"Oh there's also another probably innocent person that Texas is set to kill soon. Larry Swearingen was convicted of killing Melissa Trotter based solely on circumstantial evidence. He was jailed weeks before Trotter's body was found. According to multiple pathologists and doctors who've reexamined the evidence, Trotter was killed while Swearingen was in jail. (One court of appeals judge rejected the science-based testimony of medical examiners because it doesn't explain what the victim was doing for those weeks she was missing. That's not where I thought the burden of proof was supposed to lay, but what do I know.)"
ALEX PAREENE; SALON; Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon.
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BACKGROUND: Larry Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of Melissa Trotter in 1998. Melissa Trotter went missing on 8 December 1998. Larry Swearingen was arrested three days later, and has been incarcerated ever since. The body of Melissa Trotter was found in a forest on 2 January 1999. Larry Swearingen was tried for her murder, and sentenced to death. He maintains his innocence of the murder. Several forensic experts have provided statements and testimony that support his claim. One of these experts, Dr Joyce Carter, is the former Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County in Texas who performed the autopsy of Melissa Trotter and testified at Larry Swearingen’s trial that in her opinion, Melissa Trotter had died 25 days before her body was found. In an affidavit signed in 2007, Dr Carter stated that she had looked again at the case and changed her opinion. She concluded that Melissa Trotter’s body had been left in the forest within two weeks of it being found. If accurate, this would mean that the body was dumped at a time when Larry Swearingen was already in custody.
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"Rick Perry has executed 235 people so far as governor of Texas, so it's no surprise that he's set to kill at least one more person as a presidential candidate," the Salon post by Alex Pareene published on September 2, 2011 begins, under the heading, "Rick Perry set to carry out one or two more questionable executions as candidate."
"Unlike the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, whose execution was carried out despite widespread doubts as to his guilt, Duane Edward Buck committed the murders he's been convicted of. But Mother Jones reports that Buck's sentence was obtained through questionable means," the post continues.
"Here's the problem:
Prosecutors firmly established Buck's guilt, but to secure a capital punishment conviction in Texas they needed to prove "future dangerousness"—that is, provide compelling evidence that Buck posed a serious threat to society if he were ever to walk free. They did so in part with the testimony of a psychologist, Dr. Walter Quijano, who testified that Buck's race (he's African-American) made him more likely to commit crimes in the future. (Quijano answered in the affirmative to the question of whether "the race factor, [being] black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons.")
So Buck is being executed because he's black. This is a bit problematic, constitutionally.
MoJo writes that this psychologist gave race-based testimony in six other death penalty cases, leading John Cornyn -- then the Texas attorney general -- to ask for each case to be retried. And all the cases were retried, with this one exception. And this exception is due to be executed in two weeks.
As we have seen, killing lots and lots of people is one of the things about Rick Perry that Republican voters love, so I can't imagine he'll grant clemency or even delay the sentence.
Oh there's also another probably innocent person that Texas is set to kill soon. Larry Swearingen was convicted of killing Melissa Trotter based solely on circumstantial evidence. He was jailed weeks before Trotter's body was found. According to multiple pathologists and doctors who've reexamined the evidence, Trotter was killed while Swearingen was in jail. (One court of appeals judge rejected the science-based testimony of medical examiners because it doesn't explain what the victim was doing for those weeks she was missing. That's not where I thought the burden of proof was supposed to lay, but what do I know.) This execution has been stayed, for now."
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THE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/09/02/perry_executions
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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 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;
