"Pikett is also named in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Victoria lawyer Rex Easley, who represents former Victoria County Sheriff Capt. Michael Buchanek, 55.
Easley contends Pikett and others violated his client's Fourth Amendment rights. The suit alleges scent dogs led to an unlawful search and seizure of Buchanek's property, and that inaccurate information was provided to a magistrate to secure a search warrant.
Of Wednesday's ruling, Easley said people can sleep better knowing their Constitutional rights are recognized and protected.
"It's a really big deal," the attorney said. "It is important to have relevant and reliable evidence - instead of junk science.""
VICTORIA ADVOCATE STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS;
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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 has also been on Deputy Keith Pikett, another so-called dog-scent "specialist", a canine officer who was formerly 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. Winfrey is serving 75 years in prison. Three bloodhounds, trained by their self-taught handler to sniff out criminals, indicated that they smelled his scent on gauze pads that had been rubbed on the victim's clothing three years earlier and preserved in Ziploc bags. No physical evidence tied Richard Winfrey Sr. to a brutal 2004 murder in East Texas. No witnesses placed him at the crime scene. Defense lawyers claim Winfrey was the victim of an unreliable, unscientific process known as "scent lineups," where dogs sniff crime scene evidence and try to match it to smells obtained from suspects or from items they have touched. Winfrey's lawyers had asked Texas's highest criminal court to toss out the conviction, saying it's unsupported by reliable evidence. They also asked that lower courts be ordered to apply more rigorous scientific standards when prosecutors seek to introduce dog scent lineups.
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"DALLAS - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals acquitted a man convicted of murder and who was imprisoned primarily because three bloodhounds allegedly matched his scent to the crime scene," the Victoria Advocate story published on September 22, 2010 begins, under the heading, "Court reverses conviction in dog scent case."
"The appeals court reversed the 2007 guilty verdict against Richard Winfrey Sr. on Wednesday, ruling such evidence is legally insufficient to convict," the story continues.
"The main evidence in the 2004 murder of Murray Burr was a positive scent identification from bloodhounds named Quincy, James Bond and Clue. The dogs belong to former Fort Bend Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett, who retired this year.
Pikett is a defendant in at least three lawsuits from men who say they were wrongly jailed after his dogs linked them to crimes they did not commit. He did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press.
Pikett is also named in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Victoria lawyer Rex Easley, who represents former Victoria County Sheriff Capt. Michael Buchanek, 55.
Easley contends Pikett and others violated his client's Fourth Amendment rights. The suit alleges scent dogs led to an unlawful search and seizure of Buchanek's property, and that inaccurate information was provided to a magistrate to secure a search warrant.
Of Wednesday's ruling, Easley said people can sleep better knowing their Constitutional rights are recognized and protected.
"It's a really big deal," the attorney said. "It is important to have relevant and reliable evidence - instead of junk science."
Victoria County District Attorney Steve Tyler applauded the ruling and Easley's work, which helped bring national attention to scent dog practices.
Easley helped to unearth patterns in similar cases and attract help from groups such as The Innocence Project, which works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people, the district attorney said.
"It improved our criminal justice system," Tyler said. "I think that's really important."
Additionally, former Victoria Advocate reporter Leslie Wilber first reported suspicions surrounding Pikett, his scent dogs and the techniques used to incriminate and convict suspects.
Her work also unearthed related patterns in other cases, and spurred spinoff coverage by some of the nation's biggest newspapers and magazines.
The State Bar of Texas recognized Wilber and the newspaper for this work during its 2010 Texas Gavel Awards.
Buchanek's lawsuit, meanwhile, goes to trial early next year. Will Wednesday's ruling help the case?
"I cannot comment," Easley said."
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The story can be found at:
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/sep/22/dogscent_identification_092310_112083/?news&police-courts
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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://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;