"FABRICATION OF EVIDENCE"--THOSE ARE SERIOUS CHARGES. AND IN THE CASE OF PRESTON, PROVEN. BUT THE FALSE TRACKING AND TESTIMONY AREN'T NEWS NOW. GERALDO RIVERA EXPOSED THE CON JOB ON NATIONAL TV IN 1984. YET PRESTON REMAINED ONE OF BREVARD COUNTY'S STAR PROSECUTORIAL WITNESSES. THE INNOCENCE PROJECT OF FLORIDA, NOW WORKING ON THE CASE OF CONVICTED KILLER GARY BENNETT--ALSO NAILED IN LARGE PART BY PRESTON'S ANTICS--PROVIDED THIS CLIP OF RIVERA ON THE CASE."
PATRICIA PHILLIPS; OKLAHOMA CRIME EXAMINER;
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Background: Bill Dillon, was 22 when he was sentenced to life in prison in 1981, for killing a man in Canova Beach on the eastern coast of the state. During the trial, Dillon was adamant that he had not committed the crime. But a man named John Preston testified in court that he and his scent-tracking German-Shepherd connected Dillon to the killer’s bloody t-shirt. Preston, who billed himself as a "scent-tracking expert", said his dog, “Harrass 2,” even tracked Dillon’s scent repeatedly in later tests. Nearly three decades later, in 2007, DNA testing proved that Dillon’s DNA did not match the DNA on the killer’s shirt. The dog was wrong. Just eight months ago, after 26 years behind bars, Bill Dillon walked out of prison a free man. Preston was exposed by a Florida judge in 1984, who became suspicious of Preston and set up his own test for Harrass 2. The dog failed terribly. CNN unearthed documents which demonstrated that Harrass 2 could not even follow a scent for one-hundred feet. The judge determined the dog could only track successfully when his handler had advance knowledge of the case. Preston and his four-legged so-called expert were discredited in 1987 - but according to CNN, "the state of Florida never reviewed cases on which he’d testified . And nobody ever told Bill Dillon – who sat in prison another 20 years before he ever knew a thing about it. It wasn’t until 2006 that he heard Preston was a fake." The Dillon case is now attracting massive media attention in response to the Florida’s Innocence Project's well publicized concerns that dozens of inmates around the country may have been wrongly convicted as a result of John Preston and his dog. The focus now shifts to Florida's response to the Innocence Project's call for an investigation of those cases. Meanwhile, CNN informs us that Preston, the dog’s handler, died last year. He was never charged with perjury or convicted of a crime."
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Patricia Phillips is the author of a column which ran on June 27, 2009, under the heading: "K9 Con Man John Preston: the Geraldo Rivera debunking."
See it for yourself at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-6121-Oklahoma-Crime-Examiner~y2009m6d27-K9-Con-Man-John-Preston-the-Geraldo-Rivera-debunking?cid=exrss-Oklahoma-Crime-Examiner
"The situation in Brevard County, FL was so bad that one prosecutor resigned because he couldn't stand the lies any more," the column began.
"Nevertheless, officials continued to use discredited K9 handler John Preston as an expert in dozens of cases. Their reliance on Preston put innocent men on Death Row and wrecked multiple lives," it continued.
"It's taken more than 20 years for the entire sorry mess to literally explode. As a behind-the-scenes, unofficial expert, I'm appalled that after my research caught Preston lying on the stand, he remained a key resource for then-State Attorney Doug Chesire (now deceased).
To me, it was a perfect pairing of egos. I sat in the courtroom and watched Preston's testimony be taken apart.
Yet he remained the "go-to"guy for Cheshire and other officials. Not that Preston, like a traveling salesman, didn't travel the U.S. with Harass II, reeling out his long lead and making claims for the dog that simply were not physically possible for any tracking dog, no matter how talented and well-trained.
And Preston's dogs weren't well-trained. In an upcoming stories in this series, I'll tell you how his self-promotion was as factual and reliable as the evidence he produced for Cheshire and his crew.
In a recent editorial, the hometown newspaper, Florida Today, quoted a former prosecutor, Sam Bardwell, who resigned from the State Attorney's office because of the lies.
Titusville attorney and former Brevard prosecutor Sam Bardwell, who encountered Preston in a 1981 rape case, says then-State Attorney Doug Cheshire, also now dead, as well as the Brevard Sheriff’s Office and most law enforcement officers at the time knew Preston was a charlatan.
“I left the State Attorney’s Office because I could not abide by the fabrication of evidence,” Bardwell says.
."Fabrication of evidence"--those are serious charges. And in the case of Preston, proven. But the false tracking and testimony aren't news now.
Geraldo Rivera exposed the con job on national TV in 1984. Yet Preston remained one of Brevard County's star prosecutorial witnesses.
The Innocence Project of Florida, now working on the case of convicted killer Gary Bennett--also nailed in large part by Preston's antics--provided this clip of Rivera on the case."
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
