"THREE SPACE COAST RESIDENTS — WILTON DEDGE, JUAN RAMOS AND WILLIAM DILLON — WERE HELD BEHIND BARS FOR DECADES, FILING APPEAL AFTER APPEAL, BEFORE THE STATE ADMITTED ITS ERRORS AND GRANTED THEM FREEDOM. DEDGE, OF PORT ST. JOHN, WAS EXONERATED IN 2005 AFTER SPENDING MORE THAN 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR A RAPE HE DIDN’T COMMIT. DILLON SERVED 27 YEARS FOR MURDER UNTIL NEW DNA TESTING IN 2008 SHOWED HE WAS INNOCENT AND HE WON HIS RELEASE. IN THOSE CASES AND THAT OF RAMOS, PROSECUTORS RELIED ON SHAM EVIDENCE FROM DISCREDITED DOG HANDLER JOHN PRESTON TO TRUMP UP CONVICTIONS, AMONG OTHER DUBIOUS TACTICS. MORE CASES OF POSSIBLE WRONGFUL CONVICTION ALSO ARE TIED TO PRESTON’S FRAUDULENT TESTIMONY, INCLUDING THAT OF INMATE GARY BENNETT. HE WAS CONVICTED OF THE MURDER OF PALM BAY RESIDENT HELEN NARDI IN 1984. PRESTON CLAIMED THAT HIS DOG LINKED BENNETT’S SCENT TO THE WEAPONS USED IN NARDI’S MURDER, EVEN THOUGH THE ITEMS WERE PRESERVED IN STRONG-SMELLING CHEMICALS, A HUGE RED FLAG THAT POINTS TO TRICKERY."
EDITORIAL: FLORIDA TODAY; Wikipedia informs us that, "Florida Today is the major daily newspaper serving Melbourne, Brevard County and the Space Coast of Florida."
PHOTO: JOHN PRESTON;
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BACKGROUND: This blog has been reporting the all too many miscarriages of justice caused by so called dog-scent experts such as the late John Preston, including the Bill Dillon and Gary Bennett cases. 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 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, was never charged with perjury or convicted of a crime."
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"Providing for a commission to improve Florida’s judicial system by studying ways to prevent wrongful convictions that imprison far too many innocent persons, leave actual criminals on the streets and saddle taxpayers with steep compensation costs when they are later exonerated," the Florida Today editorial published earlier today begins, under the heading, "Our views: Still seeking justice: Innocence panel a start, but probe of Preston-era cases still needed."
"At least 11 wrongful convictions have been reversed in Florida in recent years through new DNA evidence," the editorial continues.
"State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, helped secure $200,000 for the commission in a tough budget year and deserves credit.
The panel will consist of prosecutors, public defenders, judges, law enforcement leaders, scholars and victims’ advocates, operating under the oversight of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince.
It will study justice system failures that led to wrongful convictions, recommending changes to keep them from happening again and helping restore trust.
Quince is soliciting applications for an attorney to head the panel and should quickly make other appointments to get the show up and running as soon as possible.
But the history of prosecutorial misconduct in Brevard County is shamefully unique and demands more than academic review.
Three Space Coast residents — Wilton Dedge, Juan Ramos and William Dillon — were held behind bars for decades, filing appeal after appeal, before the state admitted its errors and granted them freedom.
Dedge, of Port St. John, was exonerated in 2005 after spending more than 20 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit.
Dillon served 27 years for murder until new DNA testing in 2008 showed he was innocent and he won his release.
In those cases and that of Ramos, prosecutors relied on sham evidence from discredited dog handler John Preston to trump up convictions, among other dubious tactics.
More cases of possible wrongful conviction also are tied to Preston’s fraudulent testimony, including that of inmate Gary Bennett. He was convicted of the murder of Palm Bay resident Helen Nardi in 1984.
Preston claimed that his dog linked Bennett’s scent to the weapons used in Nardi’s murder, even though the items were preserved in strong-smelling chemicals, a huge red flag that points to trickery.
The dog also urinated on other blood-stained crime-scene evidence, ruining it for court purposes.
Other evidence against Bennett is scant. He couldn’t be linked to the case by a rape kit exam, passed a lie-detector test and witnesses testified he was elsewhere when Nardi was killed.
He is fighting the conviction, and should be granted a new trial.
Bennett’s case only further proves this point:
The gross abuses that led to Dedge’s, Ramos’ and Dillon’s convictions require nothing short of a full investigation of the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office during the 1980s.
We’ve been calling for the criminal probe since 2005, but the silence from state leaders has been deafening — a whitewash that smacks of protecting the good-old boys.
It’s not too late for Gov. Charlie Crist to step up.
He’s no longer beholden to Florida’s GOP leadership and should order a special probe of the Preston-era injustices that would synch well with his larger crusade against public corruption in the Sunshine State.
Preston claimed that his dog linked Bennett’s scent to the weapons used in Nardi’s murder, even though the items were preserved in strong-smelling chemicals, a huge red flag that points to trickery.
The dog also urinated on other blood-stained crime-scene evidence, ruining it for court purposes.
Other evidence against Bennett is scant. He couldn’t be linked to the case by a rape kit exam, passed a lie-detector test and witnesses testified he was elsewhere when Nardi was killed.
He is fighting the conviction, and should be granted a new trial.
Bennett’s case only further proves this point:
The gross abuses that led to Dedge’s, Ramos’ and Dillon’s convictions require nothing short of a full investigation of the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office during the 1980s.
We’ve been calling for the criminal probe since 2005, but the silence from state leaders has been deafening — a whitewash that smacks of protecting the good-old boys.
It’s not too late for Gov. Charlie Crist to step up.
He’s no longer beholden to Florida’s GOP leadership and should order a special probe of the Preston-era injustices that would synch well with his larger crusade against public corruption in the Sunshine State."
The story can be found at:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100604/OPINION/100603020/Our+views++Still+seeking+justice+%28June+4%29
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;