Saturday, January 18, 2025

Ademola Adedeji: U.K. Part One: This aspiring law student who addressed MPs in parliament, has had his conviction for being part of a violent conspiracy quashed after new evidence showing he was wrongfully identified in a drill music video, (detained 1181 days, the equivalent of six and a half years imprisonment), The Guardian reports, noting that: "Adedeji, who was described by his youth worker as “a truly exceptional young man”, was head boy at his school and had produced a book profiling inspiring young black people in Moston. He had an unconditional offer to study law at Birmingham University, received while on bail."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "Ademola Adedeji, now 21, was wrongfully convicted for being part  of a violent conspiracy,  on the basis of his being  identified is a "drill" music video. Bot knowing what a"drill music video is, I checked. Here is what I found: (Thank you Google!) "How is drill different than rap? The difference is in the lyrics; trap music, which is another form of rap, may focus on topics like money and drug dealing, while drill rap focuses on the unfiltered, uncensored and blunt brutality and violence of the streets in many of these cities. A lot of the music centers on the rapper's neighborhood and culture.


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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Keir Monteith KC said: “The quashing of Ade’s conviction brings welcomed relief to Ade and his family, but he should never have been prosecuted for the 11 hastily texted messages on a group chat. We all say things we don’t mean, and this was the outpourings of anger from a 17-year-old lad who had just been told his 16-year-old mate had been murdered.”


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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  "During the original trial the jury heard that a police officer had identified Adedeji in a drill music video. The footage showed a hooded young man wearing a blue bandana, which the prosecution claimed showed affiliation with the M40 gang. Adedeji had denied being in the video or in any gang. Another person, Tyrone Numa, had since come forward to say it was him, not Adedeji, in the music video. This testimony undermined the prosecution’s case that Adedeji was affiliated to a gang and led to the conviction being overturned. Other defendants had also denied being in a gang, insisting M40 was a drill music collective in which some of them rapped.


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STORY: "Manchester 21-year-old’s conviction quashed after rap video evidence refuted. by  Community Affairs correspondent Aamna Mohdin, published by The Guardian, on January 15, 2025.


SUB-HEADING: "Sentences of two co-appellants reduced after they were condemned by community groups as racist and unfair."


GIST: An aspiring law student who addressed MPs in parliament has had his conviction for being part of a violent conspiracy quashed after new evidence showing he was wrongfully identified in a drill music video.

Ademola Adedeji, 21, from Manchester, was among 10 black teenagers found guilty of using the Telegram messaging app to plan the murder or serious harm of individuals they believed were responsible for the death of their friend John Soyoye, an aspiring rapper.


The convictions drew significant controversy across the UK, with community groups condemning the sentences as racist and unfair, arguing that the young men’s immature messages were driven by grief and wrongfully used as evidence of violent intent. Seven of the young people went on to appeal against their convictions.


The court of appeal on Wednesday ruled Adedeji’s conviction for conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent was unsafe due to new testimony from a witness.

Adedeji, who was described by his youth worker as “a truly exceptional young man”, was head boy at his school and had produced a book profiling inspiring young black people in Moston. He had an unconditional offer to study law at Birmingham University, received while on bail.

The court also reduced the sentences of Raymond Savi and Omolade Okoya, both 21, from eight years to four years and six months each, ruling that their original sentences were excessive. Both had been convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Four others remain imprisoned. The convictions and sentencing of Harry Oni, Jeffrey Ojo and Brooklyn Jitoboh, all 21, for conspiracy to murder were upheld. The court also upheld the conviction of Martin Thomas Junior for conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

The outcome was described as “bittersweet” by the youth organisation Kids of Colour, which had supported the young people and their families, and their legal team.

Roxy Legane, the director of Kids of Colour, said: “This case, like many, was unjust and racist. We don’t need the courts to determine that, we as a community know that, and always have.”

During the original trial the jury heard that a police officer had identified Adedeji in a drill music video. The footage showed a hooded young man wearing a blue bandana, which the prosecution claimed showed affiliation with the M40 gang. Adedeji had denied being in the video or in any gang.

Another person, Tyrone Numa, had since come forward to say it was him, not Adedeji, in the music video. This testimony undermined the prosecution’s case that Adedeji was affiliated to a gang and led to the conviction being overturned.

Other defendants had also denied being in a gang, insisting M40 was a drill music collective in which some of them rapped.

While the court of appeal upheld most of the convictions, it acknowledged the complexities of using gang-related evidence and the potential for it to be misinterpreted or unfairly applied.

Zachary Whyte, a solicitor at Sperrin Law, who represented Adedeji and some of the defendants, said he was overjoyed by the decision to quash Adedeji’s conviction. “The quashing of this conviction is a victory for the community and without the good people of Manchester coming together to push back against this miscarriage of justice we would not be here.”

However, Whyte added it was “painful” that there were several co-appellants who had not had their convictions overturned.

The sentencing had prompted a justice campaign, which led to more than 500 people offering mentoring, therapy and tutoring to those convicted.

Legane added: “We are so happy to know some are coming home, back where they should be. But I can’t say this is justice. For them, this is lost youth, and we’re going to have to work very hard to make sure they can thrive from here. And for the boys whose appeals were not successful, we are devastated. But we will not be leaving them or their families behind.”

Keir Monteith KC said: “The quashing of Ade’s conviction brings welcomed relief to Ade and his family, but he should never have been prosecuted for the 11 hastily texted messages on a group chat. We all say things we don’t mean, and this was the outpourings of anger from a 17-year-old lad who had just been told his 16-year-old mate had been murdered.”

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “This was a complex case where the evidence was carefully assessed for each individual in respect of each charge. The majority of the convictions were upheld. However, based on fresh evidence not available at the time of the trial, Ademola Adedeji’s conviction alone has today been quashed by the court of appeal. The court did not order a retrial. We respect the decision of the court.""

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/15/manchester-conviction-quashed-rap-video-evidence-refuted

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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


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


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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;


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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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Friday, January 17, 2025

David Zandstra: Philadelphia: False confession case: Major Developmentt: Acquitted ! The jury only needed about an hour to acquit in the 4-day trial - after his lawyers vigorously argued that the former Minister had been coerced into confessing to a crime that had confounded investigators for decades, The New York Times (Reporter Neil Vigour) reports…"During the trial, Mr. Zandstra’s lawyers argued that prosecutors had tried to compensate for the lack of physical evidence connecting him to Gretchen’s murder by coercing him into confessing. One of the detectives who interviewed Mr. Zandstra was questioned on Thursday about claims that he made that investigators had recovered blood from rocks at the crime scene, The Delaware County Times reported. The detective told Mr. Zandstra that the authorities would send his DNA to other states where he had served as a minister to see if he had been involved in any other crimes. “I was being deceptive,” the detective said. “You were lying,” Mr. Much replied. “I was being deceptive,” the detective repeated."

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"PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.


Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Mr. Zandstra’s defense team sought to portray him to the jury of six men and six women as a confused man who had been manipulated by investigators. Mark P. Much, Mr. Zandstra’s other lawyer, said they had exploited his age and his trustingness during an hourslong interview."

STORY: "Former minister is acquitted in 1975 murder of  8-year-old near Philadelphia, by Reporter Neil Vigdor , published by The New York Times, on January 17, 2025. (Neil Vigdor covers politics for The Times, focusing on voting rights issues and election disinformation.) 

SUB-HEADING: "The defense argued that David Zandstra, 84, had been coerced by investigators into confessing to the killing of Gretchen Harrington."

GIST: "A former minister was acquitted on Friday of murder in the 1975 killing of Gretchen Harrington, who was 8 years old when she was abducted on her way to a Bible camp outside Philadelphia and beaten to death.

It took jurors about an hour to reach a verdict in the case of the former minister, David Zandstra, 84, whose lawyers had vigorously argued during the four-day trial that their client had been coerced into confessing to a crime that had confounded investigators for decades.

In addition to being cleared on counts of first-, second- and third-degree murder, Mr. Zandstra was also found not guilty on all other charges, including criminal homicide, kidnapping of a minor and possessing an instrument of crime.

Mr. Zandstra had served as a pastor at the Trinity Chapel Christian Reformed Church in Broomall, Pa., which is where Gretchen was headed on the morning of Aug. 15, 1975, when she disappeared. The church was less than half a mile down the road from her home.


A hiker discovered her remains two months later in Ridley Creek State Park, which is about 25 miles west of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pa.

In a statement issued after the verdict, Christopher Boggs, one of Mr. Zandstra’s lawyers, said that his client had steadfastly maintained his innocence over the years.

“We are happy to have Mr. Zandstra returned to his family,” he said. “Criminal trials in this country are amazing things and we thank the jury for their hard work this week. Our hearts along with all of Delaware County still break for the Harrington family who deserve an end to the nightmare of losing a family member.”

Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, but in remarks to reporters after the verdict in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, the county’s deputy district attorney, Geoffrey Paine, stood by the decision to charge Mr. Zandstra in 2023. Still, Mr. Paine acknowledged the difficulty of getting a conviction in the case and said that the prosecution’s case had been hindered by some witnesses being unavailable, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

“We have made a commitment to the families of all of our cold-case victims,” he said, “and we’re not going to change that commitment based on one verdict in one case.”


Representatives for the Harrington family did not immediately comment on the verdict.

Mr. Zandstra’s defense team sought to portray him to the jury of six men and six women as a confused man who had been manipulated by investigators. Mark P. Much, Mr. Zandstra’s other lawyer, said they had exploited his age and his trustingness during an hourslong interview.

Detectives with the Pennsylvania State Police had said that Mr. Zandstra, who was living in Georgia at the time that they questioned him in 2023, admitted that he had driven Gretchen to a wooded area and then told Gretchen to remove her clothes.

She refused, according to a criminal complaint, which said that the former pastor told the authorities that he had ejaculated while Gretchen was in the vehicle with him. After that, investigators detailed in the complaint, he struck Gretchen with his fist and she began bleeding from her head. Mr. Zandstra proceeded to tell the police that he had “attempted to cover up her half-naked body with sticks and then he left the area,” realizing that Gretchen appeared to be dead, the complaint said.

During the trial, Mr. Zandstra’s lawyers argued that prosecutors had tried to compensate for the lack of physical evidence connecting him to Gretchen’s murder by coercing him into confessing.

One of the detectives who interviewed Mr. Zandstra was questioned on Thursday about claims that he made that investigators had recovered blood from rocks at the crime scene, The Delaware County Times reported. The detective told Mr. Zandstra that the authorities would send his DNA to other states where he had served as a minister to see if he had been involved in any other crimes.


“I was being deceptive,” the detective said.

“You were lying,” Mr. Much replied.

“I was being deceptive,” the detective repeated.

Mr. Zandstra emerged as a potential suspect after the 2022 release of a book about Gretchen’s abduction and murder that was written by two journalists, Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan.

He agreed to be interviewed for the book, telling one of the authors that one of the Bible school’s teachers had asked him if he had seen Gretchen when she was missing and that he had answered “no.”

“The jury spoke,” Ms. Sullivan, who attended most of the trial, said in an interview on Friday. “The case wasn’t strong enough.”

Not long after the book was published, a woman contacted the police and pointed them to Mr. Zandstra as a possible suspect, saying that he had molested her around the same time as Gretchen’s disappearance.


She told investigators that she had gone to school with Gretchen and was also friends with Mr. Zandstra’s daughters. During two sleepovers at the Zandstra home, the woman said, she had been awakened by Mr. Zandstra touching her in the groin.

She also provided investigators with a diary that she had kept as a child. In one entry from Sept. 15, 1975, she wrote: “Guess what? A man tried to kidnap Holly twice,” referring to a girl in her class.

“It’s a secret so I can’t tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z,” she wrote, referring to Mr. Zandstra.


The entire story can be read at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/us/david-zandstra-acquitted-murder-gretchen-harrington.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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


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


———————————————————————————————


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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;


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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


Sanjay Roy: Kolkata. (Calcutta): Verdict Tomorrow. The 2024 RG Hospital Rape and Murder; Ongoing trial: In a set-up for tomorrow's (Saturday January 18), The Time of India reports that, "Ahead of the verdict in the high-profile RG Kar hospital rape-murder case, the victim's parents believe that the investigation is incomplete since other perpetrators remain free. They express frustration with the investigation process and seek justice for their daughter, who was murdered last year."


PASSAGE ONE  OF THE DAY: "As the trial concluded on January 9, the Sealdah court is set to deliver its judgment on Saturday. The victim's mother expressed confidence that Roy would be found guilty, but questioned why others involved in the crime have not been arrested. "Sanjay (Roy) is guilty, and tomorrow's verdict will be against him. But what about other criminals who are still not caught? I can see them roaming freely. I have seen them loitering in the hospital. So, the investigation is half-done," she told PTI."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The mother also pointed out that biological evidence had confirmed Roy’s involvement, but she alleged that the authorities have been protecting others connected to the crime. "All the evidence were either lost or erased. A large number of people were present when (the then) Police Commissioner Vineet Goel visited the crime scene. It was looking like a fish market. Those seen at the crime scene must be punished," she said."

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STORY: "'Several others still free': RG Kar rape-murder victim parents ahead of court verdict tomorrow, by   the Times of India City Desk, published on January 17, 2025.

SUB-HEADING: "'Several others still free': RG Kar rape-murder victim parents ahead of court verdict tomorrow."


SUB-HEADING: "Ahead of the verdict in the high-profile RG Kar hospital rape-murder case, the victim's parents believe that the investigation is incomplete since other perpetrators remain free. They express frustration with the investigation process and seek justice for their daughter, who was murdered last year."


GIST: Ahead of the Kolkata court's decision in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case, the victim's parents have raised concerns that the investigation remains incomplete, with other perpetrators still at large. 


The body of the victim, a doctor, was discovered in a seminar room at the state-run hospital on August 9 last year, sparking nationwide protests.


Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police was arrested the day after the crime and charged with the murder.


As the trial concluded on January 9, the Sealdah court is set to deliver its judgment on Saturday. The victim's mother expressed confidence that Roy would be found guilty, but questioned why others involved in the crime have not been arrested. "Sanjay (Roy) is guilty, and tomorrow's verdict will be against him. But what about other criminals who are still not caught? I can see them roaming freely. I have seen them loitering in the hospital. So, the investigation is half-done," she told PTI.


The mother also pointed out that biological evidence had confirmed Roy’s involvement, but she alleged that the authorities have been protecting others connected to the crime. "All the evidence were either lost or erased. A large number of people were present when (the then) Police Commissioner Vineet Goel visited the crime scene. It was looking like a fish market. Those seen at the crime scene must be punished," she said.


She expressed deep frustration over her daughter’s murder, questioning why her daughter was killed in such a manner and whether she had uncovered something the authorities wanted to hide. Purported photographs showing numerous individuals in the seminar room after the body was found had gone viral. "I am yet to know why my daughter was killed in that fashion. What did she come to know that she was not allowed to live?" the mother said.


The father of the deceased echoed the sentiment, saying he believes others were involved in the crime but have not yet been apprehended. "I do not think Sanjay was alone. There are others who were very much involved in the crime, but they are still free. Hopefully, they will be arrested and their guilt will be proven. Until then, justice is not delivered," the father told PTI.


The parents, while disheartened, have placed their faith in the judiciary and will be present at the court on Saturday for the verdict. If Roy is convicted, he could face either the death penalty or life imprisonment.


Asked about her stance on the punishment, the victim's mother stated that she seeks justice for the guilty, leaving the final decision to the judiciary. "I want punishment for the guilty. The judiciary will decide (on the extent of punishment)," she said. The CBI, which took over the investigation from the Calcutta High Court, has recommended capital punishment for Roy, claiming that he acted alone in the crime.


"We are from a very humble background. We did our best to educate our daughter. She was a talented and intelligent girl. I think we have a long road ahead to get justice," the mother said, adding that her days are being spent crying in front of her daughter's photograph."


The entire story can be read at:



https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/several-others-still-free-rg-kar-rape-murder-victim-parents-ahead-of-court-verdict-tomorrow/articleshow/117323457.cms