"WOLFINGER PLANS TO FOCUS ONLY ON MURDER AND BATTERY CASES LINKED TO PRESTON AND ON THOSE NOW IN PRISON. THAT’S TOO NARROW AND SHOULD BE BROADENED TO ALL THE CASES IN WHICH PRESTON PLAYED A ROLE, WHICH COULD NUMBER AS MANY AS 100.
THAT SHOULD INCLUDE A REVIEW OF CASES IN WHICH PERSONS WERE CHARGED WITH OTHER CRIMES, OF EX-PRISONERS NOW FREE BUT STILL BEARING THE STIGMA OF FELONY CONVICTIONS AND OF THOSE WHO HAVE SINCE DIED, SO THE NAMES OF POTENTIALLY INNOCENT MEN CAN BE CLEARED. IT SHOULD ALSO MEAN A FULL INQUIRY INTO THE ACTIONS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN THE PRESTON ABUSES WHO MAY HAVE BROKEN THE LAW."
EDITORIAL: FLORIDA TODAY;
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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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The Florida Today editorial ran on August 2, 2009, under the heading 2009 under the heading: "Our views: Not good enough; Full investigation of state attorney's office use of fraudulent dog handler still needed." (It makes this Blogster wonder how other media - in Florida and throughout the U.S.A, - can remain silent in the face of so many miscarriages of justice - - and such an onslaught on the American criminal justice system.) This Blogster also wonders where is the Federal Bureau of Investigation in all of this; The Government of Florida does not seem to realize the vast degree of harm that Preston - and the police officers and prosecutor's that used him - has caused to innocent individuals - and to trust in the administration of justice. There is a clear parallel to Ontario, where the province felt it was necessary to conduct a re-investigations of dozens of cases - and to appoint an independent public inquiry because of the wrongful convictions caused by a purported forensic pathologist - Dr. Charles Smith. Since Florida has so utterly failed to come to grips with the Preston debacle, I can't understand why the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not felt the need to intervene - if it has the power to do so - in the face of reality that the local authorities have shown themselves incapable of properly administering their judicial system - and unwilling to fearlessly investigate a disturbing number of potential miscarriages of justice.)
"State Attorney Norm Wolfinger’s announcement he’ll have his staff review some cases that involved John Preston only heightens the case for a complete probe of the office’s use of the discredited dog handler in trials between 1981 and 1984," the editorial began.
"At least two Brevard criminal justice veterans from that era — former prosecutor and Titusville resident Sam Bardwell and retired Brevard Circuit Judge Gilbert Goshorn — say Preston was known to be a fraud, yet used to trump up evidence to win convictions," the editorial continued;
"Three of those convicted have since been exonerated or had their charges dropped — Wilton Dedge, William Dillon and Juan Ramos, who were wrongfully imprisoned for decades in the gross travesty of justice.
Wolfinger plans to focus only on murder and battery cases linked to Preston and on those now in prison.
That’s too narrow and should be broadened to all the cases in which Preston played a role, which could number as many as 100.
That should include a review of cases in which persons were charged with other crimes, of ex-prisoners now free but still bearing the stigma of felony convictions and of those who have since died, so the names of potentially innocent men can be cleared.
It should also mean a full inquiry into the actions of public officials involved in the Preston abuses who may have broken the law.
That said, we frankly doubt Wolfinger’s office can conduct the investigation needed to restore badly damaged trust in the state attorney’s office and Florida’s criminal justice system.
In-house probes are inherently suspect as exercises that don’t go deep enough and shield the guilty.
We also think Wolfinger’s late response to frequent calls for scrutiny in the Preston-related cases could be spurred by political concerns.
In other words, damage control as the issue grabs the spotlight on the campaign trail.
Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink has spoken in favor of a review of the dog-handler cases, and all three candidates for attorney general — Republican Jeff Kottkamp and Democrats Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg — are making noise about looking into the matter if elected, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Wolfinger says he ordered an examination in 2004, when Dedge was exonerated, to identify cases “where limited evidence raised a question of actual guilt,” and believes only four men in prison today meet that standard, and that at least three of the convictions are sound.
He can’t comment on the fourth case — that of Gary Bennett, sentenced to life in prison in the 1983 murder of a Palm Bay woman, because he worked on the case as an assistant public defender.
But the earlier review appears to have missed problems in the Dillon case that led to murder charges against him being dropped in December — more reason to doubt an in-house probe can do the job.
That’s why we call again for a special grand jury investigation ordered by Gov. Charlie Crist or Attorney General Bill McCollum, who have so far distanced themselves from any responsibility for seeing justice served.
Or from Judge Preston Silvernail, chief judge of the 18th Circuit, who also has the power to convene a special jury.
It’s fine that politicians on the campaign trail are claiming they’ll do the right thing down the road.
But the wheels of justice have already spun with cruel slowness for the known victims of Preston’s fraud.
It’s past time to find out if there are more."
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
