September 9: Patrick Pursley: Illinois: Ballistics gone terribly wrong: WTVO's Jim Hagarty takes on his wrongful conviction, noting that, "The case remains one of the most significant wrongful convictions in Illinois history and has become a cautionary tale about the power of forensic evidence presented with certainty that later could not be supported," - and noting that, "At trial, prosecutors presented Illinois State Police firearms examiner Daniel Gunnell as a key witness. Gunnell testified that bullets and shell casings recovered from the Ascher murder scene matched the Taurus pistol seized from Pursley’s apartment. According to court records and later summaries of the case, Gunnell concluded the evidence matched that firearm “to the exclusion of all other firearms.” The testimony carried extraordinary weight because nothing else tied Pursley to the murder. No finger prints, certainly no DNA. And, Becky George could not identify him as the gunman only that the man who shot her boyfriend “sounded” like a black man. The prosecution’s case depended heavily on Crabtree’s testimony and the state’s assertion that science had conclusively linked Pursley’s gun to the murder. Jurors convicted Pursley, and he was sentenced to natural life in prison. The jury didn’t buy Crabtree when she recanted her statement to police, saying investigators coerced her into naming her then-boyfriend as the killer."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The case appeared straightforward. Police had a suspect, a gun and testimony from a state firearms expert who told jurors the murder bullets and shell casings matched a Taurus 9mm pistol recovered from Pursley’s apartment. More than two decades later, that evidence would unravel. Pursley was granted a new trial, acquitted in 2019 and later awarded a certificate of innocence. In 2024, Rockford agreed to pay $5 million to settle his wrongful-conviction lawsuit."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In 2017, a judge granted Pursley a new trial based on developments involving the firearms evidence. After spending approximately 23 years in prison, Pursley was released while awaiting retrial.  The retrial exposed how much the case had changed. The defense emphasized that no eyewitness identified Pursley as the shooter, that no DNA connected him to the crime and that the firearms evidence once touted as conclusive could no longer be presented with the certainty jurors heard in 1994.  According to images shown in court, markings on the test shell casing fired from Pursley’s gun and the markings of the casing found near Ascher’s body didn’t match. They were glaringly different. In other words, Judge Joe McGraw had not choice but to conclude that Patrick Pursley was right all along. His gun was not used to kill Andy Ascher. In January 2019, Pursley’s bench trial was over. McGraw found him not guilty.  An unsolved murder Two years later, Pursley was granted a certificate of innocence, formally recognizing that he had been wrongfully convicted."

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STORY: "The Andy Ascher murder: Inside the wrongful conviction of Patrick Pursley," by Jim Hagerty, published by WTVO, on September 2, 2026.  (Jim Hagerty has been reporting news in the Rockford region for two decades.  Before landing at WTVO/WQRF, Jim was a reporter at the Rockford Register Star, an editor and staff writer at The Rock River Times, and the publisher of the local news website, Rockford Advocate. Jim also had a stint as a reporter at Rockford’s CBS affiliate and appeared in the docuseries, “Convicting a Murderer.” He is a graduate of Northern Michigan University in Marquette.)

GIST:  For nearly 25 years, Patrick Pursley sat in prison for a murder he insisted he did not commit.

A Winnebago County jury convicted Pursley in 1994 of fatally shooting 22-year-old Andy Ascher during what prosecutors described as a botched robbery in Rockford. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The case appeared straightforward. Police had a suspect, a gun and testimony from a state firearms expert who told jurors the murder bullets and shell casings matched a Taurus 9mm pistol recovered from Pursley’s apartment.

More than two decades later, that evidence would unravel.

Pursley was granted a new trial, acquitted in 2019 and later awarded a certificate of innocence. I

In 2024, Rockford agreed to pay $5 million to settle his wrongful-conviction lawsuit.

The case remains one of the most significant wrongful convictions in Illinois history and has become a cautionary tale about the power of forensic evidence presented with certainty that later could not be supported.

The murder

On the night of April 2, 1993, Andy Ascher and his girlfriend, Becky George, were sitting in a vehicle outside her brother’s condominium on Silent Wood Trail in Rockford.

According to court records, a masked gunman opened the driver’s side door and announced a robbery.

“This is a stickup,” George recalled the gunman saying when she testified at Pursely’s second trial.

George attempted to hand over money from her purse. Before any money was taken, the gunman fired two shots into Ascher’s head and fled on foot. Ascher died from his injuries.

Investigators recovered two 9mm shell casings and bullets from the scene. George could not identify the shooter. She described a man wearing dark clothing and a blue ski mask.
Building a case

The investigation intensified after police received a Crime Stoppers tip from Marvin Windham, who alleged that Pursley had admitted involvement in the killing.

Police soon focused on Pursley and searched the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Samantha Crabtree. During that search, officers recovered two guns, including a Taurus 9mm semiautomatic handgun that belonged to Crabtree.

Crabtree then became a central witness.

Police said she told investigators that she and Pursley had been driving around on the night of the murder, that Pursley left her vehicle near Silent Wood Trail, that she heard gunshots and that he returned carrying the Taurus pistol.

Her statement, combined with the recovered firearm, formed the backbone of the prosecution’s case.

The evidence that mattered most

At trial, prosecutors presented Illinois State Police firearms examiner Daniel Gunnell as a key witness.

Gunnell testified that bullets and shell casings recovered from the Ascher murder scene matched the Taurus pistol seized from Pursley’s apartment. According to court records and later summaries of the case, Gunnell concluded the evidence matched that firearm “to the exclusion of all other firearms.”

The testimony carried extraordinary weight because nothing else tied Pursley to the murder. No finger prints, certainly no DNA. And, Becky George could not identify him as the gunman only that the man who shot her boyfriend “sounded” like a black man.

The prosecution’s case depended heavily on Crabtree’s testimony and the state’s assertion that science had conclusively linked Pursley’s gun to the murder.

Jurors convicted Pursley, and he was sentenced to natural life in prison. The jury didn’t buy Crabtree when she recanted her statement to police, saying investigators coerced her into naming her then-boyfriend as the killer.

A fight from prison

Pursley never stopped claiming he was innocent. His post-conviction motions were all denied though.

Still, he continued challenging the firearms evidence, arguing that the scientific conclusions presented to jurors were wrong. Pursley repeatedly contacted innocence organizations seeking help and maintained that faulty ballistics testimony had led to his conviction. His message was simple: His gun was not the one used to kill Andy Ascher.

The turning point came in 2007.

Steven Drizin, then legal-director of Northwester University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, agreed to take the case. Drizin, who later appeared in “Making a Murderer,” assembled a team that included attorneys from Jenner & Block and began pursuing modern analysis of the firearms evidence that had secured Pursley’s conviction.

Re-examining the ballistics evidence

The defense sought testing using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, a computerized database that allows digital comparison of firearms evidence.

The effort sparked years of litigation.

After initially being denied access to testing, Pursley’s legal team won an appellate court ruling ordering new testing of spent shell casings found at the murder scene. Eventually, images of test fires from the Taurus handgun and evidence from the scene were entered into National Integrated Ballistic Information Network system.

The results did not produce the definitive match jurors had been told existed during the 1994 trial.

Further review of the forensic evidence raised broader questions about whether the original testimony could support the certainty expressed by Gunnell when he testified that the Taurus matched the murder evidence to the exclusion of every other firearm. Over time, the scientific foundation of the prosecution’s case deteriorated.

The conviction collapses

In 2017, a judge granted Pursley a new trial based on developments involving the firearms evidence. After spending approximately 23 years in prison, Pursley was released while awaiting retrial.

The retrial exposed how much the case had changed. The defense emphasized that no eyewitness identified Pursley as the shooter, that no DNA connected him to the crime and that the firearms evidence once touted as conclusive could no longer be presented with the certainty jurors heard in 1994.

According to images shown in court, markings on the test shell casing fired from Pursley’s gun and the markings of the casing found near Ascher’s body didn’t match. They were glaringly different. In other words, Judge Joe McGraw had not choice but to conclude that Patrick Pursley was right all along. His gun was not used to kill Andy Ascher.

In January 2019, Pursley’s bench trial was over. McGraw found him not guilty. 

An unsolved murder

Two years later, Pursley was granted a certificate of innocence, formally recognizing that he had been wrongfully convicted.

The city of Rockford ultimately agreed to pay Pursley $5 million to settle a federal wrongful-conviction lawsuit.

 Pursley alleged law-enforcement officials and forensic personnel had played roles in his wrongful conviction.

Today, Andy Ascher’s murder remains unsolved.

Look for an inside look at Pursley’s case on an upcoming episode of “The Thread with Jim Hagerty.”

The entire post can be read at: 

https://www.mystateline.com/news/the-andy-ascher-murder-inside-the-wrongful-conviction-of-patrick-pursley/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;

September 8: Yvonne "Missy" Woods: Colorado A black day for forensic science - and a very bad day for the former state forensic scientist who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after altering more than 1,000 samples in labs that prosecutors say could have disproportionately affected sexual assault victims over many years, Colorado Public Radio (CPR) reports... "District Court Judge Andrew Poland said this case has weighed on him since the former scientist pleaded guilty.“ At its core, it’s about trust,” Poland said. “For decades Ms. Woods occupied a very important part of Colorado’s criminal justice system … she also understood that others depended on her accurately and honestly. That dependence is what makes this case so serious."

PASSAGE ONE  OF THE DAY: "Addressing the judge on Tuesday, assistant district attorney Kafka went through details of 10 cases from around the state, from Westminster to Colorado Springs to Larimer County to Bent County, and gave examples where Woods randomly changed DNA results — and subtracted numbers from quantitative analysis — that affected cases in favor of potential defendants.  The cases included several sexual assault cases, but also a homicide, a cold case, an invasion of privacy case and motor vehicle theft. He told the court these were only a smattering of cases — and ultimately vulnerable victims — affected.  Kafka noted that of the 41 cases of sex assault where she manipulated DNA, they affected either women or children. He also noted that even in cases where there was a successful conviction, her data manipulation is now grounds for those people to appeal."

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PASSAGE  TWO OF THE DAY: "In presentations to the court on Tuesday, attorneys on both sides went deep on science and quantitative analysis.  They talked about the crucial work in crime labs that often have no second checks. They talked about the levels needed to meet a threshold for sex assault charges and the depths of responsibilities scientists had in testing and re-testing samples for police departments in investigations. While prosecutors talked about the arrogant and confusing nature of Woods’ conduct, her attorneys painted a life of an increasingly overwhelmed forensic scientist — particularly after state lawmakers passed a law in 2013 that required all sexual assault samples be tested no matter what."

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PASSAGE THREE  OF THE DAY: "Woods addressed the judge ahead of the sentencing on Tuesday, saying she feels “remorse every day. She acknowledged that the mounting work eventually got to her. “I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t taking care of myself, I would be up at 2, 3 in the morning and thinking about cases and dreaming about them and it just got to be like an obsession,” she said, tearfully. “My burnout turned into overdrive … This job can wear on you. You’re traumatized indirectly and dealing with death and blood and all of the bodily fluids. And you have knowledge of these cases.”  After she was sentenced on Tuesday, Woods was handcuffed by a sheriff’s deputy and led off into custody in her blue suit. Supporters and family of hers were tearful. People who believe they are victims of wrongful DNA testing in her cases walked out of the courtroom, uttering, “liar, liar, liar!""

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STORY: "Former state scientist sentenced to prison for falsifying DNA samples in hundreds of cases," by Alison Sherry, published by CPR (Colorado Publishing Radio) on September 8, 2026. (Allison Sherry is reporter for CPR News covering immigration and criminal justice. Allison joined Colorado Public Radio after reporting in Washington D.C. for the Denver Post and Minneapolis Star Tribune.)

GIST: A former state forensic scientist on Tuesday was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after altering more than 1,000 samples in labs that prosecutors say could have disproportionately affected sexual assault victims over many years.

Yvonne Missy Woods, 66, “brazenly” altered DNA samples in her lab that may have affected dozens of sex assault cases for women and children between 2008 and 2023 by manually altering - and always reducing - the amount of DNA on sex assault investigation swabs, prosecutors said.

State officials say more than 400 cases of the 1,100 affected by Woods’ altering of data were sex assaults.

District Court Judge Andrew Poland said this case has weighed on him since the former scientist pleaded guilty.

“At its core, it’s about trust,” Poland said. “For decades Ms. Woods occupied a very important part of Colorado’s criminal justice system … she also understood that others depended on her accurately and honestly. That dependence is what makes this case so serious.”

Prosecutors say they are unaware of any unjust convictions from those cases and say the vast majority of those seemingly protected attackers — or did not change the disposition in the case. Woods’ defense attorneys agreed with this assessment in court.

Because of this, her behaviors over more than a decade are completely confusing, Jefferson County assistant district attorney Darren Kafka told Judge Poland.

“I find it to be impossible to comprehend,” said Kafka, who told Poland that before he went to law school, he worked as a lab scientist. “There seems to be no purpose behind them. She appeared to work more hours than anyone at CBI; she was applauded in how many cases she pushed through. She was not lazy. Some will say she did it just because she could. She knew the very things to change to avoid detection. Maybe she wanted to use the power she was given for destructive ends.”

Tom Ward, one of Woods’ defense attorneys, told the judge that Woods has acknowledged the harm she caused and was ready to accept responsibility.

But he downplayed Woods’ impact on the actual number of cases, and he said of the 1,045 cases affected by her actions, as estimated by state investigators, almost 900 cases have “no evidence of sample testing altered.”

Ward told the judge that the vast majority of her data altering was done to move the cases along faster at the behest of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. 

Ward also echoed Kafka’s characterization that his client wasn’t lazy. She worked weekends and nights and was in the lab all of the time, he said. When caseload skyrocketed given new requirements made by state lawmakers, Woods dug deep and worked harder, Ward said.

He noted she only took two weeks off after a cancer surgery, and her sister said that Woods’ work was her “identity.”

Ward also pointed out that her misconduct was not spread out evenly over her 29-year career at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Of the original 102 counts she was charged with, 69 of them happened in 2017 alone.

“It is serious, and it’s concentrated and the most serious part is the smallest part,” Ward told the judge. “The court is entitled to know why … the record shows her answer was being able to report the case and move it forward, move it along quickly … I believe her ultimate motivation was that CBI was getting answers out and she was processing cases as fast as she could.”

In statements Woods gave to investigators in 2024 and played in court on Tuesday, the scientist seemed to be confused as to why she did what she did over several years.

“I wouldn’t even remember that I did that,” Woods said, in video of her shown in a police interview room with her lawyer present. “This is my disconnect; it wasn’t until the cases were shown to me that day when it really occurred to me, oh, oh, if you were doing that then how long have you been doing that?”

The investigator asked her about the word “disconnect.”

“The disconnect was make it go away, make it go away, make it go away,” Woods replied, tapping a table nearby, between each statement. “I don’t know why I was doing it.”

Addressing the judge on Tuesday, assistant district attorney Kafka went through details of 10 cases from around the state, from Westminster to Colorado Springs to Larimer County to Bent County, and gave examples where Woods randomly changed DNA results — and subtracted numbers from quantitative analysis — that affected cases in favor of potential defendants.

The cases included several sexual assault cases, but also a homicide, a cold case, an invasion of privacy case and motor vehicle theft. He told the court these were only a smattering of cases — and ultimately vulnerable victims — affected.

Kafka noted that of the 41 cases of sex assault where she manipulated DNA, they affected either women or children. He also noted that even in cases where there was a successful conviction, her data manipulation is now grounds for those people to appeal.

In June, Woods pleaded guilty to four felonies connected to altering DNA results and perjuring herself in court. Prosecutors say the extent of her crimes could be much larger than was charged — mostly because sex assault suspects went uncharged after her data manipulation.

In court on Tuesday, Woods wore a blue suit and sat between her attorneys, as she took notes occasionally and kept her gaze on the screen or the desk in front of her. Before the proceedings, she hugged some supporters, who sat in the back of the courtroom.

Ahead of her sentencing, Matt Hanagan, a former Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office cold case investigator, testified on her behalf, saying she was among the most thorough scientists he’d ever worked with.

“She is the kind of person who shows up to evidence reviews,” Hanagan said, who has recently retired from law enforcement. “She looked for things to be retested. She knew more about the cases than I did, and they were my cases. Her willingness and determination and her needing to help is something spectacular.”

A family friend also testified on her behalf, telling Judge Poland that Woods was not a danger to the community. Woods has spent the last two years awaiting disposition of her case, volunteering in the community and helping friends and family members.

In presentations to the court on Tuesday, attorneys on both sides went deep on science and quantitative analysis.

They talked about the crucial work in crime labs that often have no second checks. They talked about the levels needed to meet a threshold for sex assault charges and the depths of responsibilities scientists had in testing and re-testing samples for police departments in investigations.

While prosecutors talked about the arrogant and confusing nature of Woods’ conduct, her attorneys painted a life of an increasingly overwhelmed forensic scientist — particularly after state lawmakers passed a law in 2013 that required all sexual assault samples be tested no matter what.

The vast majority of those samples went to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation lab because they got extra funding for it — whereas, for example, the Denver Police Department’s crime lab did not, Ward said.

Woods went from analyzing no Denver sex assault cases in the mid 1990s to testing more than 650 a year from law enforcement agencies statewide in 2015 and 2016.

The lab was clearly overwhelmed, Ward said, and she was trying to get cases back to invstigators as quickly as she could. As caseloads skyrocketed, Woods had anxiety and depression, and Ward said Woods suffered from breast cancer and took only two weeks off from surgery.

She worked around the clock, Ward said.

Prosecutors countered, though, that Woods’ personal issues aside, she has crippled the state of Colorado’s faith in science and that a higher-end prison sentence was warranted given the millions of dollars of liabilities the state faces in the future.

“Our court needs to defend victims … and science to anyone who would follow after her,” assistant district attorney Kafka said. “We need to thoroughly and unquestionably condemn these actions.”

Woods addressed the judge ahead of the sentencing on Tuesday, saying she feels “remorse every day.”

She acknowledged that the mounting work eventually got to her.

“I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t taking care of myself, I would be up at 2, 3 in the morning and thinking about cases and dreaming about them and it just got to be like an obsession,” she said, tearfully. “My burnout turned into overdrive … This job can wear on you. You’re traumatized indirectly and dealing with death and blood and all of the bodily fluids. And you have knowledge of these cases.” 

After she was sentenced on Tuesday, Woods was handcuffed by a sheriff’s deputy and led off into custody in her blue suit. Supporters and family of hers were tearful. People who believe they are victims of wrongful DNA testing in her cases walked out of the courtroom, uttering, “liar, liar, liar!""

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.cpr.org/2026/09/08/missy-woods-sentenced-prison/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;

September 8: American: Chris Payne: Prison; Japan: Botched (or worse) DNA testing: Japan: The American man who successfully appealed a sexual assault charge in Japan that relied on a partial DNA match but still remains behind bars. Investigative Journalist Jake Adelstein explore's his kafkaesque situation in a post on his substack headed, "Japan’s Incompetent Cops, Botched DNA tests, and Prosecutors Who Hate To Lose Are Keeping Chris Payne in a Japanese Prison," noting that: Lawyers from the Innocence Project Japan (IPJ) took over Payne’s defense in 2023, pro bono. For the first time in a criminal case, Payne’s lawyers were able to get access to the raw DNA data. Attorney Kiyomi Tsunogae, a member of Payne’s defense team, told reporters at the Foreign Press Club of Japan (FCCJ) on March 6, that an independent expert found major issues with how the forensic analysis was conducted and how the data was produced. Tsunogae stressed that the DNA results produced by the prosecution’s DNA expert, Yoshihiro Yamada, had been edited to make it appear more like Payne’s DNA profile. The discovery came from U.S forensic consultant Dr Simon Ford who argues the DNA analysis, in particular the DNA peaks, used to convict Payne had been altered. “Prosecutors can do anything they want because the court won’t stop them,” said Tsunogae. Ford also highlighted issues with the methodology used to test the forensic DNA."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Payne has repeatedly been denied bail, with judges citing the risk that he could destroy evidence despite the fact that the DNA evidence at the heart of the case is already in the hands of the prosecution. His legal team argues that his detention is symptomatic of an institutional reluctance to acknowledge that the authorities may have got a case wrong. “In Japan government ministries always have to be right, unless they admit to the mistake, they are right,” said defense attorney Tsunogae."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "It’s not the first time authorities in Japan have botched DNA forensic examinations. The accuracy of DNA profiling has been called into question after prosecutors and police were found to have falsified or destroyed DNA evidence in multiple criminal cases. An employee of Saga Prefectural Police, a rural region of Southern Japan, was found to have either faked DNA tests or lost evidence after performing DNA tests on 130 criminal investigations over a seven year period. The forensic scientist was arrested in 2025. But the misconduct appears to have been far more extensive than those 130 investigations suggested. A special investigation by Japan’s National Police Agency, released in June, found that Saga Prefectural Police had mishandled DNA forensic examinations in 239 cases."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In light of the likely human rights violations against Payne, other organizations are getting involved. The Institute of Human Rights and Media just released a statement on September 2 regarding his case: Ensure a prompt, fair and transparent retrial.

Fully clarify the DNA issues identified by the Tokyo High Court, in particular the TH01 locus and the FGA, D7S820 and D10S1248 loci.

Ensure that the defence has meaningful access, within the limits of procedural law, privacy protection and the rights of third parties, to material necessary for a substantive assessment of the DNA evidence.

Conduct an individualised and adequately reasoned assessment of the need for continued detention and of available alternatives, including conditional release subject to supervision.

Ensure prompt and adequate access to medical assessment, treatment and relevant medical documentation, as permitted by law.

Make the reasoning of decisions affecting liberty available to the greatest extent permitted by law."

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STORY: "Japan’s Incompetent Cops, Botched DNA tests, and Prosecutors Who Hate To Lose Are Keeping Chris Payne in a Japanese Prison," by Thisanka Siripala, Jake Edelstein and Amy Yp, and published by The Tokyo Pallad) in substack, on September 3, 2026. (THISANKA SIRIPALA, JAKE ADELSTEIN, AND AMY YP)

SUB-HEADING: An American man successfully appealed a sexual assault charge in Japan that relied on a partial DNA match. But he still remains behind bars.

GIST: "An American man whose sexual assault conviction was overturned over disputed DNA evidence could stay behind bars in Japan until April 2027 at the earliest before facing a new trial.

On August 5, Christopher Payne’s defense team were told that limited capacity for jury trials at Chiba District Court means his retrial can not begin until after April 2027.

The 34-year-old Indiana-native, Payne, has been in custody for nearly 5 years on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman in Chiba, east of central Tokyo in 2018. 

He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in prison with labor in 2024

He reportedly also had a solid alibi for the time when the assault took place but the prosecutors have failed to disprove it and are not interested in doing anything that make them lose face. 

For Japanese prosecutors who boast of a 99% conviction rate after an indictment, losing a case is not just losing face, but also could mean reassignment to rural Japan. 

Justice is a secondary concern.

He was awarded a retrial in December 2025 after the Tokyo High Court acknowledged problems with the DNA testing. They overturned the original guilty verdict but stopped short of acquitting or releasing him on bail.

A Partial Picture

DNA analysis is the gold standard of forensic evidence. It’s supposed to solve crimes with a high degree of accuracy. In Japan, however, DNA evidence is facing a credibility crisis.

The DNA evidence underpinning the case against Payne comes from a mixed sample containing genetic material from at least two people. It did not produce a complete DNA profile of the attacker.

Instead, prosecutors argue that Payne’s DNA is “consistent” with a partial profile recovered from the victim. They say the chance that any other person would be consistent with the mixed DNA sample is 1 in 260 billion.

It’s this damning 1-in-260-billion calculation that is under the forensic microscope, as his defense team question how the figure was calculated.

A Statistical Blind Spot

Lawyers from the Innocence Project Japan (IPJ) took over Payne’s defense in 2023, pro bono.

For the first time in a criminal case, Payne’s lawyers were able to get access to the raw DNA data.

Attorney Kiyomi Tsunogae, a member of Payne’s defense team, told reporters at the Foreign Press Club of Japan (FCCJ) on March 6, that an independent expert found major issues with how the forensic analysis was conducted and how the data was produced.

Tsunogae stressed that the DNA results produced by the prosecution’s DNA expert, Yoshihiro Yamada, had been edited to make it appear more like Payne’s DNA profile.

The discovery came from U.S forensic consultant Dr Simon Ford who argues the DNA analysis, in particular the DNA peaks, used to convict Payne had been altered.

“Prosecutors can do anything they want because the court won’t stop them,” said Tsunogae.

Ford also highlighted issues with the methodology used to test the forensic DNA.

Before DNA can be analyzed, tiny amounts are typically copied millions of times in a process known as amplification. Ford said the analyst amplified the sample without first determining how much DNA it contained, potentially producing artificial signals that could be mistaken for genuine DNA.

The prosecution’s expert also failed to account for Payne’s mixed-race heritage.

Court documents show that Yamada used African-American population databases for some of the statistical estimates without incorporating Payne’s Greek ancestry into the calculations.

The calculation may have made the genetic markers attributed to Payne appear rarer than they actually were.

Japan’s Forensic Red Flags

It’s not the first time authorities in Japan have botched DNA forensic examinations.

The accuracy of DNA profiling has been called into question after prosecutors and police were found to have falsified or destroyed DNA evidence in multiple criminal cases.

An employee of Saga Prefectural Police, a rural region of Southern Japan, was found to have either faked DNA tests or lost evidence after performing DNA tests on 130 criminal investigations over a seven year period. The forensic scientist was arrested in 2025.

But the misconduct appears to have been far more extensive than those 130 investigations suggested. A special investigation by Japan’s National Police Agency, released in June, found that Saga Prefectural Police had mishandled DNA forensic examinations in 239 cases.

Freedom for a Confession

In Japan, defendants who remain silent or deny guilt are much less likely to get bail. It’s a feature critics say put pressure on defendants to confess or cooperate with prosecutors.

It’s a dynamic that is also present in Payne’s case.

His court-appointed lawyers advised him to plead guilty in exchange for the hope of a shorter sentence and a possible transfer out of solitary confinement. Payne refused.

Payne has repeatedly been denied bail, with judges citing the risk that he could destroy evidence despite the fact that the DNA evidence at the heart of the case is already in the hands of the prosecution.

His legal team argues that his detention is symptomatic of an institutional reluctance to acknowledge that the authorities may have got a case wrong.

“In Japan government ministries always have to be right, unless they admit to the mistake, they are right,” said defense attorney Tsunogae.

Another Day, Another Fight

Chris’ mother, Ronda, misses her son. In our email correspondence with her, she speaks glowingly about him: his outgoing nature, his wit, his artistic abilities, and his compassion for others.

“The longer he goes through this and I hear what people think of him, I see even more now how much of an honor it is to be his mother…I believe him being the man he is comes from the thing I got right, and that was letting him follow his own path….when it was time for him to follow his dreams, he did, and I’m so proud of him.”

Ronda and Chris’ defense maintain that Payne’s alibi, psychological profile, and DNA testing all point toward his innocence, but that the prosecution is determined that Payne is the culprit, going as far as to tamper with contradictory evidence to support their claims.

Ronda also says the prosecutor and judge were not fully cooperative during meetings with the IPJ lawyer, withholding information and telling the lawyer to return in 6 months to get an explanation on why the prosecution was going after Payne in this manner. This went on for 18 months.

In light of the likely human rights violations against Payne, other organizations are getting involved. The Institute of Human Rights and Media just released a statement on September 2 regarding his case:

Ensure a prompt, fair and transparent retrial.

Fully clarify the DNA issues identified by the Tokyo High Court, in particular the TH01 locus and the FGA, D7S820 and D10S1248 loci.

Ensure that the defence has meaningful access, within the limits of procedural law, privacy protection and the rights of third parties, to material necessary for a substantive assessment of the DNA evidence.

Conduct an individualised and adequately reasoned assessment of the need for continued detention and of available alternatives, including conditional release subject to supervision.

Ensure prompt and adequate access to medical assessment, treatment and relevant medical documentation, as permitted by law.

Make the reasoning of decisions affecting liberty available to the greatest extent permitted by law.

The stakes are high. For the last four years, Payne has been held in solitary confinement. In addition to the psychological toll, there are reports that he has also suffered injuries and illness while in detention, often without prompt medical care.

For Chris, every day counts. For Ronda, too: she has been consistently working to get her son back home, whether it’s doing press conferences, contacting organizations that might help, using social media to get the message out, petitioning governments, or trudging through the bureaucratic mazes of both Japanese and American law.

“While I fight non-stop daily, mentally, physically, and emotionally, I will never stop, because he’s worth it all.""

The entire post can be read at: 

https://tokyopaladin.substack.com/p/the-controversial-dna-that-holds?r=xbsk&utm_medium=ios

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;

September 7: Jeffrey Prible: Texas: (A fascinating, indeed disturbing' story by two of America's finest investigative journalists and commentators on America's criminal justice system: Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith. (The Intercept): "Twenty-four years after he provided crucial testimony that helped send a man to Texas’s death row, DNA expert William Watson has recanted his opinion and called out Harris County prosecutors — including an assistant district attorney turned true-crime TV star — for distorting his conclusions to win a conviction, The Intercept (Reporters Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith) reports, noting that: "In a new court filing seeking to overturn Jeffrey Prible’s 2002 conviction for the murder of a Houston family, Watson said he would never give the same testimony today. “Based on … changes in the field and my own increased experience and scientific knowledge, if I were asked to testify today, my answers to many of the questions asked by the State at trial would be different,” he wrote in a declaration filed on August 28. “Today I would provide more thorough and nuanced explanations."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The theory was central to Prible’s conviction. “I would suggest to you what the evidence indicates is that the Defendant after killing Steve forced Nilda to orally copulate him at gunpoint and executed her as soon as he finished,” Siegler’s co-counsel, Vic Wisner, told the jury during the state’s closing argument.  “As horrific as that sounds, that is the only logical conclusion that you can draw from that evidence.” Siegler reiterated the claim to maximum effect: “She left this world with his penis in her mouth,” she told jurors in her closing, “hoping to God that her babies would survive the nightmare that is Jeff Prible.”

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

QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY:  (After Jeffrey Pible lost his appeal);

In the new state court filing, Prible’s legal team, led by Austin attorney Gretchen Scardino, reupped their previous allegations while also arguing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Watson’s recent recantation further undermines Prible’s conviction. Court has not had the opportunity to review the trove of new evidence that came to light during the federal habeas proceedings, until now,” they wrote. “And even beyond that new evidence, there has been a significant development in Prible’s case.” Watson’s declaration cites “significant changes in the field of forensic biology, in the progression of the scientific methods used to analyze the evidence in Prible’s case, and in his own scientific knowledge,” they continued. “This new evidence shows that Prible is actually innocent.”

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

QUOTE THREE OF THE DAY: "Kelly Siegler did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Assistant Federal Public Defender Nat Lombardo wrote, “Jeff Prible has spent nearly half his life on death row for a crime he did not commit. … This evidence supports Jeff’s account, from the very beginning, of what happened that night. Put simply: if Jeff were tried today, t he State would have no case. We hope the DA and the courts do the right thing and give Jeff Prible his life back.”

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

QUOTE FOUR OF THE DAY: "Prible, who has been on death row for nearly 24 years and has seen dozens of his neighbors taken to the execution chamber, remains hopeful. “The way I see it, it is a true test of faith,” he wrote in a message to The Intercept. “I know in my heart of hearts my best days in this life are still yet to come!”"

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

PARAGRAPH FIVE OF THE DAY: "In his new declaration, Watson took exception to Siegler’s closing. “I never testified to this, nor would I,” he wrote. “These inflammatory remarks are not only scientifically baseless, but also highly inappropriate.” Not only has his original understanding changed, Watson wrote, there is also no way to determine which of the three DNA samples was left first. In other words, while the state’s case was built on the assumption that Prible’s DNA was deposited last, in reality it was not scientifically possible to make such a claim."

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

PASSAGE  ONE OF THE DAY: 24 years after  he provided he provided crucial testimony that helped send a man to Texas’s death row, DNA expert William Watson has recanted his opinion and called out Harris County prosecutors — including an assistant district attorney turned true-crime TV star — for distorting his conclusions to win a conviction, the Intercept. (Reporters Liliana Segura and Jordan Snith) reports, noting that: 

PASSAGE TWO  OF THE DAY: "Watson also wrote that prosecutors “misrepresented” his testimony in both their opening and closing statements, and made “inflammatory” remarks that twisted both the science and his opinions."

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

PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "During Prible’s federal appeals, multiple members of this snitch ring testified that informants offered Siegler false evidence against Prible — and one said that Siegler actually provided him with details about the case. At best, Siegler was careless about scrutinizing the information they provided.  At worst, as Prible’s lawyers argued to a federal district court, she actively conspired to win a conviction despite knowing the case wouldn’t otherwise hold up — framing an innocent man for murder."

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

PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY: "In his new declaration, Watson took exception to Siegler’s closing. “I never testified to this, nor would I,” he wrote. “These inflammatory remarks are not only scientifically baseless, but also highly inappropriate.” Not only has his original understanding changed, Watson wrote, there is also no way to determine which of the three DNA samples was left first. In other words, while the state’s case was built on the assumption that Prible’s DNA was deposited last, in reality it was not scientifically possible to make such a claim."Central to Prible’s new filing is a Texas law that explicitly offers defendants an opportunity to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence." 

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

STORY: "A true-crime star's lurid claims sent a man to die. Her key witness just recanted." by Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith, published by The Intercept, on September 6, 2026.

SUB-HEADING: "The DNA expert at Jeff Prible’s trial accuses then-prosecutor Kelly Siegler of using his testimony in an “inflammatory” way."

GIST: "Twenty-four years after he provided crucial testimony that helped send a man to Texas’s death row, DNA expert William Watson has recanted his opinion and called out Harris County prosecutors — including an assistant district attorney turned true-crime TV star — for distorting his conclusions to win a conviction.

In a new court filing seeking to overturn Jeffrey Prible’s 2002 conviction for the murder of a Houston family, Watson said he would never give the same testimony today. “Based on … changes in the field and my own increased experience and scientific knowledge, if I were asked to testify today, my answers to many of the questions asked by the State at trial would be different,” he wrote in a declaration filed on August 28. “Today I would provide more thorough and nuanced explanations.”

Watson also wrote that prosecutors “misrepresented” his testimony in both their opening and closing statements, and made “inflammatory” remarks that twisted both the science and his opinions.

Prible was accused of murdering his friends Steve Herrera and Nilda Tirado, who were found shot to death at their home in North Houston in 1999. 

A fire was started in an apparent attempt to cover up the crime; the couple’s three young children died from smoke inhalation. 

Prible had been hanging out at the couple’s home in the hours before they were killed, which made him an early suspect. 

But there was no evidence linking him to the scene — save for a DNA sample taken from semen collected from Tirado’s mouth.

 

Prible had an explanation for this; as he told investigators at the time, he and Tirado had been having an affair behind Herrera’s back, and she had performed oral sex on him earlier that evening.

The case went cold until Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Siegler took it over, reexamining the evidence and concluding that there was no innocent explanation for the presence of Prible’s DNA. 

Instead, Siegler decided, the semen was evidence of a brutal sexual assault that took place just seconds before Tirado was shot in the back of the head.

The theory was central to Prible’s conviction. “I would suggest to you what the evidence indicates is that the Defendant after killing Steve forced Nilda to orally copulate him at gunpoint and executed her as soon as he finished,” Siegler’s co-counsel, Vic Wisner, told the jury during the state’s closing argument. “As horrific as that sounds, that is the only logical conclusion that you can draw from that evidence.”

Siegler reiterated the claim to maximum effect: “She left this world with his penis in her mouth,” she told jurors in her closing, “hoping to God that her babies would survive the nightmare that is Jeff Prible.”

Prible was convicted and sentenced to death in October 2002; he maintains his innocence.

Prible’s case was at the heart of a three-part series published by The Intercept in 2023. 

The investigation explored how Siegler, who won 19 death sentences over the course of her nearly 22-year career in Houston, went on to become a true-crime celebrity in the decades after sending Prible to death row. 

The series also showed how her Oxygen Network true-crime reality shows — “Cold Justice,” now in its eighth season, and “Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler,” starting its third season this fall — portray Siegler as a gifted crime-fighter and compassionate crusader for victims, even as she left a trail of questionable convictions in her wake.

In Prible’s case, as The Intercept’s reporting showed, Siegler built her prosecution not only on questionable claims about the DNA evidence, but also on the highly dubious account of a jailhouse informant who claimed that Prible confessed to him. 

This witness, it turned out, was part of a ring of snitches who cooperated with Siegler in exchange for assistance getting their own sentences reduced. 

During Prible’s federal appeals, multiple members of this snitch ring testified that informants offered Siegler false evidence against Prible — and one said that Siegler actually provided him with details about the case.

At best, Siegler was careless about scrutinizing the information they provided.

 At worst, as Prible’s lawyers argued to a federal district court, she actively conspired to win a conviction despite knowing the case wouldn’t otherwise hold up — framing an innocent man for murder.

In 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison overturned Prible’s conviction, finding that Siegler had withheld key information about her dealings with the informants from Prible’s defense. 

“Without question, the prosecution in this case engaged in a pattern of deceptive behavior and active concealment. And the evidence suppressed sufficiently serves to contravert the primary basis for Prible’s conviction,” Ellison wrote. “Siegler intentionally and knowingly withheld information,” he went on, and “was deceptive about her efforts to do so.”


“This new evidence shows that Prible is actually innocent.”

Texas appealed the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Rather than considering the evidence that Siegler had violated Prible’s constitutional rights, the court instead reinstated Prible’s conviction based solely on procedural grounds. 

In the new state court filing, Prible’s legal team, led by Austin attorney Gretchen Scardino, reupped their previous allegations while also arguing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Watson’s recent recantation further undermines Prible’s conviction.

“This Court has not had the opportunity to review the trove of new evidence that came to light during the federal habeas proceedings, until now,” they wrote. “And even beyond that new evidence, there has been a significant development in Prible’s case.” Watson’s declaration cites “significant changes in the field of forensic biology, in the progression of the scientific methods used to analyze the evidence in Prible’s case, and in his own scientific knowledge,” they continued. “This new evidence shows that Prible is actually innocent.”

Watson first expressed misgivings about his trial testimony and the way it was weaponized in an interview with The Intercept in 2023. 

His answers were more definitive than they should have been, he said, and he certainly did not intend to endorse the state’s insistence that there was “no way in the world that semen wasn’t deposited either moments before or seconds after Nilda died.” “‘No way in the world’ is not something I would have said,” Watson told us.

The DNA from Tirado’s mouth was one of three samples collected after the murders. 

DNA matching Herrera, Tirado’s boyfriend, was also found on vaginal and anal swabs.

 At Prible’s 2002 trial, Watson testified he’d never before been able to extract a male DNA profile from an oral swab, and that his understanding was that sperm wouldn’t persist in the oral cavity absent Tirado’s murder.

 Siegler crudely emphasized these findings during her closing argument.

 To believe Prible’s claim that he and Tirado had engaged in consensual sex, she declared, jurors would have to believe that he had “some kind of magic semen … that somehow lives longer than any of y’all’s or any other man’s in this whole universe.” Moreover, “you’ve also got to believe that his semen is so tasty that she walked around savoring the flavor of it in her mouth for a couple hours. That’s the only way it’s going to end up still in her mouth after she’s dead.”

“These inflammatory remarks are not only scientifically baseless, but also highly inappropriate.”

In his new declaration, Watson took exception to Siegler’s closing. “I never testified to this, nor would I,” he wrote. “These inflammatory remarks are not only scientifically baseless, but also highly inappropriate.” Not only has his original understanding changed, Watson wrote, there is also no way to determine which of the three DNA samples was left first. In other words, while the state’s case was built on the assumption that Prible’s DNA was deposited last, in reality it was not scientifically possible to make such a claim.


Central to Prible’s new filing is a Texas law that explicitly offers defendants an opportunity to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence. 

“Although there was little available literature on the subject at the time, the scientific consensus today is that spermatozoa can survive in the oral cavity of a living person for up to fifteen hours — and even longer in a deceased person,” his legal team wrote. Their argument is supported by a new report from a second DNA expert, who explains that recent scientific advancements show that Watson’s testimony was, as Prible’s attorneys write, “wholly unsupportable.”

How the Harris County DA’s office responds to the new evidence remains to be seen. 

Kelly Siegler did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Assistant Federal Public Defender Nat Lombardo wrote, “Jeff Prible has spent nearly half his life on death row for a crime he did not commit. … This evidence supports Jeff’s account, from the very beginning, of what happened that night. Put simply: if Jeff were tried today, the State would have no case. We hope the DA and the courts do the right thing and give Jeff Prible his life back.”

Prible, who has been on death row for nearly 24 years and has seen dozens of his neighbors taken to the execution chamber, remains hopeful. “The way I see it, it is a true test of faith,” he wrote in a message to The Intercept. “I know in my heart of hearts my best days in this life are still yet to come!”

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

 "Liliana Segura is an award-winning investigative journalist covering the U.S. criminal justice system, with a longtime focus on harsh sentencing, the death penalty, and wrongful convictions. She was previously an associate editor at the Nation Magazine, where she edited a number of award-winning stories and earned a 2014 Media for a Just Society Award for her writing on prison profiteering. While at The Intercept, Segura has received the Texas Gavel Award in 2016 and the 2017 Innocence Network Journalism Award for her investigations into convictions in Arizona and Ohio. In 2019 she was honored in the Abolitionist category of the Frederick Douglass 200, a recognition given by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.".."Jordan Smith. is a state and national award-winning investigative journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She has covered the criminal legal system for more than 25 years and, during that time, has developed a reputation as a resourceful and dogged reporter with a talent for analyzing complex social and legal issues. She spent more than 20 years reporting in Texas where she was regarded as one of the best investigative reporters in the state. Her investigative work in wrongful conviction cases has helped to exonerate six people. A longtime staff writer for the Austin Chronicle, her work has also appeared in The Nation, the Crime Report, and the Texas Observer, among other places."

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

The entire story can be read at: 

 https://share.google/hk22fTltkkXH3Y91k

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

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;

September 7: Tameshia Shelton: Mississippi: Unusual development: The Dispatch (Reporters Braden Simmons and Paloma Green) reports that the decision as to whether Tameshia Shelton should be called back to court for a retrial - or to have her charges dropped - comes down to the weight the District Attorney and his office put into a recanted pathology report from the original trial..."Mark Jackson, the assistant district attorney assigned to prosecute Tameshia Shelton’s case, centered his argument on an analysis showing gunshot residue on both the suspect and the victim, inconsistent statements from Tameshia Shelton and the pathologist report by Dr. Liam Funte, the deputy chief medical examiner for the state at the time. The report claimed the gunshot wound on Young’s chest indicated another person was likely holding the handgun, based on the bullet’s trajectory. A forensic scientist testified that burn marks on Young’s chest were consistent with the gun being fired from “near contact.”"

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "During those hearings, Funte noted that his opinion had changed since his initial report. Funte did not return requests for comment by press time Friday. “I lean toward suicide, but I cannot make that determination with certainty. I see no evidence at this point to support homicide,” Funte said in a May 2021 affidavit. Tameshia Shelton was ultimately denied post-conviction relief by the circuit court. "

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

SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "While Colom would not comment on his predecessor’s office, he said it’s important for his office to seek the truth, not just a conviction. “You don’t represent the victim. You don’t represent the police,” Colom said. “You represent the people. You represent the state. You represent what’s right. … Most importantly, I’ve fought really hard to make sure (my office) got it right.”

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

THIRD QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Raymond Barranco, a Mississippi State University professor of sociology with a focus in criminology, said several of the issues within Tameshia Shelton’s case are nothing new to the criminal justice system. He pointed to a combination of an inexperienced medical examiner, investigators’ tunnel vision, and a questionable conviction record within the 16th Circuit District Attorney’s Office at the time. “You would hope that coming into a case, the police would be open-minded about all possibilities, but that may not always be the case,” Barranco said. “… (Investigators can) put the blinders on, and you don’t really see all the contradictory stuff because this is the theory that you’re going with. … And we know this (happens) because of all the people who have been exonerated.”

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

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Beyond the report, the Mississippi Court of Appeals in its December decision also said an alleged suicide letter from the victim could have given reasonable doubt in her conviction, but it was not included in the original trial. On this basis, the appeals court ruled Shelton did not receive an adequate defense.  Defense attorney Rod Ray did not attempt to enter the letter as an exhibit until after the trial began, leaving room for the judge to exclude it from evidence. The judge’s ruling was never recorded in the trial transcript.  Colom said he has not decided whether his office will pursue the case."

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

SECOND PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In a 2023 report, the National Registry of Exonerations identified 111 cases where issues with the initial medical death report resulted in defendants later being exonerated. Of those cases, pathologists recanted their initial rulings in 19 of them. Cases where the medical death report came into question make up 5% of all exonerations identified by the National Registry of Exonerations, said Simon Cole, the researcher behind the study and a professor of criminology at the University of California-Irvine. Cole said Tameshia Shelton’s case in particular exemplifies issues with how evolving forensic science analysis and understaffing of qualified forensic pathologists can impact a ruling. According to 2025 data from the American Board of Medical Specialties, there are only five board-certified pathologists in Mississippi who are certified to practice forensic pathology. “We don’t have enough people, … which is really bad for all kinds of reasons,” Cole said. “… It’s not an attractive specialty, (and) it takes too much training.”

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

THIRD PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "If her charges are dropped, Tameshia Shelton could become the seventh exoneree in the 16th Circuit Court District since 1989, according to the exonerations registry. The six overturned convictions occurred between 1990 and 2004, during Forrest Allgood’s tenure as district attorney, with five of the exonerations tied to faulty testimony from an uncertified medical examiner."

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

STORY: "Retrial or relief: Tameshia Shelton’s murder case is at a crossroads," by Reporters Braden Simmons and Paloma Green, published by Dispatch, on ooo.

SUB-HEADING: "DA weighs recanted autopsy, missing suicide letter.

IMAGE CAPTION: "A copy of a letter written by Tameshia Shelton to her then defense attorney Rod Ray during her initial murder trial in 2015 is pictured. Shelton was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for the murder of Danelle Young. After 11 years in prison, Shelton may be exonerated of her previous conviction based on a recanted pathology report and an alleged suicide letter from Young that was not entered into evidence at the trial."

GIST: "Tameshia Shelton’s future, after more than a decade of contesting her guilty verdict in the murder of Danelle Young, now rests in the hands of 16th Circuit District Attorney Scott Colom’s office.

While currently out on bond, Shelton could be called back to court for a retrial or have her charges dropped.

That decision comes down to the weight Colom and his office put into a recanted pathology report from the original trial.

Beyond the report, the Mississippi Court of Appeals in its December decision also said an alleged suicide letter from the victim could have given reasonable doubt in her conviction, but it was not included in the original trial. On this basis, the appeals court ruled Shelton did not receive an adequate defense.

Defense attorney Rod Ray did not attempt to enter the letter as an exhibit until after the trial began, leaving room for the judge to exclude it from evidence. The judge’s ruling was never recorded in the trial transcript.

Colom said he has not decided whether his office will pursue the case.

First, his office is taking a fresh look at the evidence and Colom would like to get a new pathologist to review the case. He declined to comment on whether the case had been referred to the Mississippi Crime Lab or the State Medical Examiner’s office.

“I have to decide what the next steps are, and I’m going to do what I do in every case,” Colom said. “… I’m going to have to review the case and decide … whether the case needs to be dismissed or whether there’s even enough evidence to go to (a new) trial.”

The original case

On Oct. 16, 2009, Clay County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from Shelton claiming Young had been shot, according to a Mississippi Court of Appeals ruling from December that granted her a new trial if Colom’s office chooses to prosecute.

Deputies found Young dead from a gunshot wound to the chest outside of Shelton’s residence. Shelton was arrested in connection to the death, and a grand jury indicted her in 2015 for first-degree murder.

Young was in a relationship with Shelton’s younger sister, Ketina Shelton.

Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott, who was a deputy sheriff at the time of Young’s death, said it was investigated as a homicide based on the evidence collected at the scene.

“We did our job,” Scott said. “… We presented this evidence to a grand jury. A grand jury found probable cause to indict her, and of course then it moved to a trial. So we did our part, but once it got to the courtroom … that falls to the district attorney.”

Mark Jackson, the assistant district attorney assigned to prosecute Tameshia Shelton’s case, centered his argument on an analysis showing gunshot residue on both the suspect and the victim, inconsistent statements from Tameshia Shelton and the pathologist report by Dr. Liam Funte, the deputy chief medical examiner for the state at the time.

The report claimed the gunshot wound on Young’s chest indicated another person was likely holding the handgun, based on the bullet’s trajectory. A forensic scientist testified that burn marks on Young’s chest were consistent with the gun being fired from “near contact.”

Tameshia Shelton’s defense argued the victim’s death was either from a self-inflicted gunshot or a misfire by the victim, Jackson said.

Ray said in a statement to The Dispatch he defended Shelton with “every ounce of energy,” and claimed her contradictory statements to police during the investigation created issues in her defense.

“Unfortunately, as it relates to her defense, she gave several statements to law enforcement before I was hired to represent her,” Ray wrote. “… The prosecution painstakingly went through those statements, comparing one to another in great detail, which profoundly damaged her credibility, and undermined any theory of her defense.”

Shortly after Young’s death, Shelton said she found a letter, which she believed indicated Young had a suicidal mindset at the time of his death, according to the appeals decision. That letter was never introduced into the trial.

A copy of a statement given to The Dispatch by Attorney Rod Ray is pictured. Ray was the defense attorney for Tameshia Shelton in 2015 during her initial murder trial in Clay County. Shelton, after more than a decade of appeals, could be exonerated or receive a new trial based on the decision of District Attorney Scott Colom’s office. Courtesy of Rod Ray

According to testimony given in post-conviction relief hearings, Ray originally planned to introduce the letter into evidence during Tameshia Shelton’s testimony, but she decided not to take the stand.

“Tameshia’s decision not to testify was her decision, and her decision alone, which she made after drafting a ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ list,” Ray wrote to The Dispatch.

He then tried to pivot to introducing it during Ketina Shelton’s testimony but was denied.

Judge Jim Kitchens told The Dispatch he sustained the prosecutor’s objection when Ray attempted to enter the letter because Ray did not introduce it in discovery before trial began and did not give proper notice for prosecutors to inspect it.

“When things were provided on the morning of trial, oftentimes they get excluded,” Kitchens told The Dispatch. “… It was several years after the death occurred before it went to trial. … When you have a situation like that where it’s been some time between the death and then the trial, you have to factor that in (to) why that evidence was not provided in a timely fashion.”

Kitchens said his ruling on the letter should have been in the trial transcript, and he is not sure why it is not.

“There’s a couple reasons why it might not be (in the transcript),” Kitchens told The Dispatch. “Maybe my court reporter was not in the court room if this was a pre-trial kind of thing. I can’t imagine why it’s not in there. I’m usually pretty good about those kinds of things.”

After a two-hour deliberation by the jury, Tameshia Shelton was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Ray wrote to The Dispatch that he stands by his original defense of the case and believed his client appreciated it at the time.

“I wish nothing but the best for Tameshia Shelton, as I grew extremely fond of her during my time representing her,” Ray wrote in the statement.

“She, likewise, felt the same for me at the time of her trial as evidenced by the attached note she wrote to me at the conclusion of her trial.”

“Thank you for everything,” Tameshia Shelton wrote in the note dated July 17, 2015, which Ray provided to The Dispatch. “I know in my heart that you are doing all you can for me in my defense.”

A copy of a letter written by Tameshia Shelton to her then defense attorney Rod Ray during her initial murder trial in 2015 is pictured. Shelton was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for the murder of Danelle Young. After 11 years in prison, Shelton may be exonerated of her previous conviction based on a recanted pathology report and an alleged suicide letter from Young that was not entered into evidence at the trial. Courtesy of Rod Ray

The appeals process

In 2020, the Mississippi Innocence Project won permission from the Mississippi Supreme Court to file a petition on Tameshia Shelton’s behalf for post-conviction relief, which allows defendants to challenge their convictions based on new evidence.

After learning of the recanted testimony and the potential suicide note, Colom signed a letter of support for Tameshia Shelton’s PCR hearings. He also noted her lack of motive and decision to call 911 for medical assistance.

“When I had the choice to sign an affidavit and decide whether I should support her getting a post-conviction relief hearing, there was pressure on me not to do that,” Colom told The Dispatch on Friday. “… What I decided to do was allow what I thought was right to be more important to me than any outside pressure.”

During those hearings, Funte noted that his opinion had changed since his initial report. Funte did not return requests for comment by press time Friday.

“I lean toward suicide, but I cannot make that determination with certainty. I see no evidence at this point to support homicide,” Funte said in a May 2021 affidavit.

Tameshia Shelton was ultimately denied post-conviction relief by the circuit court. The Mississippi Innocence Project appealed that ruling to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which referred to the Court of Appeals. In a 7-3 decision in December, the appeals court ruled a new trial was warranted, overturning the circuit court decision.

Funte’s recantation alone should have been the reason Tameshia Shelton’s conviction was overturned, Ray wrote in his statement to The Dispatch, adding that during the original trial he tried to convince Funte to reconsider his opinion.

“I know I did everything I could on Tameshia’s behalf,” Ray wrote. “And I am not surprised that the Appellate Court Judges who have actual trial experience, either as prosecutor, trial judges or simply those who have tried jury trials, agree with me in their dissent.”

If Tameshia Shelton is granted a new trial, Ray wrote in his statement that he hopes she is found not guilty because he has “always believed in, and fought for, her innocence.”

Sandra Levick, one of Shelton’s current lawyers with the Mississippi Innocence Project, declined to comment on behalf of herself, Tameshia Shelton or the defendant’s family when reached by The Dispatch.

Potential exoneration

Raymond Barranco, a Mississippi State University professor of sociology with a focus in criminology, said several of the issues within Tameshia Shelton’s case are nothing new to the criminal justice system. He pointed to a combination of an inexperienced medical examiner, investigators’ tunnel vision, and a questionable conviction record within the 16th Circuit District Attorney’s Office at the time.

“You would hope that coming into a case, the police would be open-minded about all possibilities, but that may not always be the case,” Barranco said. “… (Investigators can) put the blinders on, and you don’t really see all the contradictory stuff because this is the theory that you’re going with. … And we know this (happens) because of all the people who have been exonerated.”

In a 2023 report, the National Registry of Exonerations identified 111 cases where issues with the initial medical death report resulted in defendants later being exonerated. Of those cases, pathologists recanted their initial rulings in 19 of them.

Cases where the medical death report came into question make up 5% of all exonerations identified by the National Registry of Exonerations, said Simon Cole, the researcher behind the study and a professor of criminology at the University of California-Irvine.

Cole said Tameshia Shelton’s case in particular exemplifies issues with how evolving forensic science analysis and understaffing of qualified forensic pathologists can impact a ruling.

According to 2025 data from the American Board of Medical Specialties, there are only five board-certified pathologists in Mississippi who are certified to practice forensic pathology.

“We don’t have enough people, … which is really bad for all kinds of reasons,” Cole said. “… It’s not an attractive specialty, (and) it takes too much training.”

If her charges are dropped, Tameshia Shelton could become the seventh exoneree in the 16th Circuit Court District since 1989, according to the exonerations registry.

The six overturned convictions occurred between 1990 and 2004, during Forrest Allgood’s tenure as district attorney, with five of the exonerations tied to faulty testimony from an uncertified medical examiner.

If a convicted defendant is exonerated, either through acquittal in a new trial or Colom’s decision not to retry, state lawentitles them to $50,000 for each year of imprisonment, up to $500,000. According to the national registry, restitution amounts for previous exonerations in the district have ranged from $135,000 to $500,000.

Even with consideration of the suicide letter and the recanted pathology report, Jackson said he has no regrets about how he tried the case.

“I took my job seriously, and our job is not to seek convictions; it’s to seek justice in cases,” Jackson said. “And part of that is just in difficult cases where no one else is there, you present the evidence and allow the jury to make that decision. … I think that (we) fairly introduced evidence and brought everything that we knew about what had taken place. … I have no issues with Scott Colom’s office reviewing that and making a decision based on all the circumstances today.”

While Colom would not comment on his predecessor’s office, he said it’s important for his office to seek the truth, not just a conviction.

“You don’t represent the victim. You don’t represent the police,” Colom said. “You represent the people. You represent the state. You represent what’s right. … Most importantly, I’ve fought really hard to make sure (my office) got it right.”

The entire story can be read at: 

https://cdispatch.com/news/retrial-or-relief-tameshia-sheltons-murder-case-is-at-a-crossroads/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;