POST: "Does the prosecution win if justice loses?" by retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin, published by the Huffington Post on March 14, 2013.
GIST: "Souliotes was convicted 16 years ago and is serving a life sentence without parole for killing his tenant and her two children during a fire that he allegedly set. I will not recite the long, tortuous history of this case, but suffice it to say that because of new scientific evidence, the California Attorney General has conceded that all of the indicators relied on by the prosecution's fire investigators to prove arson were faulty, and that there is in fact no scientific evidence whatsoever that the fire was arson. In short, the only evidence left to suggest guilt is the testimony of one witness who placed Souliotes at the scene. Two federal judges have ruled that her testimony was "not credible" and "simply unworthy of belief." The Court further concluded that Mr. Souliotes is actually innocent, that no reasonable juror could find guilt based on the current evidentiary record, and that Mr. Souliotes' trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to present a defense at his second trial. Nonetheless, the California Attorney General continues to aggressively fight to keep Mr. Souliotes, who is 72 years old and in poor health, in prison. To cling to a conviction under these circumstances does not serve the public. A win here for the prosecution would be a loss for justice."
The entire post can be found at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judge-h-lee-sarokin/does-the-prosecution-win_b_2862964.html?utm_hp_ref=crime
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.
