"SOMETIMES A JOURNALIST'S CRUSADE IS ABLE TO PROVIDE THE PATH TO JUSTICE AGAINST IMPROBABLE ODDS. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, IT'S CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION AND GIVES MEANING TO OUR CAUSE. SUCH IS THE ACHIEVEMENT BY OUR OWN PAULA MCMAHON, WHO FOR NINE YEARS DOCUMENTED THE STORY OF ANTHONY CARAVELLA, WRONGLY CONVICTED FOR THE 1983 RAPE AND MURDER OF ADA COX JANKOWSKI. AFTER 26 YEARS LOCKED BEHIND BARS, CARAVELLA IS NOW A FREE MAN, IN LARGE PART DUE TO THE WORK OF PAULA, WHO WAS CONVINCED HIS CASE WAS MISHANDLED BY MIRAMAR POLICE OFFICERS, THE BROWARD SHERIFF'S OFFICE AND A ZEALOUS PROSECUTOR. "I WILL ADMIT THAT I FELT AS IF [PAULA] WAS LEANING OVER MY SHOULDER WHISPERING MR. CARAVELLA'S NAME IN MY EAR FOR THE BETTER PART OF THE LAST EIGHT YEARS," SAID BROWARD CHIEF ASSISTANT PUBLIC DEFENDER DIANE CUDDIHY, WHO DEVOTED ENORMOUS TIME AND ENERGY ON THE CASE. "JUST A LITTLE PRESSURE FROM THE PRESS … AND I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT HER DETAILED REPORTING IS THE REASON THAT MR. CARAVELLA IS A FREE MAN TODAY.""
EARL MAUCKER: EDITOR; THE SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: On February 14, 2010, we launched, "The Charles Smith Blog Annual Media Award" to honour an author who has done outstanding work in exposing a miscarriage of justice involving failures of forensic pathologists or forensic pathology." The first nominee was Kevin Morgan, the Australian author of "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice, who single-handedly fought for and obtained the forensic materials which led to Colin Ross's pardon almost ninety years after he was executed. It is a pleasure to announce our second nominee - Paula McMahon - who, as will be seen from the following tribute from her own paper, played an important role in the exoneration of Anthony Caravella, in Florida. Under the rapidly evolving rules for the award, there are no limits on the number of awards each year, and to be nominated is to be recognized for the award. I welcome your suggestions as to any author's who you believe may qualify.
Harold Levy.
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BACKGROUND: "Anthony Caravella, 41, spent 26 years in prison - more than half of his life - for a rape and slaying. He was 15 and had an IQ of 67, well below normal, when he was charged with the Nov. 5, 1983, murder of Ada Cox Jankowski, 58, in Miramar, Fla. Mr. Caravella exoneration was due to the perseverance of his lawyers, the attention given to the case by the Sun Sentinel, and the willingness of prosecutors to conduct DNA tests to investigate his guilt or innocence. The attitude of the Florida prosecutors contrasts significantly with the prosecutors in the State of Texas who have fought so hard against allowing the DNA tests which could show that Hank Skinner is innocent - even though he faces execution.
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The tribute was made by Sun-Sentinel editor Earl Maucker, who began his April 4, 2010, column by noting that, "In this Internet world of bloggers, content aggregators and pundits with political agendas, it's comforting to know there are still traditional journalists who are tough, determined and committed to serve the public welfare."
"Most of us ventured into the business because we are idealistic — passionately believing we can provide voice to those who have no voice in our society and correct wrongdoing when we recognize someone has been unjustly harmed," the column continued, under the heading, "Journalist’s crusade: persistence shows commitment to serving the public."
"Sometimes a journalist's crusade is able to provide the path to justice against improbable odds. When that happens, it's cause for celebration and gives meaning to our cause.
Such is the achievement by our own Paula McMahon, who for nine years documented the story of Anthony Caravella, wrongly convicted for the 1983 rape and murder of Ada Cox Jankowski.
After 26 years locked behind bars, Caravella is now a free man, in large part due to the work of Paula, who was convinced his case was mishandled by Miramar police officers, the Broward Sheriff's office and a zealous prosecutor.
"I will admit that I felt as if [Paula] was leaning over my shoulder whispering Mr. Caravella's name in my ear for the better part of the last eight years," said Broward Chief Assistant Public Defender Diane Cuddihy, who devoted enormous time and energy on the case. "Just a little pressure from the press … and I have no doubt that her detailed reporting is the reason that Mr. Caravella is a free man today."
So what motivates a reporter like Paula to spend this kind of this kind of dogged determination to find the truth?
She told me she had always been haunted by the case of Frank Lee Smith, who ended up dying in prison — only to be posthumously exonerated by DNA due in part to the work of a reporter for the "St. Petersburg Times." Paula said she read the entire file and found a letter written by Smith to the judge overseeing the case. While many of the suspect's statements were convoluted and confusing (Smith was known to be mentally ill), in the middle of all of it he told the judge that detectives had made up information against him and he didn't commit the crime.
"That letter has haunted the rest of my career," Paula said. "I never wanted to disregard the possibility that someone who was locked up and without resources was telling the truth."
And so the Caravella case began for Paula back in 2001 when she received a call from Caravella's brother, Larry Dunlap, who had read about DNA exonerations of other Broward prisoners and asked for help.
Believing all the time that Caravella was innocent, Dunlap asked Paula if there was anything that could be done — noting they had no money to hire an attorney.
She immediately dove into the trial transcript and found a number of troubling inconsistencies that convinced her something went terribly wrong in the prosecution of Caravella. He too was mentally disabled, and accused of the attack that took place in Miramar when he was just 15-years-old.
In a deeper examination of the case, Paula recognized some familiar names of police and prosecutors who were linked to other wrongful and flawed conviction cases. In reading the trial transcripts, she found Caravella told a judge he was innocent but admitted to the crime because Miramar police told him he wouldn't be charged and he was under the impression he would be allowed to go home.
She also listened to Caravella's taped statements to police and reviewed other records finding more inconsistencies between Caravella's statements and physical evidence. Paula ultimately phoned Chief Assistant Public Defender Bob Wills, who asked colleagues Diane Cuddihy, Bill Laswell and investigator Al Smith to look into the case.
She also put Caravella's family in contact with the Broward Public Defender's office.
Due to Paula's persistence and the efforts of Public Defender Cuddihy, a Broward judge threw out Caravella's sentence and conviction on March 25, based on a series of DNA tests that eliminated him as the source of the DNA in the slaying.
"I believe Paula's pursuit of justice and prolonged hard work to get an innocent man released from prison exemplifies what journalism is all about," said John Dahlburg, the editor of our investigative team and Paula's supervising editor.
That pretty much says it all."
The column can be found at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/commentary/fl-emcol-mcmahon-oped0404-20100404,0,4353956.column
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com
