Friday, December 23, 2011

Joseph Thomset and George Lowder: Ontario Court of Appeal Justice's book reopens 128-year-old mystery - and bungled forensic investigation. The Star.

STORY: "Judge's book reopens 128-year-old murder mystery," by Legal Affairs reporter Tracey Tyler, published in the Toronto Star on December 21, 2011.
GIST: "In his new book The Lazier Murder, Justice Robert Sharpe argues that amateur detective work and a community "out for blood" unjustly sealed the fate of two men...The footprint evidence was crucial but flawed. There were large gaps where the trail had broken off and nobody could follow the tracks all the way. As they tramped through the snow carrying lanterns, the searchers left footprints of their own, a confusing pattern of as many as 12 to 15 different boot markings. The victim’s brother-in-law had arranged for the Belleville police chief, Hugh McKinnon, to come to Picton to head up the investigation. McKinnon obtained boots from the suspects and attempted to compare them with the footprints by placing them directly into tracks in the snow, hopelessly contaminating the evidence."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1105061--judge-s-book-reopens-128-year-old-murder-mystery

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;