STORY: "Texas judge to examine old case amid statewide review," by reporter Molly Hennesy-Fiske, published in the Los Angeles times on January 11, 2013.
GIST: "A Texas judge is
expected to consider Friday whether to grant a new trial for a man
serving a life sentence for murdering his two stepsons by arson, or even
to declare him innocent. Ed Graf, 60, was convicted in 1988 of locking his 8- and 9-year-old
stepsons in a backyard storage shed in Hewitt, Texas, just outside Waco,
and setting the shed afire. Graf’s is among a handful of arson cases under review by the
Lubbock-based Innocence Project of Texas and an expert state fire panel,
an unprecedented investigation of closed cases recommended by the
state’s Forensic Science Commission. The expert panel includes the
leader of the science commission. Innocence Project officials
hope the review will help overturn wrongful convictions that relied
on so-called “junk science,” discredited approaches of determining
whether fires were intentionally set. Earlier this week, the officials brought their findings to the fire
panel assembled by Texas Fire Marshal Chris Connealy in Houston. The panel
convened after a report last year
by the Forensic Science Commission found that unreliable science helped
lead to Cameron Todd Willingham's conviction for murder by arson in
1992......... In Graf’s case, after the inmate filed to have the case reopened,
Connealy said the McLennan County District Attorney’s office “reached
out to us to get an expert to assist them in their review,” eventually
working with the state fire marshal’s former chief investigator, Tommy
Sing. Sing attended the fire panel meeting in Houston and discussed the
case, as did a panel member who reviewed the case in 2010, Connealy
said. “So we had some broad background, but there are some additional
things the forensic science commission would like provided” before they
issue their findings, he said. Graf’s evidentiary hearing before retired Judge
George Allen,
who originally heard his case, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Friday.
Having exhausted his appeals, Graf has requested that the judge call for
a new trial or issue a finding of actual innocence. The judge will review Graf’s conviction and hear witnesses. Then he
will make findings and a recommendation to the state’s court of criminal
appeals, which will make the final decision."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-arson-hearing-20130111,0,5270472.story
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.
