STORY: "Court rules that Graf deserves new trial in 1986 Hewitt arson murder," by reporter Cindy V. Culp. published by the Waco Tribune on March 27, 2013.
GIST: "The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that a Hewitt man convicted of burning his two sons alive in a backyard storage shed in 1986 deserves a new trial. The appellate court stopped short of finding Ed Graf innocent of the crime. But in the opinion, the justices agreed that “the false testimony of arson investigators violated his right to due process.” Graf’s attorney, Walter M. Reaves Jr. of Waco, has sought to overturn Graf’s conviction on the basis that arson testimony given by experts at his trial was based on flawed investigative methods that scientists now know to be false......... The decision about whether to re-try Graf will now be up to McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna. He has previously said his office would thoroughly reinvestigate the case and base its decision about a new trial on that. If Graf is not tried again, he would be released from prison. He has spent 25 years behind bars."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/ed-graf-gets-new-trial-in-hewitt-arson-murder/article_3905019e-8990-58fe-9d12-b3a82d02ef8b.html
See the informative release from "The Arson Project" which notes: "Whereas the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas State Fire Marshall’s Office appear to be approaching cases concerning faulty forensic fire scene examinations with an open mind, the same can not be said for the California Attorney General’s Office in the case of George Souliotes. Here are two recent print articles with updates on his case....."
http://thearsonproject.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/as-ed-grafs-hopes-build-george-souliotes-languishes/
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.
