed to test; S.F. Chronicle;

2011-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

STORY: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE;

GIST: "A former San Francisco crime lab technician pleaded not guilty today to a federal charge of fraudulently making off with cocaine she was supposed to be testing, conduct her lawyer said was not even a federal crime..."

THE ENTIRE STORY OF THE PLEA CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/07/BA481M9JE5.DTL

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Brenda Waudby: Smith case; Her lawyer alleges official documents show police and prosecutors knew her guilty plea was wrong; Peterborough Examiner;

2011-12-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will hurry up and finally and unequivocally clear her name;

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

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

STORY: "Police may have been aware guilty plea was wrong," by reporter Sarah Deeth published in the Peterborough Examiner earlier today.

GIST: "A lawyer for Brenda Waudby is arguing that police and the Crown's office were aware that Waudby may have erroneously pleaded guilty to harming her daughter. Waudby is trying to appeal a 1999 conviction for child abuse. The case is currently before the Superior Court......... Police had the babysitter's confession and shared that information with the Crown's office, stating that the babysitter believed that he had likely hit Jenna with enough force to break her ribs, documents state. Kirkpatrick is arguing that no one told Waudby that someone else had confessed to a crime she pleaded guilty to six years earlier, or expressed any concern that a miscarriage of justice had taken place. The babysitter was charged with manslaughter in December 2005, and pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2006."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3396182

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Michael Morton: The American-Statesman's Chuck Lindell on how "Morton lawyers put prosecution on defence." Great read.

2011-12-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

BACKGROUND: (Michael) Morton was the victim of serious prosecutorial misconduct that caused him to lose 25 years of his life and completely ripped apart his family. Perhaps even more tragically, we now know that another murder might have been prevented if law enforcement had continued its investigation rather than building a false case against Mr. Morton,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law. “This tragic miscarriage of justice must be fully investigated and steps must be taken to hold police and prosecutors accountable.” In August, the Innocence Project announced that DNA testing on a bandana found near the Morton’s home where the murder occurred contained the blood of the victim, Christine Morton, and a male other than Morton. According to the papers filed by the Innocence Project yesterday, new DNA testing has connected the male DNA on the bandana to a hair that was found at the crime scene of a Travis County murder that was conducted with a similar modus operandi after Morton was incarcerated. Morton always maintained that the murder was committed by a third-party intruder. In the filing, the Innocence Project charges that Morton would never have been convicted of the crime if the prosecution had turned over as required evidence pointing to his innocence. Newly discovered evidence that was uncovered through a Public Records Act request that was not given to the defense includes: • A transcript of a taped interview by the chief investigator, Sgt. Don Wood, with the victim’s mother where the mother says that the couple’s three-year-old child witnessed the murder and provided a chilling account of watching a man who was not his father beat Christine to death. • A handwritten telephone message to Williamson County Sherriff’s Office (WCSO) Sgt. Wood dated two days after the murder reporting that what appeared to be Christine Morton’s missing Visa card was recovered at the Jewel Box store in San Antonio, with a note indicating that a police officer in San Antonio would be able to identify the woman who attempted to use the card. • A report by WCSO officer Traylor that a neighbor had “on several occasions observed a male park a green van on the street behind [the Morton’s] address, then the subject would get out and walk into the wooded area off the road.” • An internal, typewritten WCSO message to Sgt. Wood and follow up correspondence reporting that a check made out to Christine Morton by a man named John B. Cross was cashed with Christine’s forged signature nine days after her murder. The Innocence Project. (Morton's lawyers contend the Williamson County District Attorney at the time, Ken Anderson, withheld evidence that would have exonerated Morton. Lawyers have questioned Anderson, now a district judge, and others involved in the case to determine if there was misconduct involved. That process continues.)

STORY: "Morton lawyers put prosecution on defence" published in the American-Statesman on December 6, 2011;

GIST: "Combining tenacity with legal creativity, lawyers for Michael Morton are doing something that has never been attempted in the nation's 280 previous DNA exoneration cases: They're investigating the prosecutor who sent Morton away for a murder he did not commit. Armed with court-given power not typically available to defense lawyers, Morton's legal team has pried open investigative files and forced former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson to answer questions under oath and against his will. The team has also combed court records and interviewed current and former county officials to flesh out allegations that Anderson hid evidence that could have spared Morton from serving almost 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife, Christine. And now we know where all this effort is headed..."

THE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/morton-lawyers-put-prosecution-on-defense-2017000.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

Sandy Williams: Justice Scalia gets unexpected support on right to confront actual DNA analyst; Mike Sacks; Huffington Post;

2011-12-07T00:15:00.001-08:00

BACKGROUND: the William's raises the important issue as to whether a state rule of evidence allowing an expert witness to testify about the results of DNA testing performed by non-testifying analysts violates the Confrontation Clause, when the defendant has no opportunity to confront the actual analysts.

STORY: The Huffington Post post by Mike Sacks was published earlier today under the heading "Justice Anthony Kennedy confronts Sixth Amendment case, hints at change of heart, cites Hamlet."

GIST: "By the time Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Michael Dreeben rose to argue in support of Illinois, all that remained was the coup de grace. Scalia, seemingly victorious once again, said, "You're telling me that this confrontation clause allows you to simply say, 'Well, we're not going to bring in the person who did the test. We are simply going to say this is a reliable lab.'""

THE FULL POST CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/justice-anthony-kennedy-sixth-amendment-hamlet_n_1132620.html

BULLETIN; THOMAS HAYNESWORTH; WRIT OF ACTUAL INNOCENCE GRANTED BY VIRGINIA COURT OF APPEALS; RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH;

2011-12-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: Va. Court of Appeals exonerates Haynesworth

Credit: ALEXA WELCH EDLUND/TIMES-DISPATCH

Thomas E. Haynesworth spoke earlier this year to the state Forensic Sciences Board.

By: JIM NOLAND, FRANK GREEN
Published: December 06, 2011
Updated: December 06, 2011 - 12:59 PM

» 3 Comments | Post a Comment

The Virginia Court of Appeals has granted a writ of actual innocence for Thomas E. Haynesworth, the Richmond man who served 27 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in a series of rapes in the 1980s.

The vote in the court was split 6-4, with the majority issuing a two-line declaration and the minority issuing a multi-page dissension, said Olga Akselrod, a lawyer for the Innocence Project, which worked for Haynesworth's release from prison and his court rendered exoneration.

"Thomas is now exonerated," said Akselrod. "His record is going to be totally expunged. He will be removed from the sex offenders list and there will be no more restirctions on him," she added.

"He's finally free."

Haynesworth, 46, spent 27 years behind bars before being paroled by Gov. Bob McDonnell in March after DNA evidence cleared him of a series of sexual assaults for which he was convicted in 1984.

“I’m happy, I’m glad it’s over with,” said Haynesworth, reached by telephone. He said he is relieved his name has been cleared and that he will longer be living with parole restrictions and have his name on the sex offender registry.

Shawn Armbrust of the Mid Atlantic Innocence Commission and one of Haynesworth’s lawyers, said, “We’re thrilled for Thomas that he’s finally free.

“It’s a shame that it took this long and that it was this difficult given how persuasive and compelling his case was but we’re glad that the court ultimately reached the right result,” said Armbrust.

For years, law-enforcement agencies have maintained that the same person committed a series of sex assaults in the Richmond neighborhood where Haynesworth lived.

Because DNA evidence exonerated Haynesworth in two of the cases and implicated another neighborhood man -- convicted serial rapist Leon Davis -- who bore a resemblance to Haynesworth, lawyers argued that eyewitness testimony linking Haynesworth to the crimes in Henrico and Richmond was similarly mistaken.

The ruling vacates convictions in two cases for which there are no biological tests that can be conducted. Davis, who is serving more than 100 years in prison, has refused to discuss the case.

To exonerate Haynesworth, the Court of Appeals had to conclude that, given the new evidence, no reasonable juror would find Haynesworth guilty. The court had the option of granting the writs of actual innocence, rejecting them or referring the cases to the circuit courts for further review.

Since his parole, Haynesworth has been working at the Virginia Attorney General's office for Ken Cuccinelli, who, convinced of Haynesworth's innocence, also championed his case and was among the attorneys who argued for his full exoneration by the Court of Appeals in late September.

“Today, we celebrate Thomas Haynesworth's freedom. And today, we recognize that justice has prevailed,” Cuccinelli said. “We encouraged Thomas’s legal team to apply for writs of actual innocence to allow him to be freed from prison and exonerated of the convictions. This office supported the application."

Cuccinelli added that normally an attorney general would be "fighting to keep people in jail.

"But this office has an obligation to see that justice is done in every case, regardless of which side of the courtroom that justice may fall," Cuccinelli said.

“Here, unlike the vast majority of cases we handle, our duty was not to defend a defendant’s conviction, but to prove his innocence. Justice demanded it,” he said.

A news conference on the court's ruling is expected to take place later this afternoon.

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

The story can be found at:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/dec/06/4/va-court-appeals-grants-innocence-writ-hayesworth-ar-1523641/

SANDY WILLIAMS; PRIMER FOR DECEMBER 6, 2011 APPEAL; SCOTUS BLOG CASE FILE; CASE RAISES RIGHT TO CONFRONT EXPERT WITNESS WHO PERFORMED THE DNA TEST;

2011-12-06T00:15:00.001-08:00

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The following case note published on the SCOTUS blog is a useful primer for the William's appeal which raises the important issue as to whether a state rule of evidence allowing an expert witness to testify about the results of DNA testing performed by non-testifying analysts violates the Confrontation Clause, when the defendant has no opportunity to confront the actual analysts.

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

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Two more cases granted

Briefs and Documents

Merits briefs for the Petitioner

Brief for Sandy Williams

Amicus briefs in Support of the Petitioner

Merits briefs for the Respondent

Brief for Illinois

Amicus briefs in support of the Respondent

Certiorari-stage documents

Opinion below (Supreme Court of Illinois)
Petition for certiorari
Petitioner's reply

Brief in opposition

The case note can be found at:

http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/williams-v-illinois/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The

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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

MEGAN WINFREY: TEXAS CASE; DOG SCENT EVIDENCE BY DEPUTY KEITH PIKETT ONCE AGAIN COMES UNDER ATTACK;

2011-12-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

"When Mr. Winfrey Jr. finally went to trial, after two and a half years in jail, the family had scraped together enough money to hire a private lawyer. And the case against the Winfreys began to come apart.

Mr. Winfrey Jr.’s lawyers attacked the scent lineup evidence, telling the jury that Mr. Pikett’s testimony and his dog’s sniffing skills were a sham. They presented experts who discredited the deputy sheriff’s methods and said he had rigged dog scent lineups. The jury took just 13 minutes to acquit Mr. Winfrey Jr.

At the same time, Deputy Pikett’s methods were coming under scrutiny in other cases. In 2006, when Deputy Pikett worked on a murder case in which his dogs implicated a retired police captain, defense experts lambasted his work. Steven Nicely, a professional dog trainer and police dog consultant, submitted an affidavit describing him as “an unprofessional charlatan.”

The City of Houston was sued by two men who were wrongfully charged in a 2007 triple murder when Deputy Pikett’s dogs identified them. And Calvin Miller sued Deputy Pikett after the dogs identified him in a 2009 rape and robbery in West Texas. DNA evidence later exonerated Mr. Miller.

Briefs have yet to be filed in Ms. Winfrey’s case, which may not be resolved for months"

REPORTER BRANDI GRISSOM; THE TEXAS TRIBUNE;

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

BACKGROUND: DOG-SCENT JUNK SCIENCE CASES; It is possible that dozens of people have been convicted of the most serious crimes because courts allowed testimony by "dog handlers" such as Keith Pikett and John Preston - and the junk-science upon which their so-called "expert" opinions are based. We are following activity in both the criminal and civil courts and in the political arena where there is pressure on state governments to conduct probes of all of Pikett's and Preston's cases. Cases visited thus far include Richard Winfrey Jr., Bill Dillon, Calvin Lee Miller, Michael Buchanek, and Gary Bennett;

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

"COLDSPRING — At 16, Megan Winfrey dreamed of being a country music star. She was boy-crazy and rebellious, obsessively primping and monopolizing the family phone," the Texas Tribune story by reporter Brandi Grissom published by arrangement in the New York Times on December 3, 2011 begins, under the heading, "Dog's evidence stands as woman waits in jail.

"Megan Winfrey was 16 when Murray Burr was killed," the story continues.

"“She ain’t got a bashful bone in her body,” said her father, Richard Winfrey Sr.

At 23, she is serving the third year of a life sentence for a brutal murder that rocked this tiny East Texas town more than seven years ago.

Ms. Winfrey; her brother, Richard Winfrey Jr.; and their father were charged with conspiring to murder and rob Murray Burr, a longtime custodial worker at the high school the Winfreys attended.

Both the father and the son are free after courts decided the state’s key evidence — obtained in scent lineups — was not enough to establish their guilt. Ms. Winfrey remains in a Gatesville prison despite the fact that her conviction hinged largely on the same dog-sniffing evidence.

“She’ll be an old lady before she’s eligible for parole, and Megan is innocent,” her father said.

Mr. Burr’s body was found on the floor of his trailer home on Aug. 7, 2004. A 51-year-old janitor, who people remember as mentally slow but kind, Mr. Burr was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck and face. Streaks of blood outlined a trail across the house where the killer had dragged his body.

Sheriff Lacy Rogers of San Jacinto County suspected the Winfreys almost immediately. A young neighbor said he had seen Ms. Winfrey and her brother at Mr. Burr’s house from time to time. They lived nearby, and their father had a decades-long criminal history that included assault and involuntary manslaughter. At the time of the murder, he had been out of prison on parole for nine days.

“My past ain’t pretty,” Mr. Winfrey Sr. said. “But I ain’t no damn killer.”

There was no eyewitness and no physical evidence linking the Winfreys to the crime scene. Investigators tested dozens of DNA samples, but they all excluded the Winfreys.

Sheriff Rogers called on Deputy Keith A. Pikett, a self-trained canine handler from the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department whose bloodhounds had a reputation for helping police link suspects to unsolved crimes.

Less than a month after the murder, Deputy Pikett brought his dogs to Coldspring. They sniffed the clothes Mr. Burr wore when he was murdered. Then they smelled samples from Ms. Winfrey, her brother and other potential suspects. The dogs “alerted” to the smells of Ms. Winfrey and her brother, indicating their scent profiles matched what was on Mr. Burr’s clothes.

Without other evidence, though, the case against the siblings was not strong enough, and the investigation came to a standstill.

Two years later, when Mr. Winfrey Sr. was back in jail on unrelated charges, his cellmate told authorities that Mr. Winfrey had talked about guns being taken from Mr. Burr’s house. Only the perpetrator would have known about the guns, Sheriff Rogers said.

“It wasn’t like I just picked them out of the clear blue sky,” the former sheriff said recently, referring to the Winfreys.

Sheriff Rogers secured capital murder arrest warrants for all three of the Winfreys and brought back Deputy Pikett and his bloodhounds to do another scent lineup. This time the dogs — James Bond, Quincy and Clue — “alerted” on the father’s scent too.

The father was the first to face trial in 2007, with a state-appointed lawyer. Deputy Pikett told the jury that his bloodhounds were nearly perfect performers. Quincy, he said, had returned only two wrong responses in 1,483 scent lineups. The jury found Mr. Winfrey guilty, and he was sentenced to 75 years in prison.

Ms. Winfrey’s trial was next, and she was also represented by a state-appointed lawyer. On the stand, she admitted she knew Mr. Burr from school but insisted she had nothing to do with the murder. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

When Mr. Winfrey Jr. finally went to trial, after two and a half years in jail, the family had scraped together enough money to hire a private lawyer. And the case against the Winfreys began to come apart.

Deputy Pikett declined to comment for this article, citing continuing litigation.

Mr. Winfrey Sr. appealed his conviction in 2009, arguing that the evidence was insufficient. In a landmark ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed.

“We conclude that scent-discrimination lineups, when used alone or as primary evidence, are legally insufficient to support a conviction,” Justice Barbara Hervey wrote in the court’s opinion granting the acquittal. Mr. Winfrey Sr. left prison in October 2010.

With the acquittals of her brother and her father and the court’s ruling on dog-scent evidence, Ms. Winfrey’s lawyers argue that she should also be acquitted, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has agreed to review her case. Ms. Winfrey’s lawyers would not make her available to comment for this article.

District Attorney Richard Countiss of San Jacinto County filed a perfunctory brief opposing Ms. Winfrey’s appeal. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, he said he is not convinced that Ms. Winfrey’s brother and father were not involved in Mr. Burr’s murder.

“The conclusion of their cases is not that they are innocent,” said Mr. Countiss, who was not the district attorney when the Winfreys were prosecuted. “It is that they were not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

And there was more circumstantial evidence against Ms. Winfrey than against her father and her brother, he said.

Prosecutors also allege that she attempted to thwart DNA testing by shaving her pubic hair and that teachers at her school overheard her make threatening remarks about Mr. Burr and his money.

“What I’ve seen so far is enough to support the jury’s decision,” Mr. Countiss said.

Briefs have yet to be filed in Ms. Winfrey’s case, which may not be resolved for months.

In the meantime, Ms. Winfrey’s father and her brother have said they will not truly feel free until she is.

They are now living in North Dakota, working in the state’s booming natural gas industry and saving money to pay for Ms. Winfrey’s lawyers.

“It ain’t nothing till we get her home,” Mr. Winfrey Sr. said. “I mean, there’s no rejoicing in anything.”"

The story can be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/us/dogs-evidence-stands-as-woman-waits-in-jail.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

BULLETIN; ANDREW MALLARD: PROSECUTOR TO FACE DISCIPLINE PROCEEDINGS FOR FAILURE TO DISCLOSE EXCULPATORY INFORMATION; THE WEST AUSTRALIAN;

2011-12-05T12:07:00.001-08:00

Mallard lawyer to face tribunal

COLLEEN EGAN, The West Australian Updated December 6, 2011, 2:15 am

Proceedings will be commenced against a lawyer who prosecuted Andrew Mallard for the 1994 murder of Mosman Park jeweller Pamela Lawrence by the legal professional body in the State Administrative Tribunal.

The proceedings will determine whether barrister Ken Bates failed to disclose information that pointed to Mr Mallard's innocence and failed to withdraw submissions to the court that pointed to his guilt.

However, the Legal Profession Complaints Committee decided not to commence proceedings against Mr Bates in the SAT on the more serious allegation that he deliberately withheld evidence.

In a letter explaining its response to a complaint by Mr Mallard, who spent almost 12 years in jail for Mrs Lawrence's murder before being exonerated in 2006, the committee said it accepted Mr Bates' explanation that he accidentally overlooked a forensic test.

The test on a pig's head before Mr Mallard's trial showed the injuries to Mrs Lawrence were unlikely to have been caused using a Sidchrome wrench.

Despite being told about the test, Mr Bates conducted the trial on the basis of a false confession that included a claim that Mrs Lawrence was killed with a Sidchrome wrench.

"Having considered this issue, the committee is of the view that the proposition that the practitioner deliberately withheld the relevant information of the pig's head testing appears extremely unlikely," the committee's complaints officer wrote.

"The committee considers that the practitioner's explanation is plausible, that is, that he failed to recall such information."

Mr Bates has maintained that he conducted the prosecution under difficult circumstances and did not deliberately fail to disclose any relevant evidence.

The issues to be determined by the SAT involve questions of whether Mr Bates failed to comply with the prosecutor's duty to disclose what he learnt from police about Mrs Lawrence's injuries not matching the wrench.

Other issues are whether he failed to ensure there was a reasonable foundation to make submissions of fact to the jury, failed to lead independent evidence that questioned the reliability of Mr Mallard's so-called confession and, having failed to lead the independent evidence, whether he failed to withdraw the prosecution's allegations at the trial.

The Corruption and Crime Commission made two findings of misconduct against Mr Bates after a three-year inquiry into the Mallard affair. The CCC recommended Mr Bates be disciplined, stating that his conduct could result in him being sacked as a public servant.

It also recommended he be referred to the LPCC.

Mr Bates was not disciplined and received a six-figure payout when he resigned as second-in-charge of the Director of Public Prosecutions office in 2009. He now works at the independent bar.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/12248096/mallard-lawyer-to-face-tribunal/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;

SANDY WILLIAMS; SCOTUS; DECEMBER 6, 2011; DNA AND THE RIGHT CONFRONTATION; JEFF GAMSO'S CAUSTIC TAKE...

2011-12-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

"The essence of Williams's argument is going to be that the Constitution says confrontation* which means Illinois has to bring in the person who actually did the testing and analysis so that she can be cross examined. There's no DNA exception to that, no lab tech exception, no don't-be-silly-there's-no-need-we're-all-scientists-here exception. Besides, Williams will argue, it matters. Labs fuck this shit up all the time. And the analysis is never as clear and simple as they say. Cross-examination isn't just a constitutional guarantee, it's a necessary component of getting an accurate verdict.

Again, the state's argument is Constitution Constitutional. Really, the report speaks for itself. There's just no point to confrontation. And it's so much trouble. They haven't sold that to a majority of the Court in this post-Crawford world, but they may manage it this time.

Which is really too bad because Williams is right. He's not just right as a matter of constitutional law. He's right as a matter of getting it right. It does matter. It matters with DNA analysis and with ballistics and with gas chromatography and breathalyzers. It makes a real difference in the real world because the labs really do fuck it up."

JEFF GAMSO; GAMSO FOR THE DEFENCE; Commentary by an Ohio criminal defence lawyer;

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

"The case is Williams v. Illinois, cert granted at the end of June, argument before the berobed ones in DC on Tuesday," the post by Jeff Gamso published earlier todau under the heading, "Your lyin' eyes," begins.

"It's another in the line of cases that began with Crawford v. Washington which said that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment prohibits the prosecution from presenting "testimonial hearsay," the post continues.

"In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, the Court made clear that reports of crime lab technicians are testimonial hearsay and that the prosecutor can't bring in those reports without also presenting testimony by the lab tech. The formal question in Williams is whether DNA test results are like crime lab reports. Must the lab folks who did the actual tests come and testify or can some flunky just say,

Hey, here's the report. No, I didn't have anything to do with it - never even heard of DNA until just now, you know, I'm a janitor at the pizza place next door to the lab. But they did it perfectly just like always and there's less than a 1 in 673 bazillion chance your guy isn't the killer. Trust me. It's DNA so there can't be anything wrong with how the samples were handled, how the test was done, or how the data were analyzed. No, don't bother with cross-examination. Thanks, I can find my own way out. Say, you guys like pepperoni or anchovies?

That's the technical question. The real question is whether Melendez-Diaz should be overruled either specifically or in effect. Justice Scalia, the architect of this line of cases, has been losing his majority, so it's a tough question. I mean, really, why should we bother with requiring the DNA testers to come to court when the pizza guy's available?

The essence of Williams's argument is going to be that the Constitution says confrontation* which means Illinois has to bring in the person who actually did the testing and analysis so that she can be cross examined. There's no DNA exception to that, no lab tech exception, no don't-be-silly-there's-no-need-we're-all-scientists-here exception. Besides, Williams will argue, it matters. Labs fuck this shit up all the time. And the analysis is never as clear and simple as they say. Cross-examination isn't just a constitutional guarantee, it's a necessary component of getting an accurate verdict.

So I'm watching Williams with some trepidation. Because when you put convicting people on one side of the scale and constitutional rights and actually getting it right on the other, the convicting people side tends to be a whole lot weightier.

And yet, because I'm a glass-half-full sort of guy (just ask anyone who doesn't know me), because I can always see the bright side, and seriously because I know a good point when it appears in a Times op-ed by Jeffrey Fisher (the lawyer who won Crawford and Melendez-Diaz) and in blog posts from Scott Greenfield and the Appellatesquawk, there's this.

New York just gave away the store.

Four amicus briefs were filed on each side in the case. The one that made those folks sit up and take notice is from the New York County (that's Manhattan) District Attorney and Medical Examiner. It makes three points, not in this order.

There's no testimonial hearsay involved so the whole case should just go away.
DNA is science and absolutely trustworthy so there's no point in cross-examination.
If we actually have to produce the people involved, there will be "dire consequences."

It's that last one, dire consequences, that's interesting. Here's the heading (all the caps are how it appears in the brief) of the argument's second section.

AN “ALL-TECHNICIANS-MUST-TESTIFY” RULE WOULD HAVE DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

OK, I'm scared. But what exactly are those consequences?

The guilty will go free?
Raping and pillaging on the streets?
Blood and destruction?
The terrorists will win?

Nope. None of the above. No, the dire consequence is that innocent people would be convicted.

Yep. That's right. If defendants have the right to confront the folks who do DNA tests, the innocent will suffer.

You say that's bizzare? It's counter-intuitive? It's bullshit? Ah, grasshopper, how much you have to learn. Are you not familiar with the poison pill? Here's the important part of the brief (footnote omitted)

At worst, an all-technicians-must-testify rule would force the OCME to reduce the amount of DNA testing it conducts, and force prosecutors to forego forensic DNA analysis in cases where it might be highly probative. In the absence of DNA testing, defendants might well be prosecuted solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, the reliability of which is often questioned. See United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 229 (1967)(“the influence of improper suggestion upon identifying witnesses probably accounts for more miscarriages of justice than another other single factor” (internal quotation and citation omitted)). Significantly, over a recent twelve-month period, nearly one in ten suspect profiles tested by the OCME for the Manhattan DA’s Office resulted in an exoneration. Indeed, in a recent “pattern rape” case in Brooklyn, DNA testing exonerated 18 suspects before the nineteenth submission led to a match. No one concerned for innocent individuals suspected of serious crimes should prefer a world in which DNA testing is needlessly curtailed.
If requiring the testimony of each technician would significantly advance the truth-seeking process, then the practical concerns advanced above would give way. But nothing could be less true.

Got that?

If DNA testers actually have to testify, well then, the police and crime labs will stop doing DNA testing. They won't do the test because if it showed they had the right guy, they'd want to tell the jury, and that would mean testimony. Can't have that. And can't have the information and not tell the jury. So they just won't learn.

That means that cops and prosecutors and juries will have to rely on eyewitness testimony. And that means that at least 10 percent of the people convicted of crimes, and maybe as many as 95 percent, will be factually innocent.

And remember, "nothing could be less true" than that this will happen. That is, it's absolutely certain.

Being prosecuted in New York? Based on eyewitness evidence? You've now got what is (at least arguably) an admission by a party opponent - not hearsay - able to be put before the jury - saying that there's a pretty fair chance (if not a near certainty) that you're innocent.

Outside New York? We'll find a way.

Or, of course, as I've written before, they could just test the DNA. You know. Cause they might wanna know.

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

*The actual language of the Sixth Amendment, is

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him."

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

The post can be found at:

http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2011/12/your-lyin-eyes.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;