Thursday, December 13, 2012

Anthony Melendez: After years of wrangling, Lake Waco murders DNA sent to lab. Waco Tribune..


STORY:   "After years of wrangling, Lake Waco murders DNA sent to lab," by reporter Cindy V. Culp, published in the Waco Tribune on December 12, 2012.

GIST:  DNA evidence that attorneys for Anthony Melendez hope will clear him of a 1982 crime known as  the Lake Waco triple murders finally has been released by a California laboratory and sent to Texas for further testing. The evidence arrived at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office in Fort Worth on Wednesday and Thursday, Waco attorney Walter M. Reaves Jr. said. The deliveries ended a yearslong standoff between Melendez’s legal team and a pair of DNA scientists who first were hired more than a decade ago.  Anthony Melendez is the last of four defendants from the Lake Waco murders who is still alive. ........Four men were charged in the murders, which involved the brutal stabbing of three teenagers near Lake Waco. Melendez, 53, is the only one of the defendants still alive. Melendez pleaded guilty in exchange for two life sentences. But he has recanted, saying he pleaded guilty in order to escape the possibility of being put to death. One of the other defendants, David Wayne Spence, was executed. Reaves and a writer named Fredric Dannen think Melendez is innocent and have worked for more than a decade to exonerate him."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/182482311.html

Excellent background: (Wikipedia).

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lake_Waco_murders

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.