"THE STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE USED A FAMILIAR STRATEGY IN CONVICTING BENNETT -- EMPLOYING TESTIMONY FROM DOG HANDLER JOHN PRESTON IN COMBINATION WITH A JAILHOUSE SNITCH WHO CAME FORWARD IN RETURN FOR PROMISES OF LENIENCY. OTHERS CONVICTED BY THE SAME METHOD, WHO HAVE SINCE BEEN CLEARED OR THEIR CONVICTIONS OVERTURNED, INCLUDE WILTON DEDGE, JUAN RAMOS AND WILLIAM DILLON. DNA EVIDENCE LED TO THE RELEASE OF DEDGE AND DILLON. RAMOS WAS AWARDED A NEW TRIAL BASED ON THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT'S REJECTION OF PRESTON'S TESTIMONY. WITHOUT THAT DAMNING TESTIMONY, RAMOS WAS FOUND NOT GUILTY AND RELEASED. PAUL CASTELEIRO, THE NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTS BENNETT, IS HOPING PRESTON'S INVOLVEMENT WILL YIELD A SIMILAR OUTCOME FOR HIS CLIENT."
REPORTER JOHN TORRES: FLORIDA TODAY;
PHOTO: THE LATE JOHN PRESTON;
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BACKGROUND: This Blog has been delving into the havoc caused by the late John Preston and his magical dog who could purportedly trace scents across water. The focus is also on Deputy Keith Pikett, another so-called dog-scent "specialist", a canine officer with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, just southwest of Houston. Time Magazine has reported on two apparent miscarriages of Justice involving Pikett; The first case studied involves Calvin Lee Miller, who was charged with robbery and sexual assault after Pikett's bloodhounds alerted police to a scent on sheets that Pikett said matched a scent swipe from Miller's cheek. DNA evidence later cleared Miller, but only after he served 62 days in jail. In a second case, former Victoria County Sheriff's Department Captain Michael Buchanek was named as a "person of interest" in a murder case after Pikett's bloodhounds sped 5.5 miles from a crime scene, tracking a scent to Buchanek's home. Another man later confessed to the murder. A recent post to this Blog indicates that Bill Dillon, who freed after 22 years behind bars (and put there after dog-handler John Preston manufactured evidence to "tie" him to the crime) can be considered case is a third person wrongly convicted on the basis of dog-scent so-called evidence - and the Innocence Project believes that Gary Bennett, who has been behind bars for 25 years, will likely prove to be proven by real science to be the fourth. But this Blog is also concerned about the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth and who knows how many other innocent people were wrongly convicted on the evidence of John Preston and Keith Pikett. This failure of the criminal justice system to protect people from junk science and pseudo-experts such as Preston and Pikett raises several hugely important question: If state officials are unwilling to restore confidence in their justice systems by aggressively rooting out the wrongful convictions and redressing the individuals who have suffered from them, why haven't the FBI and other and other federal agencies plunged into the task. And why haven't the jurisdictions involved acted with haste to order independent public reviews to satisfy the public that the lapses of their judges and public servants are not being swept away from public view?
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"DNA evidence will not clear convicted killer Gary Bennett, who remains behind bars as a result of 25-year-old testimony from a since-discredited dog expert," the Florida Today story by reporter John Torres published earlier today under the heading, "Innocence Commission nears creation as Brevard man fights to clear name," begins.
"But lawyers for Bennett still believe they have a "strong case for innocence," the story continues.
"Bennett was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 1984 for the murder of his neighbor, Helen Nardi the year before. He has long maintained his innocence. He passed a lie detector test. He could not be tied to the case by a rape kit examination. And several people testified he was elsewhere when Nardi was sexually assaulted and murdered.
The state attorney's office used a familiar strategy in convicting Bennett -- employing testimony from dog handler John Preston in combination with a jailhouse snitch who came forward in return for promises of leniency. Others convicted by the same method, who have since been cleared or their convictions overturned, include Wilton Dedge, Juan Ramos and William Dillon.
DNA evidence led to the release of Dedge and Dillon. Ramos was awarded a new trial based on the Florida Supreme Court's rejection of Preston's testimony. Without that damning testimony, Ramos was found not guilty and released.
Paul Casteleiro, the New Jersey attorney who represents Bennett, is hoping Preston's involvement will yield a similar outcome for his client.
"We are planning within the next month or so to file a motion for post conviction relief attacking the conviction in large part based on the dog scent lineup so-called evidence," he said. "Unfortunately, our attempts to obtain DNA evidence failed. They couldn't find any DNA on the vaginal or oral swabs."
Nardi was 55 when she was stabbed to death. Records indicated she was having regular sexual relations with her 65-year-old son-in-law, Kermit Parkins, who had married Nardi's 16-year-old daughter when he was 53.
Parkins was never considered a suspect in the case despite the unusual relationships. Later, police discovered he used to rent a trailer from the lead investigator in the case, Palm Bay police Detective Leroy Dunning.
Preston, who was exposed as a fraud in 1984, testified that his dog linked Bennett's scent to the weapons used to kill Nardi, despite the fact crime scene investigators preserved the items in strong-smelling chemicals.
During another "scent lineup," Preston's dog urinated on washcloths saturated with blood, including one gathered from the crime scene. That ruined the evidence.
Bennett is one of four Brevard County men still in prison who Preston testified against. The others are:
# Frank Berry, sentenced to 124 years in prison in the rape of a Merritt Island woman in 1981.
# Gary Dirk, sentenced to life in prison in a burglary and rape in 1985.
# Mark Wayne Jones, serving double life sentences in the murders of two Titusville women in 1981.
New commission
Cateleiro's latest post-conviction efforts on Bennett's behalf come as the Florida Supreme Court has started soliciting applications for an attorney to head the new Innocence Commission -- a panel charged with examining the systemic issues relating to wrongful convictions.
The commission will make recommendations for judicial reform to the Supreme Court.
"We are encouraged that the Florida Supreme Court is working quickly to create and staff the new Innocence Commission," said Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida, a non-profit group that works to free wrongfully incarcerated prisoners. "(We look) forward to working with the Chief Justice to make the work of the Commission valuable and beneficial to the future of Florida's criminal justice system."
State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, helped secure funding for the commission during the latest legislative session. He became involved in the issue as a result of his work on a wrongful incarceration compensation bill for Dillon, which did not make it to the floor this year.
In 2005, Haridopolos successfully sponsored a compensation bill for Wilton Dedge, a Port St. John man who spent more than 20 years in prison for rape before DNA evidence proved his innocence.
"I'm very pleased," Haridopolos said. "This is a great move forward for justice in the state of Florida. It means cases like Wilton Dedge and William Dillon will never happen again."
Next year Haridopolos takes over as president of the Florida Senate."
The story can be found at:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100601/NEWS01/6010318/1006/New+panel+could+help+cases+like+Bennett+s
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
