PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am pleased to present the award to Washington Post journalist Spencer Hsu for his extraordinary reporting, including revelations that for years, the U.S. Department of Justice has known that flawed forensic work by FBI experts may have led to the convictions of innocent people, but prosecutors rarely told defendants or their attorneys. Hsu discovered that Justice Department officials began reviewing cases after defense attorneys pointed out problems with evidence coming out of FBI labs. But the review was limited. "As a result," Hsu wrote, "hundreds of defendants nationwide remain in prison or on parole for crimes that might merit exoneration, a retrial or a retesting of evidence using DNA because FBI hair and fiber experts may have misidentified them as suspects." In one case, a Texas man — whose death penalty was based on the FBI's questionable analysis — was executed more than a year after the Justice Department began its review. Hsu's superlative writing will hopefully not only help free and exonerate the far too many victims of the Justice department's deceitful conduct, but will also lead to systemic changes that will prevent such wrongful convictions from happening. The Washing Post tells us that from 2005 to 2010, Hsu was the Post’s homeland security correspondent, covering the Department of Homeland Security when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast in August 2005. Hsu has reported on Washington’s immigration debate, focusing on border security and immigration enforcement. He also covered the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in Washington, including the 2001 anthrax mailings and Senate ricin attack, the capital’s air defenses, and systems to detect weapons of mass destruction. I am delighted to present him with "The Charles Smith Blog Award."
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous honourees are:
0: Kevin Morgan (AUSTRALIA): author of "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice, who single-handedly fought for and obtained the forensic materials which led to Colin Ross's pardon almost ninety years after he was executed.
0: Michael Hall (U.S.A.): For his excellent work in Texas Monthly exposing the miscarriages of justice that have occurred as a result of scent-lineups and the "experts" who conduct them.
0: Sun-Sentinel reporter Paula McMahon (U.S.A.) for her ground-breaking reporting over a nine year period which led to the freeing and exoneration of Anthony Caravella.
O: Journalist Stewart Cockburn (AUSTRALIA) for his ground-breaking work in "The Advertiser" which exposed the miscarriage of justice suffered by Ted Splatt and triggered the Royal Commission which led to Splatt's exoneration.
0: Australian scientist Tom Mann (AUSTRALIA) for his sterling efforts to publicize the injustice perpetrated on Ted Splatt in the courts including the publication of "Flawed Forensics: The Ted Splatt case and Stewart Cockburn," a monumental book which demonstrates the tragic consequences which can unfold when science gets twisted out of proportion in the courts and those entrusted with the task of protecting our criminal justice system abdicate their responsibilities.
0: New Yorker staff writer David Grann (U.S.A.)for his awesome exposee of the faulty arson "science" that resulted in the wrongful conviction and execution in Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham. (Photo: David Grann);
0: Pamela Colloff (U.S.A) for her Texas Monthly stories which resulted in the freeing of Anthony Graves within 30 days of the appearance of her first story. Anthony Graves was convicted and sentenced to die in 1994 for six horrific murders in the Central Texas town of Somerville.
0: Julian Sher: (CANADA); for his TV documentaries "A Mother's Ordeal", which shed important new light on the wrongful prosecution of Brenda Waudby made possible by Charles Smith's flawed autopsy report - and "Execution Under Fire," a fascinating, maddening account of the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham at the hands of the unapologetic State of Justice. He becomes the first Canadian journalist to be presented with the Charles Smith Blog award.
O: Guardian journalist Paul Lewis (UK) for his extraordinary reporting on the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London and the resulting inquest. Lewis has already been named reporter of the year by the British Press Awards. As Oliver Luft reported in the Press Gazette: "The stories revealed that Tomlinson, who was a newspaper vendor, died last April after being struck from behind and throw to the ground. Lewis told Press Gazette how his newspaper came under pressure from police to remove from its website a video, provided by a reader, which showed Tomlinson being pushed to the ground by officers. The police had said earlier that Tomlinson had been on his way home from work at a nearby newsagent when he collapsed."
I welcome suggestions as to other authors who deserve to be nominated for this award for their work in exposing miscarriages of justice flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, or a combination of both at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
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BACKGROUND; This award emanated from The Charles Smith Blog which I created on 2006 to expose the havoc wreaked by Dr. Charles Randal Smith - a pediatric pathologist (since struck from the registry of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for professional misconduct and incompetence) who purported to be a forensic pathologist and perceived his role to be that of an advocate for the prosecution team - and in the process he destroyed many lives. (Dr. Smith was a pediatric pathologist); Although much of its attention has been focused on an independent public inquiry into many of Smith's cases, now that the Inquiry has completed its work, I am also focusing on ongoing cases anywhere in the world which involve miscarriages of justice caused by flawed forensic pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above. Some of the cases considered by the Blog have only come to public attention because of the magnificent efforts of journalists (and occasionally people from other walks of life) be they in the print or electronic media. I myself was a reporter for many years at the Toronto Star. I launched the Charles Smith Blog Award in 2009 as a forum in which I could honour these journalists by drawing attention to their work on stories which, in my personal view, represent what journalism at its best is all about - the exposure of miscarriages of justice.
EXPOSURE: The Charles Smith Blog has attracted more than 220,000 hits from all over the world since its inception and is currently listed in several lists of the top forensic science and criminology blogs.
CRITERIA: The award is presented for excellence in exposing miscarriages of justice caused anywhere in the world by flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above.
UNUSUAL NATURE: This award is entirely virtual. There is no prize; There is no certificate. It is a pure and unadulterated honour bestowed by myself as publisher in recognition of contributions by others to this important area of journalism. There is however a ceremony of sorts. Each time I press the enter button and a new winner of the Charles Smith Blog award is exploded into cyberspace, I raise a glass of fine wine and toast the recipient for doing what journalists are supposed to do - and for doing it so well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
0: Kevin Morgan (AUSTRALIA): author of "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice, who single-handedly fought for and obtained the forensic materials which led to Colin Ross's pardon almost ninety years after he was executed.
0: Michael Hall (U.S.A.): For his excellent work in Texas Monthly exposing the miscarriages of justice that have occurred as a result of scent-lineups and the "experts" who conduct them.
0: Sun-Sentinel reporter Paula McMahon (U.S.A.) for her ground-breaking reporting over a nine year period which led to the freeing and exoneration of Anthony Caravella.
O: Journalist Stewart Cockburn (AUSTRALIA) for his ground-breaking work in "The Advertiser" which exposed the miscarriage of justice suffered by Ted Splatt and triggered the Royal Commission which led to Splatt's exoneration.
0: Australian scientist Tom Mann (AUSTRALIA) for his sterling efforts to publicize the injustice perpetrated on Ted Splatt in the courts including the publication of "Flawed Forensics: The Ted Splatt case and Stewart Cockburn," a monumental book which demonstrates the tragic consequences which can unfold when science gets twisted out of proportion in the courts and those entrusted with the task of protecting our criminal justice system abdicate their responsibilities.
0: New Yorker staff writer David Grann (U.S.A.)for his awesome exposee of the faulty arson "science" that resulted in the wrongful conviction and execution in Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham. (Photo: David Grann);
0: Pamela Colloff (U.S.A) for her Texas Monthly stories which resulted in the freeing of Anthony Graves within 30 days of the appearance of her first story. Anthony Graves was convicted and sentenced to die in 1994 for six horrific murders in the Central Texas town of Somerville.
0: Julian Sher: (CANADA); for his TV documentaries "A Mother's Ordeal", which shed important new light on the wrongful prosecution of Brenda Waudby made possible by Charles Smith's flawed autopsy report - and "Execution Under Fire," a fascinating, maddening account of the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham at the hands of the unapologetic State of Justice. He becomes the first Canadian journalist to be presented with the Charles Smith Blog award.
O: Guardian journalist Paul Lewis (UK) for his extraordinary reporting on the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London and the resulting inquest. Lewis has already been named reporter of the year by the British Press Awards. As Oliver Luft reported in the Press Gazette: "The stories revealed that Tomlinson, who was a newspaper vendor, died last April after being struck from behind and throw to the ground. Lewis told Press Gazette how his newspaper came under pressure from police to remove from its website a video, provided by a reader, which showed Tomlinson being pushed to the ground by officers. The police had said earlier that Tomlinson had been on his way home from work at a nearby newsagent when he collapsed."
I welcome suggestions as to other authors who deserve to be nominated for this award for their work in exposing miscarriages of justice flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, or a combination of both at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND; This award emanated from The Charles Smith Blog which I created on 2006 to expose the havoc wreaked by Dr. Charles Randal Smith - a pediatric pathologist (since struck from the registry of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for professional misconduct and incompetence) who purported to be a forensic pathologist and perceived his role to be that of an advocate for the prosecution team - and in the process he destroyed many lives. (Dr. Smith was a pediatric pathologist); Although much of its attention has been focused on an independent public inquiry into many of Smith's cases, now that the Inquiry has completed its work, I am also focusing on ongoing cases anywhere in the world which involve miscarriages of justice caused by flawed forensic pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above. Some of the cases considered by the Blog have only come to public attention because of the magnificent efforts of journalists (and occasionally people from other walks of life) be they in the print or electronic media. I myself was a reporter for many years at the Toronto Star. I launched the Charles Smith Blog Award in 2009 as a forum in which I could honour these journalists by drawing attention to their work on stories which, in my personal view, represent what journalism at its best is all about - the exposure of miscarriages of justice.
EXPOSURE: The Charles Smith Blog has attracted more than 220,000 hits from all over the world since its inception and is currently listed in several lists of the top forensic science and criminology blogs.
CRITERIA: The award is presented for excellence in exposing miscarriages of justice caused anywhere in the world by flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above.
UNUSUAL NATURE: This award is entirely virtual. There is no prize; There is no certificate. It is a pure and unadulterated honour bestowed by myself as publisher in recognition of contributions by others to this important area of journalism. There is however a ceremony of sorts. Each time I press the enter button and a new winner of the Charles Smith Blog award is exploded into cyberspace, I raise a glass of fine wine and toast the recipient for doing what journalists are supposed to do - and for doing it so well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
