STORY: "Edwards can set Swearingen execution date," published in the Your Houston News on December 13, 2012.
GIST: "The next step is for Edwards to set a new execution date for Swearingen, Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam said. “We believe it clears the way for an execution date,” he said. “Bill Delmore (chief of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Legal Services Division) is planning to ask Judge Edwards for an execution date. He’ll go to court in the near future to ask him to set a hearing to set the execution date.” Swearingen has contended for years that entomological (insect) evidence made it impossible for him to be in the forest during the time Melissa Trotter’s body went missing. When found, Trotter’s remains were consistent “with a scenario” in which her body was left in the national forest under climate conditions existing at the time from Dec. 7, 1998, through Jan. 2, 1999. Swearingen has claimed he could not have murdered Trotter because he was in the Montgomery County Jail starting Dec. 11, 1998. The speed with which the CCA handed down its habeas corpus denial is “pretty significant,” Diepraam said. “It’s a testament to the quality of the evidence presented by the state and that the defense evidence was unfounded as to the basis of science. “The Court of Criminal Appeals and Judge Edwards didn’t have too much difficulty deciding it was junk science and not worth the paper it was printed on. But defense attorney Steve Jackson said he expects the appellate courts to reverse the CCA’s decision and find that it was scientifically impossible for Swearingen to have killed Trotter. “Mr. Swearingen was in jail when Ms. Trotter was killed, and the science proved this,” he said."
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/edwards-can-set-swearingen-execution-date/article_aded491a-10be-5e3f-ad30-e3a325846444.html
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
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.
