"Innocence Project attorney Velena Beety said West has been highly discredited as a witness.
West testified at the trials of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, both exonerated in 2008 in two separate child murder cases.
West testified that the bodies had bite marks from Brewer and Brooks.
DNA evidence later exonerated them, and further investigation determined the marks West matched with the suspects were not made by human teeth.
Beety also noted West's area of expertise was forensic odontology - not video enhancement."
REPORTER: HATTIESBURG AMERICA;
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"The Mississippi Innocence Project has taken up the case of a Collins woman jailed on drug and assault charges," the Hattiesburg American story published on August 27, 2011 under the heading, "Petition focuses on dentist's testimony: Collins woman serving 44-year sentence on drug, assault charges," begins.
"The nonprofit group argues FBI analysts' probe of a videotape disputes the testimony of a Hattiesburg dentist," the story continues.
"The state Supreme Court already has approved the petition for post-conviction review filed on behalf of Vikki Leigh Stubbs, and now the group is awaiting response from the Lincoln County Circuit Court - where the case originally was tried in 2001.
Stubbs currently is serving a 44-year sentence on charges of conspiracy to unlawfully possess morphine and to commit grand larceny, possession of morphine in excess of 20 dosage units and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
The charges stem from a weekend trip that Stubbs, Janet Kimberly Williams and co-defendant Tammy Vance took from the Cadie Hill substance abuse treatment center in Columbus.
Vance also is serving a 44-year sentence on the same charges, and attorney Merrida Coxwell has filed a similar petition on her behalf.
Stubbs' petition to the Lincoln County court states the women met at the center, and Stubbs and Vance were finished with their treatment when they left with Williams.
The trip took them to Summit, where Williams' boyfriend lived.
The petition alleges that Williams stole Oxycontin from her boyfriend and ingested it that weekend.
Stubbs and Vance were indicted and convicted on charges of conspiring with Williams to steal the Oxycontin and the cash that was in the bag along with the drugs.
They also were convicted of assaulting Williams while she was unconscious during what the petition called a drug overdose at a Brookhaven hotel that weekend.
While Williams was still asleep from the night before, Stubbs and Vance left the room to eat.
When they returned, Williams was in a poor state and Stubbs and Vance called an ambulance while administering CPR to Williams, according to the petition, which represents only one side of the issue.
The petition states hospital personnel treating Williams after her overdose reported wounds to her head, breasts, vagina and buttocks.
"Innocence Project attorney Velena Beety said West has been highly discredited as a witness.
West testified at the trials of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, both exonerated in 2008 in two separate child murder cases.
West testified that the bodies had bite marks from Brewer and Brooks.
DNA evidence later exonerated them, and further investigation determined the marks West matched with the suspects were not made by human teeth.
Beety also noted West's area of expertise was forensic odontology - not video enhancement.
"That's exactly one of the issues we have with the testimony," she said."
One of the central issues raised in the petition is the testimony of Hattiesburg dentist Michael West during trial.
The petition states West testified to seeing a woman pull a limp body out of the toolbox in a pickup truck bed on surveillance videotape taken at the hotel in Brookhaven.
But Stubbs' father received documents from the FBI following a Freedom of Information Act request that says the videotape proved to be inconclusive after extensive analysis.
Prosecutors withheld the FBI's opinion about the contents of the videotape at trial.
While West testified to seeing two women on the videotape moving a limp body from the toolbox of a truck into a hotel room, the FBI analysis observed only one person moving objects from the truck to the hotel room.
FBI analysts also couldn't tell what objects were being unloaded, according to the petition.
"This is very substantial evidence that a jury should have been able to hear without a doubt in deciding this case," Coxwell said, noting that Vance's petition is nearly identical to Stubbs'.
In a statement sent to the Hattiesburg American on Friday, West said the Lincoln County district attorney asked him to "photograph and document the physical trauma to a sexual assault/ mutilation victim at Baptist Hospital in Jackson."
"At the time of my exam, the victim was alive with serious closed head trauma and no evidence of drug abuse," the statement reads. "I documented this evidence and submitted to the law enforcement authorities."
West's statement says a surveillance tape from the hotel was sent to the FBI, which "then submitted a report that they did not have the equipment or the capability to enhance the video."
Authorities from Lincoln County again asked West for help and he took the tape to a local television station where it was enhanced and transferred to a digital format - which was further enhanced using a software program, according to the statement.
"I presented this tape in open court for the viewing of the jury," the statement reads. "The tape shows a tall girl leave a hotel room; looking both directions and return to the room five or six times.
"The tall girl leaves the room, goes to a truck, steps onto the truck bed and opens a toolbox. She bends down and appears to remove a body with long hair and carries it inside the hotel room.
"I testified that the trauma of the body of the victim matched the length and width to the toolbox latches' length and width.
"The toolbox was actually introduced into evidence for demonstrative and cross-examination purposes at trial."
West's statement says he was only one of the witnesses who testified in the case and that the jury ultimately determined the facts based on law and the evidence presented to it.
"I would challenge the critics of this case to read the entire transcript," the statement reads.
West was the only witness prosecutors called to testify about the videotape.
Stubbs' petition argues that the state knowingly presented fraudulent testimony, so a new trial is warranted.
Among other issues, the petition also argues that Stubbs received ineffective assistance from her attorney, who Coxwell said wasn't experienced with criminal defense.
Stubbs also was sentenced for possession of 20 dosage units of morphine, when trial testimony only showed evidence that eight to 12 pills were missing from Williams' boyfriend's bag.
Stubbs received the maximum sentence of 24 years for the possession charge, and the maximum would've been eight years less if convicted of possession of only 12 pills.
"I think there's an extremely viable claim that these women are innocent," Coxwell said. "I look forward to the judge granting discovery in this case.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20110827/NEWS01/108270314
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
