Thursday, December 7, 2023

Disrespect for Aboriginals: Morton Allport: Tasmania: Australia; Colin Manock; South Australia: 'Forensic Magazine' article explains how this Victorian 'Collector' traded human remains for scientific accolades - and has this publisher thinking about the disrespect shown towards a deceased Aboriginal and his community in more recent times by the notorious South Australia Former Chief Forensic Pathologist (responsible for numerous miscarriages of justice) Colin Manock.. "Research into the letters of Morton Allport reveals how he built a scientific reputation by exchanging the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and Tasmanian tigers for honors from elite societies. Allport achieved his status by obtaining the bodily remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and Tasmanian tigers, also known as thylacines, and sending them to collectors in Europe – specifically asking for scientific accolades in return. He built his reputation as “the foremost scientist in the colony” in the mid-1800’s, despite limited contributions to scientific knowledge. This took place in the context of a genocide against the Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples, and persecution of the thylacine that eventually led to its extinction."

BACKGROUND:  From "Wrongful Convictions Report." 'Malpractice, Incompetence and lies (Part 1): "The long retired Dr Colin Manock looks a little old these days, his eyes half hidden behind his spectacles. If you passed him in the street, you wouldn’t guess he once performed an autopsy in the open air. In public. It was in the main street of Mintabie, 980 kms northwest of Adelaide, the remote opal mining community (now closed). It was 1978 and an Aboriginal man had been found dead, in mysterious circumstances. The Coroner sent a team to investigate. Refusing an offer of a cool room for the procedure, the State’s forensic pathologist set up a make shift morgue in the street and proceeded to perform his gut wrenching task. After Dr Manock had removed the bodily organs from the chest, he is said to have used a ladle to scoop up some of the body fluids and to have made an ‘inappropriate remark’ – said to have been, ‘does anybody fancy a slurp?’ The report is part of a sworn affidavit by a former police officer who witnessed the event. This is the Dr Colin Manock who not only lacked professional ethics; he lacked the qualifications to do his job."

malpractice-incompetence-and-lies-the-manock-curse-part-1

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STORY: "Study Shows How Victorian 'Collector' Traded Human Remains for Scientific Accolades," published by 'Forensic Magazine' on December 04, 2023. (Republished from University of Cambridge);


GIST: "Research into the letters of Morton Allport reveals how he built a scientific reputation by exchanging the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and Tasmanian tigers for honors from elite societies.


Allport achieved his status by obtaining the bodily remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and Tasmanian tigers, also known as thylacines, and sending them to collectors in Europe – specifically asking for scientific accolades in return. 


He built his reputation as “the foremost scientist in the colony” in the mid-1800’s, despite limited contributions to scientific knowledge. This took place in the context of a genocide against the Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples, and persecution of the thylacine that eventually led to its extinction.


The new research by Jack Ashby, Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, is based on transcriptions of letters sent by Allport to correspondents in Australia and Europe.


 The study is published in the Archives of Natural History, the journal of the Society for the History of Natural History.


The research reveals how the human and environmental costs of the colonial project were entwined with practices of natural history.


Ashby spent 15months investigating the colonial histories of the Australian mammal collections in Cambridge and other museums. The University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, holds one of the world’s best-preserved collections of skins of the iconic thylacine.


“Early British settlers considered both thylacines and Tasmanian Aboriginal people to be a hindrance to colonial development – and the response was institutionalised violence with the intended goal of eradicating both,” said Ashby.


In the process of reading Allport’s letters, held mainly at the State Library of Tasmania, Ashby found that Allport identified himself as the principal exporter of the bodily remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to Europe. Allport did not send any of these remains to the University of Cambridge.


Allport shipped a total of five Tasmanian Aboriginal skeletons to Europe, proudly identifying himself as the most prolific trader in Tasmanian bodily remains. 


He made clear in his letters that he had directed the grave-robbing himself. (The human remains sent by Allport to the United Kingdom are no longer held in British collections – they were either destroyed by bombing during the Second World War or have since been repatriated to Tasmania.)


“Allport’s letters show he invested heavily in developing his scientific reputation - particularly in gaining recognition from scientific societies - by supplying human and animal remains from Tasmania in a quid pro quo arrangement, rather than through his own scientific endeavours,” said Ashby.


Ashby’s research has shown that as populations of both thylacines and Tasmanian Aboriginal people were diminished, demand for their remains in museums and private collections increased. Morton Allport worked to meet this demand.


Allport’s exploits included acquiring the remains of an Aboriginal man, William Lanne, considered a “prize specimen” as he was believed by the colonists to be the last Tasmanian man when he died in 1869. 


The research explains how Allport likely instructed that Lanne’s body be mutilated both before and - following his exhumation - after his burial so that Allport could add him to a museum collection in Hobart.


The events surrounding Lanne’s death have been at the centre of much debate in Tasmania in recent years, and this August it was agreed that a statue of state premier William Crowther - also implicated in the mutilation of Lanne’s body - would be removed from Hobart city centre. But until now Allport’s role has been little explored.


“Outrageously, despite state-sponsored violence committed against thylacines and Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples, they were both described by the colonists as being at fault for what happened to them – that they couldn’t cope in the ‘modern’ world,” said Ashby.


The University of Cambridge’s collection of thylacines, sent from Morton Allport in 1869 and 1871, represent the UK’s biggest collection of this species known to originate from a single person.


Thylacines were the largest marsupial carnivores of recent times. In 1830, British settlers in Tasmania established the first bounties encouraging violence against both Tasmania’s first peoples and thylacines. The last known thylacine died in 1936.


“Specimens like the thylacines in our collection hold extreme power in allowing museums to connect people to this story,” said Ashby. “Although Allport did not send any human remains to Cambridge, I can no longer look at these thylacine skins without thinking of the human story they relate to. It shows how natural history specimens aren’t just scientific data – they also reflect important moments in human history, much of which was tragically violent.”


“We have a remarkable collection of animals in our museum. We have long appreciated that their natural history can help us understand more about the natural world and how to conserve it. We now realise that the social history behind our collections is just as important," said Rebecca Kilner, Head of the University’s Department of Zoology.


 "Understanding why and how animals were collected, including the underlying political and social motivations, is key to understanding and addressing some of the social inequalities that exist today."


A new web-resource sharing the stories behind the collections has been launched today. This work forms part of the University of Cambridge Museum’s inquiries into legacies of empire and enslavement."


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From my review of Journalist Drew Rooke's book 'Witness of Fact," (Link Below):

"Although Rooke acknowledges that much about Manock remains a mystery, he manages to take us deep into Manock's dark soul through a police officer named Peter Whellum. In the late 1970's he was summoned to an outback settlement called 'Mintabie' to investigate the suspected murder of an Aboriginal man. Whellum was shocked to learn that Manock, who had been flown in for the death investigation, had decided to conduct the autopsy in the main street "without any shelter, shade or running water, and in full public view”, instead of flying the body to Adelaide as would have been the standard practice. Whellum made it clear to Manock that he had arranged a private location for him to perform the autopsy - but Manock wasn't interested. He dismissed the proposal, and told Whellum that he would perform the procedure there and then, under the huge outback sky without any shelter, shade, or running water, and in full public view. "He asked me to get a couple of 200-litre drums and a sheet of corrugated iron," Whellum recalls. "The drums were placed five, six-feet-apart, and the corrugated iron placed on top of the two drums. The body was lifted onto that and the post-mortem proceeded".  "Once Manock began the post-mortem, a crowd of about thirty locals quickly gathered to watch the gruesome spectacle as the body was stripped of its clothing. This fuelled Whellum's unease at the situation. With the help of his patrol partner, he immediately moved them back, but says it proved 'impossible' to keep them any further away than about 30 to 40 metres. The atmosphere varied from 'curiosity to mirth,' On several occasions, a few in the crowd retched at the sight of Manock - who, Whellum remembers, was wearing a heavy-duty plastic apron, surgical gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat - dissecting the wounded corpse, removing and examining the organs.” Once all of the organs had been removed, they were thrown into a stainless-steel bucket by the side of the body. Then, Whellum says, Manock picked up a metal ladle and dipped it into the blood and bodily fluids that were pooled within the open body, He held the ladle at arm's length and, facing the crowd, joked loudly: "Anyone for soup?" At this, Whellum says, some people in the crowd laughed. He also remembers one of the detectives who had arrived on the airplane with Manock earlier that day and was standing nearby saying casually, “Oh, typical Colin”.  But Whellum felt “sickened and disgusted” by what he was witnessing. The whole situation was, he says, “surreal”, an “affront to one's sensitivities; and proof that some-times there's no dignity even in death”. It seemed to Whellum that neither Manock nor anyone in the crowd cared for the man who was lying dead. There was an attitude of, "He's just another blackfella. Who cares? Which I find quite deplorable." Although, as an experienced police officer Whellum had been exposed to many horrible experiences, as Rooke tells us, but nothing he had otherwise experienced compared to the horrors of that day. It left Whellum with the sense that Manock was something of a 'show-pony' with 'fucked up ethics, if they existed at all', and who 'got a kick out of desecrating a corpse' especially of an aboriginal man.  Reading Whellum's account of this horrifying incident, I too was disgusted by the utter lack of dignity, humanity and professionalism manifested by Manock at Mintabie. I cannot understand why he wasn't kicked out of medicine and the forensic services then and there. How can he have been permitted to remain in the highest position in South Australia's s forensic service, without any accountability for almost two more decades."

https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-south-australia-drew-rookes.html


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The entire story can be read at: 


https://www.forensicmag.com/609217-Study-Shows-How-Victorian-Collector-Traded-Human-Remains-for-Scientific-Accolade


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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


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


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Darien Harris: Illinois: Dear Readers: Dear Readers: Read this and  weep. If ever a case should be dropped by prosecutors this is it: A murder conviction overturned today (December 6) of a man found guilty in a fatal shooting  based on the testimony of an eyewitness who turned out to be legally blind. And, as you shall see, that's not the only compelling reason that prosecutor's should drop the case  and face administrative consequences for putting a blind witness against Mr. Harris before the court. For a start, the  shackles must be removed and he should be freed from custody without delay as it is  utterly unconscionable that Mr. Harris -  an innocent man - remain even one more minute behind bars as an accused murderer. To avoid the stench of injustice that pervades his case he must be immediately released, unequivocally exonerated and generously compensated. Justice may be blind, but witnesses must see. Read on!..."Shackled at the ankles and dressed in blue jail garb, Harris did not speak during the brief court hearing. He waved to his wife and mother and an uncle seated in the courtroom gallery before being led back to jail. His mother, Nakesha Harris, told reporters afterward she is disappointed prosecutors decided to retry the case. “They’re wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said. “We’re retrying a case with no physical (or) DNA evidence. All the witnesses recanted (and) changed stories, and the judge based his verdict off the testimony of a blind man.”

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "Justice may be blind, but witnesses must see."

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Harris was arrested days later. He opted to have a judge rather than a jury decide his fate at trial. At the time, Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford said he based his ruling primarily on the testimony of Dexter Saffold, a man who testified that he witnessed the shooting while on his way home from a fast-food restaurant. Saffold testified that he was riding his motorized scooter north on Stony Island Avenue near the gas station when he heard gunshots and saw someone about 18 feet from him holding a dark handgun.  Saffold testified he saw the shooter aiming the gun at a person near a car with its hood up. He could see the muzzle flashes and heard more than two gunshots, Saffold testified. He also said the shooter bumped into him while running away, nearly dropping the gun while trying to put it into a pocket. Saffold picked Harris out of a police lineup and also identified him in court during the trial. Saffold’s eyesight came up only briefly during the trial, court records show. Harris’ attorney asked Saffold if his diabetes affected his vision. He replied yes, then paused and changed his answer, denying he had vision problems. But Saffold’s doctor had deemed him legally blind some nine years before the murder, records show.  As part of Harris’ 2022 post-conviction petition, his legal team cited medical records dating to 2002 that Saffold had publicly filed in various lawsuits regarding his disability. Harris’ attorneys also presented to the court an expert opinion from an ophthalmologist regarding Saffold’s impaired vision. “He has very, very poor vision,” Myerscough-Mueller told reporters Tuesday. “He really couldn’t see anything.”


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STORY: "Man gets new trial after being convicted of murder based on blind witness’s testimony," published by Tribune News Service, on December 6, 2023.


PHOTO CAPTION: "Jessica Harris departs after a judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building vacated the murder conviction of her husband, Darien, but decided to keep him in custody pending a new trial."


GIST:  "A Cook County judge overturned the murder conviction Tuesday of a man who was found guilty in a fatal shooting at a South Side gas station primarily based on the testimony of an eyewitness who turned out to be legally blind.


Darien Harris was an 18-year-old high school senior with a clean criminal record when prosecutors charged him in an ambush-style shooting that left one man dead and another seriously injured in June 2011.


Now 30, Harris has long maintained his innocence, saying he was at home watching LeBron James play in the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. But a now-retired judge found Harris guilty in 2014 and sent him to prison for 76 years.


More than four years ago, his legal team, family and friends began urging the conviction integrity unit of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to take another look at the case. 


Among other arguments, they said the key witness had failed to disclose to the trial judge that the witness was legally blind because of his glaucoma.


Though those efforts did not yield immediate results, Cook County prosecutors agreed with Harris’ post-conviction request to vacate his conviction and sentence, clearing the way for a new trial. 


On Tuesday, Cook County Judge Diana Kenworthy granted Harris’ request, saying simply: “So we are going to start over.”


The judge, citing the serious nature of the charges, declined to free Harris while he awaits his new trial. Harris is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.


Shackled at the ankles and dressed in blue jail garb, Harris did not speak during the brief court hearing. He waved to his wife and mother and an uncle seated in the courtroom gallery before being led back to jail.


His mother, Nakesha Harris, told reporters afterward she is disappointed prosecutors decided to retry the case.


“They’re wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said. “We’re retrying a case with no physical (or) DNA evidence. All the witnesses recanted (and) changed stories, and the judge based his verdict off the testimony of a blind man.”


Members of the victims’ families did not attend Tuesday’s court hearing.


The judge who found Harris guilty in 2014 was unaware during the trial of the witness’s medical diagnosis, according to Harris’ attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, who said in court filings that Harris was wrongfully convicted based on mistaken eyewitness testimonies and without physical evidence tying him to the crime.


The victim in the shooting, 23-year-old Rondell Moore, had pulled into a BP gas station in Woodlawn because of car troubles after 8 p.m. on June 7, 2011.


Moore put up the car’s hood to inspect the problem, assisted by a local mechanic who arrived at the station on his bike shortly afterward. Moore’s older brother and a friend also were there.


The station’s surveillance system did not capture the shooting, but prosecutors said the video did show an individual walking away from a black Lexus and around the gas station building toward the area where the shooting occurred, then running away shortly afterward.


The video showed a man whose thin build and short hairstyle generally fit Harris, but the suspect’s face was not visible.


Moore, who was shot three times, ran from the gas station and died in a nearby parking lot. The 51-year-old mechanic survived bullet wounds to his back and an arm.


Harris was arrested days later. He opted to have a judge rather than a jury decide his fate at trial. At the time, Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford said he based his ruling primarily on the testimony of Dexter Saffold, a man who testified that he witnessed the shooting while on his way home from a fast-food restaurant.


Saffold testified that he was riding his motorized scooter north on Stony Island Avenue near the gas station when he heard gunshots and saw someone about 18 feet from him holding a dark handgun. 


Saffold testified he saw the shooter aiming the gun at a person near a car with its hood up. He could see the muzzle flashes and heard more than two gunshots, Saffold testified. He also said the shooter bumped into him while running away, nearly dropping the gun while trying to put it into a pocket.


Saffold picked Harris out of a police lineup and also identified him in court during the trial.


Saffold’s eyesight came up only briefly during the trial, court records show. Harris’ attorney asked Saffold if his diabetes affected his vision. He replied yes, then paused and changed his answer, denying he had vision problems.


But Saffold’s doctor had deemed him legally blind some nine years before the murder, records show.


 As part of Harris’ 2022 post-conviction petition, his legal team cited medical records dating to 2002 that Saffold had publicly filed in various lawsuits regarding his disability. 


Harris’ attorneys also presented to the court an expert opinion from an ophthalmologist regarding Saffold’s impaired vision.


“He has very, very poor vision,” Myerscough-Mueller told reporters Tuesday. “He really couldn’t see anything.”


In rendering his guilty verdict in 2014, Judge Ford said he found Saffold credible. Ford called him an “honest witness” and said he’d given “unblemished” testimony. The “inconsistencies” in the testimony did not rise to the level of reasonable doubt, said the judge, unaware of Saffold’s medical diagnosis. Saffold could not be reached for comment Tuesday.


The Harris case was the subject of a 2019 investigation by the local journalism organization Injustice Watch.


Though prosecutors maintain they have credible evidence from other eyewitnesses that point to Harris’ guilt, Myerscough-Mueller alleged police misconduct played a role in those identifications. 


She said the alleged getaway driver, who has since died, took the stand during Harris’ trial and recanted his initial identification of Harris. 


He said Harris was never in his car and that police officers coerced him into making a false identification, threatening to “put (him) in jail for the rest of (his) life” if he did not cooperate, according to court records.


The police detectives also testified, denying they pressured the man to identify Harris. Ford noted the man’s recantation might be due to fear rather than the truth.


 Though prosecutors aren’t required to provide a motive, they theorized during the trial that there was bad blood between Darien Harris and the Moore brothers.


Harris’ attorneys also said in court records that they have uncovered evidence identifying the actual shooter as another teenager who was killed several months later, also during an ambush-style shooting at a South Side gas station.


Myerscough-Mueller, an attorney with the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, said a gas station employee who did not testify during Harris’ 2014 trial has identified that man — not Harris — as the shooter in the earlier incident.


 The employee alleged police tried to coerce him into making a false identification, according to the attorney.


In a statement, Foxx’s office said prosecutors did not object to vacating Harris’ conviction “due to shifts in witness testimony and available evidence, in the interest of justice and to ensure that the principles of fairness and due process are upheld.”


“This decision is not made lightly, but with a profound sense of responsibility towards the integrity of our legal system and the community we serve, and securing justice for the victim,” the statement read. “We are committed to a fair and just resolution of this case, guided by the evidence and the law.”


Prosecutors pledged to pursue a new trial.


The defendant’s wife, Jessica Harris, also attended Tuesday’s court hearing. She told reporters they married more than a year ago. She and his family regularly visited him while he was incarcerated in downstate Menard Correctional Center, they said.


“That’s a good thing about Darien. He’s very positive,” his wife said. “You will never see him not smiling. So he has very high hopes for his case.”


He’ll now be held at the Cook County Jail pending his new trial.


 Harris is due back in court Dec. 19, when a trial date may be set."


The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.twincities.com/2023/12/05/man-gets-new-trial-after-being-convicted-of-murder-based-on-blind-witnesss-testimony/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


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


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014

Soleiman Faqiri: Ontario: An inmate across from Soleiman Faqiri says 'beating started' after guards were out of camera's sight, CBC News (Journalist Shanifa Nasser) reports…"Thibeault said he only learned of Faqiri's death later that night when he was asked to speak with police. At the time, Thibeault refused to speak to investigators. He told CBC's The Fifth Estate he kept quiet about what he saw for nearly two years, fearing what might happen to him in custody if guards knew he'd spoken out about them. "Call me a snitch, call it whatever you want. So be it," he said at the time. "The last thing I want is my face on the news, on TV. But what happened that day is not right.”


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "At the time of his death, Faqiri, who suffered from schizoaffective disorder — a combination of schizophrenic and bipolar symptoms — was awaiting a medical evaluation at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences  He had been charged with aggravated assault, assault, and uttering threats following an altercation with a neighbour, but had not been convicted of any crime. His cause of death, previously deemed unascertained, was later deemed to be: "Prone position restraint and musculocutaneous injuries sustained during struggle, exertion and pepper spray exposure in a person with an enlarged heart and worsening schizophrenia.” In other words, while none of his injuries on their own were fatal, his death was the result of being held face down on his stomach and the injuries he suffered while being restrained and repeatedly struck.   Whether a guard did in fact place a knee on Faqiri's neck is not clear in the agreed statements of facts. The statement says an officer "may" have done so. Pollanen testified Tuesday that his determination of Faqiri's cause of death did not depend on that action. "If you remove the bruise from the neck, it does not change my conclusion," he said."


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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "There were three successive police investigations into Faqiri's death, one by Kawartha Lakes Police Service, another by the Ontario Provincial Police, and then a reinvestigation by the OPP. In their last investigation, the OPP said there was "insufficient evidence" for charges to be laid. At the time, lawyers for the family said told them it was impossible to know which of the six or more guards involved delivered the fatal blow.  Jurors heard Monday that guards broke a number of use of force policies the day Faqiri died. A jail guard directly involved in restraining Faqiri testified that an internal investigation found guards carried out approximately 60 breaches of policy that day. Dave Surowiec told jurors policies were often followed only when "convenient." The inquest is expected to conclude Friday."


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STORY: "Inmate across from Soleiman Faqiri says 'beating started' after guards were out of camera's sight," by Journalist Shanifa Nasser, published on December 5, 2023 by CBC NEWS. ("Shanifa Nasser is a journalist with CBC Toronto interested in national security, the justice system and stories with a heartbeat. Her reporting on Canada's spy agency won a 2020 Amnesty International award and an RTDNA, and her investigative work has led to two documentaries at The Fifth Estate.")


SUB-HEADING: "Jurors shown police interview of John Thibeault, who spoke exclusively to The Fifth Estate in 2018. 

PHOTO CAPTION: "For nearly two years, John Thibeault says he kept silent — fearful not only of the repercussions of speaking out while he was still behind bars but also that he might not be believed. In 2018, he broke his silence about Soleiman Faqiri's death to CBC's The Fifth Estate."


GIST: "An inmate housed directly across from Soleiman Faqiri the day he died said guards started beating Faqiri "as hard as they could" as soon as they were out of view of the hallway camera.


John Thibeault made that statement to Ontario Provincial Police in the months after he spoke exclusively to CBC's The Fifth Estate, saying he felt compelled to come forward in the hope of justice for Faqiri's family. 


"That's when the beating started," Thibeault told the investigator in the interview room. "They all started laying into him as hard as they could and it was vicious.


"I've never seen nothing like that before."


Police later described Thibeault as "candid and credible," in an email from OPP Inspector Brad Collins, obtained by CBC News.


Jurors at the inquest into Faqiri's death were shown video of Thibeault's statement on Tuesday, and were told Thibeault chose not to appear in person because of "safety concerns."


 The details of his statement line up with what Thibeault told The Fifth Estate less than a year earlier


In his police interview in August 2019, Thibeault said under oath that he had not seen the video of Faqiri's final moments leading up to his restraint by guards. 


That video was made public for the first time earlier this month at the inquest into Faqiri's death at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont.


Thibeault told the officer he watched from his cell window as six guards transferred Faqiri down the hallway to what was supposed to be new his new cell, B10.


'He's not fighting back'

Along the way, he saw one guard whisper something into Faqiri's ear, causing him to begin pulling back.


"They got him agitated," Thibeault told the investigator. "He wasn't fighting, he just didn't want to go into that cell."


A guard then pepper-sprayed Faqiri and guards pushed him into the cell, Thibeault said.


All the while, Thibeault said his window shutter was left open, leaving him with a direct line of sight into Faqiri's cell. 


Inside, he said four of the guards "started beating the shit out of him." During the restraint, Faqiri stood and ran smack into the back of the cell multiple times, he added.


"He's not fighting back, he's just trying to get away from them," Thibeault said.


Thibeault said a female guard was standing on the bed looking "petrified," while another guard threw items from the cell into the hall.


During the 13-minute encounter, Thibeault told the officer, Faqiri was pepper-sprayed a second time, guards kicked at his head and one guard placed his knee on the back of Faqiri's neck.


Thibeault also made reference to guards "stomping" Faqiri's head on the ground and kicking his head off the bunk — something he also told The Fifth Estate. 


Asked if Faqiri's injuries reflected those particular actions, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Pollanen, testified Tuesday that they did not.


Meanwhile, the inmates nearby started kicking at the doors and yelling for the guards to leave Faqiri alone, Thibeault said.


Around that time, the guard with his knee on Faqiri's neck yelled, "Stop resisting," Thibeault said. "I don't know why he was yelling that because buddy wasn't moving anymore.”


'What happened that day is not right'

"I knew something was shady there," Thibeault told the officer, adding he believed the guard yelled that command not because Faqiri was actually resisting but perhaps because other inmates were piping up.


Thibeault said he then kicked at his own door and a guard took notice, running from Faqiri's cell and slamming Thibeault's shutter closed. After that, he couldn't see anything.


WATCH | Video shows final moments before Faqiri's deadly restraint:


WARNING: This video contains violence and some viewers may find it disturbing. CBC News has annotated surveillance video of Soleiman Faqiri's final moments to document the extent of the force correctional officers used on him before he died in a jail cell on Dec. 15, 2016. The timeline is based on an agreed statement of facts entered at the Ontario inquest into Faqiri's death, which is currently underway.


Faqiri died at 3:47 p.m. that day after being repeatedly struck by guards, pepper sprayed twice, covered with a spit hood and placed on his stomach on the floor of a segregation cell. 


His cause of death, previously deemed unascertained, was later deemed to be restraint in a face-down position and injuries from his struggle with guards. 


 Thibeault said he only learned of Faqiri's death later that night when he was asked to speak with police.


At the time, Thibeault refused to speak to investigators. He told CBC's The Fifth Estate he kept quiet about what he saw for nearly two years, fearing what might happen to him in custody if guards knew he'd spoken out about them.


"Call me a snitch, call it whatever you want. So be it," he said at the time. "The last thing I want is my face on the news, on TV. But what happened that day is not right.”


Police said insufficient evidence for charges

At the time of his death, Faqiri, who suffered from schizoaffective disorder — a combination of schizophrenic and bipolar symptoms — was awaiting a medical evaluation at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.


 He had been charged with aggravated assault, assault, and uttering threats following an altercation with a neighbour, but had not been convicted of any crime.


His cause of death, previously deemed unascertained, was later deemed to be: "Prone position restraint and musculocutaneous injuries sustained during struggle, exertion and pepper spray exposure in a person with an enlarged heart and worsening schizophrenia.”


In other words, while none of his injuries on their own were fatal, his death was the result of being held face down on his stomach and the injuries he suffered while being restrained and repeatedly struck.  

Whether a guard did in fact place a knee on Faqiri's neck is not clear in the agreed statements of facts. 


The statement says an officer "may" have done so. Pollanen testified Tuesday that his determination of Faqiri's cause of death did not depend on that action.


"If you remove the bruise from the neck, it does not change my conclusion," he said.


There were three successive police investigations into Faqiri's death, one by Kawartha Lakes Police Service, another by the Ontario Provincial Police, and then a reinvestigation by the OPP. In their last investigation, the OPP said there was "insufficient evidence" for charges to be laid.


At the time, lawyers for the family said told them it was impossible to know which of the six or more guards involved delivered the fatal blow


Jurors heard Monday that guards broke a number of use of force policies the day Faqiri died. A jail guard directly involved in restraining Faqiri testified that an internal investigation found guards carried out approximately 60 breaches of policy that day. Dave Surowiec told jurors policies were often followed only when "convenient."


The inquest is expected to conclude Friday."


The entire story can be read at:


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/soleiman-faqiri-inquest-day-12-thibeault-1.7049636



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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


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


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


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


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

False forensics: Important new release from the U.S. National Institute of Justice: As the Illinois Innocence Project puts it: "Forensic analysis holds great persuasive power for juries in the trial courtroom, so it is paramount if we are to limit wrongful conviction risks that the strictest of standards are in place. As this new research paper from the National Institute of Justice shows, data from hundreds of confirmed wrongful convictions points to forensic errors as being major contributing factors far more frequently than should be acceptable to anyone in the justice system."…From the NIJ paper…"Dr. Morgan’s typology will be an indispensable resource for the forensic science community, allowing researchers to reproduce this type of work and pinpoint areas within forensic science that need improvement. His work highlighted several forensic evidence factors associated with wrongful convictions, chiefly: Poorly validated scientific standards or poor adherence to practice and testimony standards. Overly complex forensic analysis. Reliance on presumptive tests without confirmation by a forensic laboratory. Use of independent experts outside the administrative control of public laboratories. Suppression or misrepresentation of forensic evidence by investigators or prosecutors."

E OF THE  DAY:  "PPP


PASSAGE OF THE Day: "In approximately half of wrongful convictions analyzed, improved technology, testimony standards, or practice standards may have prevented a wrongful conviction at the time of trial.” – John Morgan, Ph.D. The development and enforcement of clear standards within each forensic science discipline, as well as the governance structures to enforce such standards, will minimize wrongful convictions and boost public trust in the criminal justice system."


————————————————————————————————


PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Most errors related to forensic evidence were not identification or classification errors made by forensic scientists (Table 3). When forensic scientists made errors, they were often associated with:

  • Incompetent or fraudulent examiners.
  • Disciplines with an inadequate scientific foundation (sometimes referred to as “junk science”).
  • Organizational deficiencies in training, management, governance, or resources."
—————————————————————————————

PAPER: "The Impact of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence on Wrongful Convictions," published by The National Institute of Justice, on November 28, 2023.


SUB-HEADING: "Research has found key areas within forensic science that are associated with higher rates of wrongful convictions. Addressing them should strengthen trust in our criminal justice system.


GIST: "Wrongful conviction, or the conviction of a person for a crime that they did not commit, is one of the greatest travesties of the criminal justice system. 


As of 2023, The National Registry of Exonerations has recorded over 3,000 cases of wrongful convictions in the United States.[1] 


Organizations such as The Innocence Project(link is external) work to free the innocent and prevent these convictions, so far exonerating 375 people, including 21 who served on death row.


Dr. Jon Gould of the University of California at Irvine has claimed that faulty forensic science is partly to blame for some of these convictions.[2] 


As one of the architects of research that assesses the impact of forensic science on wrongful convictions, he has cited flawed eyewitness identification, confessions, testimony, police and prosecutorial conduct, defense lawyering, and forensic science as factors related to wrongful convictions. 


He stressed these are “factors” rather than “causes” because in prior analyses researchers have not been able to draw conclusions about causation because the studies did not use control groups.


Forensic scientists at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) wanted to understand the causes, or etiology, of the errors in forensic science specifically.


 To explore the issue, NIJ enlisted the help of Dr. John Morgan, independent research consultant, to analyze and describe the impact of forensic science on erroneous convictions that the National Registry of Exonerations(link is external) classified as being associated with “false or misleading forensic evidence.”[3]


From prior analysis of these data, Samuel Gross and Michael Shaffer of the University of Michigan Law School concluded, “The problems with forensic evidence range from simple mistakes to invalid techniques to outright fraud. We see clear examples of all these, although in some cases it’s impossible to distinguish one type of forensic error from another.”[4] 


Although their analysis cautioned there were problems with forensic evidence, it did not identify the root causes of the errors.


To advance this, Dr. Morgan designed a study to examine the specific types of errors associated with forensic evidence — research that is essential to identify past problems, mitigate future errors, and support the development of targeted, systems-based reforms by forensic practitioners.


Findings from this work led to the development of a forensic error typology, or codebook, which categorizes factors related to misstatements in forensic science reports, errors of individualization or classification, testimony errors, issues related to trials and officers of the court, and evidence handling and reporting issues (Table 1).


——————————————————————————————

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

Table 1. Error types and descriptions.

Error Type

Description

Examples

Type 1 – Forensic Science Reports

A forensic science report has a misstatement of the scientific basis of a forensic science examination.

Lab error, poor communication (information excluded), or resource constraints in laboratory.

Type 2 – Individualization or Classification

A forensic science examination has an incorrect individualization or classification of a piece of evidence or the incorrect interpretation of a forensic result that implies an incorrect individualization or association.

Interpretation error or fraudulent interpretation of intended association.

Type 3 – Testimony

Testimony at trial reported forensic science results in an erroneous manner. An error may be intended or unintended.

Mischaracterized statistical weight or probability.

Type 4 – Officer of the Court

An officer of the court created an error related to forensic evidence.

Excluded evidence or faulty testimony accepted over objection.

Type 5 – Evidence Handling and Reporting

Potentially probative forensic evidence (that could provide proof) was not collected, examined, or reported during a police investigation or reported at trial.

Chain of custody, lost evidence, or police misconduct.


Serology, Hair, Forensic Pathology, and Seized Drug Analyses Contributed Disproportionately to Case Errors.


In his examination, Dr. Morgan analyzed 732 cases and 1,391 forensic examinations from the National Registry of Exonerations. The dataset included examples from 34 forensic disciplines, including serology, forensic pathology, hair comparison, forensic medicine, seized drugs, latent prints, fire debris, DNA, and bitemark comparisons (Table 2).


Cases

  • 732 total cases examined.
  • 635 cases had errors related to forensic evidence.
  • 97 cases had no errors related to forensic evidence.

Forensic Investigations

  • 1391 total forensic examinations included.
  • 891 had an error related to forensic evidence.
  • 500 were valid with no associated or known case error related to forensic evidence.

Table 2. The forensic disciplines with the highest percentages of Type 2 errors.

Discipline*

Number of Examinations

Percentage of Examinations Containing At Least One Case Error

Percentage of Examinations Containing Individualization or Classification (Type 2) Errors

Seized drug analysis#

130

100%

100%

Bitemark

44

77%

73%

Shoe/foot impression

32

66%

41%

Fire debris investigation (not chemical analysis)

45

78%

38%

Forensic medicine (pediatric sexual abuse)

64

72%

34%

Blood spatter (crime scene)

33

58%

27%

Serology

204

68%

26%

Firearms identification

66

39%

26%

Forensic medicine (pediatric physical abuse)

60

83%

22%

Hair comparison

143

59%

20%

Latent fingerprint

87

46%

18%

Fiber/trace evidence

35

46%

14%

DNA

64

64%

14%

Forensic pathology (cause and manner)

136

46%

13%

* Disciplines with case error sample sizes of greater than 30 included here.

# The high number of seized drug analysis errors were due to errors using drug testing kits in the field, not the laboratory.


Most errors related to forensic evidence were not identification or classification errors made by forensic scientists (Table 3). When forensic scientists made errors, they were often associated with:

  • Incompetent or fraudulent examiners.
  • Disciplines with an inadequate scientific foundation (sometimes referred to as “junk science”).
  • Organizational deficiencies in training, management, governance, or resources.

Table 3. Key findings across the 34 forensic evidence categories.

Discipline

Finding

Serology

Most errors were related to blood typing (serological typing) and characterized by testimony errors, best practice failures (such as failure to collect reference samples or conduct tests correctly), and inadequate defense (for example, when practitioners did not recognize evidence that could have proved innocence).

Hair comparison

Most testimony errors conformed to the standards recognized at the time of the trial but would not conform to current standards.

Latent fingerprints

Almost all errors were associated with fraud or uncertified examiners who clearly violated basic standards.

Gunshot residue

Testimony often did not clarify the limits of the analysis such as the possibility of secondary transfer and uncertainties of interpretation.

DNA evidence

Evidence was often associated with identification and classification errors. Most commonly, labs used early DNA methods that lacked the ability to apply the testing or interpretation in a reliable way. DNA mixture samples were the most common source of evidence interpretation error.

Bitemark

Cases were associated with a disproportionate share of incorrect identifications and wrongful convictions. Bitemark examiners were almost always independent consultants outside the structure of forensic science organizations. This may have supplied inadequate mechanisms for enforcement of standards.

Seized drug analysis

Only one of the 130 errors occurred in an actual forensic laboratory. The remaining 129 were due to errors using drug testing kits in the field.


—————————————————


Special Note About Cognitive Bias

Dr. Morgan cautions that some disciplines were more likely to be associated with cognitive bias (such as bitemark comparison, fire debris investigation, forensic medicine, and forensic pathology) and therefore required scientists to consider contextual information to produce reliable results. Other disciplines were less likely to be associated with cognitive bias (such as seized drug analysis, latent palm print comparisons, toxicology, fire debris chemical analyses, and DNA analyses). As such, reforms should balance cognitive bias concerns with the requirements for reliable scientific and medical assessment.


————————————————————————————


Summary: High-Reliability Fields Must Conduct Follow-Up Analyses:

In many fields outside of the forensic sciences, especially those considered “high-reliability” fields like air traffic control, when a grievous error is committed, administrators require follow-up analysis to prevent recurrence of errors. In forensic science, arguably a field with some of the most dire and lasting consequences, this type of quality control has been lacking.


Forensic science organizations should treat wrongful convictions as sentinel events that elucidate system deficiencies within specific laboratories.” – John Morgan, Ph.D.


Dr. Morgan noted that actors within the broader criminal justice system, but not under the purview of any forensic science organization, cause errors related forensic evidence. Investigators or prosecutors, for example, may discount or ignore exculpatory forensic results due to their own biases.


Dr. Morgan’s typology will be an indispensable resource for the forensic science community, allowing researchers to reproduce this type of work and pinpoint areas within forensic science that need improvement. His work highlighted several forensic evidence factors associated with wrongful convictions, chiefly:

  • Poorly validated scientific standards or poor adherence to practice and testimony standards.
  • Overly complex forensic analysis.
  • Reliance on presumptive tests without confirmation by a forensic laboratory.
  • Use of independent experts outside the administrative control of public laboratories.
  • Suppression or misrepresentation of forensic evidence by investigators or prosecutors.

In approximately half of wrongful convictions analyzed, improved technology, testimony standards, or practice standards may have prevented a wrongful conviction at the time of trial.” – John Morgan, Ph.D.


The development and enforcement of clear standards within each forensic science discipline, as well as the governance structures to enforce such standards, will minimize wrongful convictions and boost public trust in the criminal justice system.


About This Article

The work described in this article was supported by NIJ contract number GS10F0114L/OJP2002BF.


This article is based on a report entitled “Forensic Testimony Archaeology: Analysis of Exoneration Cases and Its Implications of Forensic Science Testimony and Communications” (pdf, 162 pages), by John Morgan, Ph.D. The National Institute of Justice commissioned this report.


This article is also based on an accompanying article, John Morgan, “Wrongful Convictions and Claims of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 00 (2023): 1-54, https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.15233(link is external)."


The entire paper can be read at:


https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/impact-false-or-misleading-forensic-evidence-wrongful-convictions


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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————


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


Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


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


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


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


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014