PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I have been savouring every article in the Charlotte Observer series on the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. It is a superb piece of journalism. It is a fantastic exposee of a hugely important institution in the State's criminal justice system. The investigative journalist in me salivates as I watch these journalists - Mandy Locke, Joseph Neff and J. Andrew Curliss - backed up with impressive editorial support, digging deeper and deeper into the corruption which rotted the Bureau and exposing the all too many tainted mishandled cases and miscarriages of justice. A page setting out the still on-going series with links to all of the articles and editorials - can be found at:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sbi/.
Warning: Give yourself lots of time and keep up with the on-going stories as it appears that there is much more to come. This series is what journalism is - and should be all about.
Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
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SBI's legal troubles could take years to unsnag
By Joseph Neff and Mandy Locke | Staff Writers | 8:14AM
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The task of reforming the State Bureau of Investigation will be complicated by civil lawsuits, potential criminal investigations and other attempts to hold the agency accountable for decades of misconduct.
Flagged cases get second look
Ex-SBI analyst defends withholding test results
SBI practices stun former high-ranking FBI official
Editorial: SBI needs shakeup, lab needs new home
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SBI agent could be held criminally responsible
By Mandy Locke & Joseph Neff | E-mail | August 19, 2010
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The N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission could soon address whether to hold SBI agent Duane Deaver criminally responsible for false and misleading statements made during a hearing last September.
Audit of SBI finds 230 cases tainted, mishandled
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
Read more stories from the Agents' Secrets series
Serious issues
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Audit of SBI finds 230 cases tainted, mishandled
By Mandy Locke, Joseph Neff and J. Andrew Curliss | Staff Writers | August 19, 2010
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An audit commissioned by Attorney General Roy Cooper revealed the State Bureau of Investigation withheld or distorted evidence in more than 200 cases at the expense of potentially innocent men and women.
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
Read the full text of auditor report (.pdf)
Audit of SBI cites 24 cases in region
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Audit: SBI lab work clouds death row convictions
By J. Andrew Curliss | E-mail | August 18, 2010
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The criminal convictions of three people who have since been executed in North Carolina, and four more cases in which the defendants are now on death row, are in doubt because of faulty lab work by the SBI, according to a new, scathing report written by former FBI agents who examined the troubled agency's blood work.
Read the full text of auditor report (.pdf)
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
Outside review of SBI crime lab flags 3 executions
SBI crime lab review focuses on 1 agent's reports
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SBI lab relied on sight, not testing
By Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff | Staff Writers | August 18, 2010
For decades, State Bureau of Investigation drug analysts identified prescription drugs by simply looking at pills, forgoing definitive tests to detect controlled substances.
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
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Lawyers: Split lab off SBI
By Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff | E-mail | August 16, 2010
Staff Photographer
The state's largest coalition of civil and defense lawyers is calling for the creation of an independent forensic laboratory.
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
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Leaders calling for cleanup of SBI
By Joseph Neff and Mandy Locke | E-mail | August 15, 2010
Legislators, prosecutors and defense attorneys are calling for changes in leadership and the law to re-establish the credibility of the State Bureau of Investigation in response to last week's (Raleigh) News & Observer series "Agents' Secrets."
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
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SBI bullet analysis shaky
By Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff | Staff Writers | August 14, 2010
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Firearms and toolmark ID among the oldest disciplines in forensic science - and the most controversial.
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
On death row 14 years, judged on three sets of bullets
Solutions: How to fix firearms, toolmark ID unit?
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Witness for the prosecution: Crime lab is loyal to law enforcement
By Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff | E-mail | August 12, 2010
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At the State Bureau of Investigation, most forensic scientists are cops. So are their bosses. Their bosses' bosses are prosecutors, the chain stopping at Attorney General Roy Cooper, the state's top lawyer.
Video on the Greg Taylor case
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
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Union DA will review cases handled by SBI crime lab
By Joseph Neff and Mandy Locke | Staff Writers | August 11, 2010
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Union County District Attorney John Snyder will review all past homicide cases in his district to ensure that none have been tainted by mistakes from the crime lab at the State Bureau of Investigation.
Agents' Secrets: Archive of coverage
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Fantastic tales told in blood; a jury stunned by SBI's acts
By Joseph Neff and Mandy Locke | E-mail | August 10, 2010
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In the fall of 2007, Davie County prosecutors studied a suspicious bloodstain in a crime scene photograph, looking for evidence that Kirk Turner intentionally slashed his wife's throat with a pocketknife.
Editorial: Cooper's next job: Fix problems at SBI
Video: Agents' Secrets-Junk Science
The truth seeps out at last, and a man is set free
Chief of SBI crime lab had indirect career path
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Video: Agents' Secrets-Junk Science
August 10, 2010
An SBI bloodstain pattern experiment draws criticism.
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The truth seeps out at last, and a man is set free
By Mandy Locke | E-mail | August 10, 2010
In September 1991, Greg Taylor, a Wake County man, had been accused of killing Jacquetta Thomas, a Raleigh woman whose battered body was abandoned in a cul-de-sac in Southeast Raleigh.
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Chief of SBI crime lab had indirect career path
By Mandy Locke | E-mail | August 10, 2010
SBILAB14.NE.031710.ASR
More than two decades ago, Jerry Richardson was considering a job earning $9,000 a year working at a public television station.
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SBI ignored warnings on 'confession' for years
By Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff | E-mail | August 8, 2010
floyd brown 76p
On July 16, 1993, SBI Agent Mark Isley hauled Floyd Brown to jail. The charge: beating a retired schoolteacher to death.
Agents' Secrets: A confession doesn't add up
Agents' Secrets - Day One
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About the series
August 8, 2010
Today: A confession doesn't add up
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sbi
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
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