PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL). The FBI admission that its laboratory hair analysis reports and related testimony are flawed cannot be ignored by the Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant as every second brings Willie Manning closer to execution. The FBI's agreement to do further testing may provide certainty in a case which, as the Justice for Willie web-site points out has been tainted in many other ways. The message to Governor Bryant and Attorney General Jim Hood is that no civilized state can rush Willie Manning to death in these circumstances. (Leaving the thought that no civilized state can justify retaining the death penalty for another day). Do they dare take the risk that subsequent testing will take the life of an innocent man - when there is a chance that science may remove all doubts? Or, in their eyes, is science only to be used to convict people and place them on death row - as opposed to exonerating them? All eyes are on Mississippi.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "Death Row inmate Willie Manning seeks reprieve ahead of execution," published by the Associated Press on May 6, 2013.
GIST: "A Mississippi death row inmate sat Monday in a holding cell at the state prison at Parchman awaiting word on a possible reprieve from Gov. Phil Bryant or the state Supreme Court. Willie Jerome Manning's attorneys asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to stop his execution and allow him to seek post-conviction DNA testing of evidence from the investigation into the 1992 slayings of two college students. Manning insists DNA testing will show him innocent. The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Supreme Court, in separate identical 5-4 rulings, has declined to grant Manning time for the tests and to stop his execution. The court gave the attorney general's office until 4 p.m. to respond to Manning's motion. Bryant spokesman Mick Bullock said Monday that the governor had not yet reached a decision......... "This motion is compelled by the extraordinary admissions by the FBI," wrote Manning attorney Robert S. Mink in the brief. In its statement, the FBI says its expert should have testified that he only determined that the hair fragments exhibited traits associated with African-Americans, not that it came from an African-American. Mink said the statement then given at Manning's trial was false. "The FBI's misleading exaggeration of the hair's probative value was just what the prosecution needed ... (it) allowed the prosecutor to make the incorrect statistical argument that the hair increased the odds that Manning was the perpetrator of the crime. "This was an invaluable, though incorrect, argument in a case built primarily on circumstantial evidence," Mink said."
The entire story can be found at:
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/05/death_row_inmate_willie_mannin.html
See recent update to Willie Manning support site: "Willie Manning claims 5 judges used only prosecution evidence when making the critical decision to deny him DNA testing, thus departing from the usual practice in such cases. Other judges, using the normal procedure of basing their judgment on the complete trial and post-conviction records, came to very different conclusions. Willie made this point in his motion for rehearing, submitted after his petition opposing the setting of an execution date was denied. Shockingly, as a direct result of the 5 judges reviewing only part of the evidence, the court decided that there was no need for DNA testing and denied his motion for rehearing. His execution is now set for May 7 2013."
http://justice4willie.com/
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.
