STORY: "Judge orders new trial for man serving life sentence for 1981 Hartford County double murder," published by the Associated Press on May 8, 2013.
GIST: "A judge has ordered a new trial
for a man serving two life sentences in the 1981 killing of a couple in
Harford County during a drug deal. Attorneys for John Norman Huffington had argued during a
hearing in April that evidence used to convict him, including hair
analysis, has been discredited. They said that without that evidence
there is a substantial likelihood that a jury would not have convicted
him. One of Huffington’s attorneys, Ryan Malone, said in a telephone
interview Wednesday that he believes “the judge did the right thing” by
ordering a new trial. He said the FBI agent that conducted the hair
analysis was a “notorious fraud” and that there is “no question that the
jury at the trial heard false testimony.” “Our view is this
confirms John Huffington’s innocence,” Malone said of the judge’s
ruling, adding that he hopes that the state decides not to retry his
client......... Prosecutors
also used hair analysis to link Huffington to the motor home. An FBI
agent testified that hairs found where Becker was killed were
“indistinguishable” from hairs taken from Huffington’s head. He said the
hair analysis he conducted had an accuracy rate of 99.89 percent. In April 2013, however, DNA analysis of two hairs recovered from the crime scene revealed they did not match Huffington. In
ordering a new trial, Frederick County Circuit Court Judge G. Edward
Dwyer Jr. wrote that “there is a significant possibility” that the
case’s outcome may have been different had prosecutors not relied on the
hair analysis evidence and the testimony of the FBI agent who conducted
it. The judge wrote in a 16-page ruling that prosecutors mentioned the
hair analysis in their opening statement and it was the first piece of
evidence prosecutors talked about in their closing arguments."
The entire story can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/judge-orders-new-trial-for-man-serving-life-sentence-for-1981-harford-county-double-murder/2013/05/08/8cd55ca0-b822-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_story.html
Keep your eye on "The Charles Smith Blog" dear reader. We are following the John Huffington case.
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.
