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. All eyes are on Missississipi.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "AG Jim Hood says DNA test wouldn't exonerate death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning," published by the Associated Press on May 4, 2013.
GIST: Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says a new round of DNA testing on evidence collected against death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning would not exonerate him in the 1992 deaths of two students. Manning, now 44, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the state penitentiary at Parchman. "Any time there is legitimate, exculpatory evidence, capable of DNA testing, the state is prepared to conduct testing," Hood said in a statement released late Friday. "However when the defense waits until the 11th hour to raise such claims, which could not possibly exonerate their client, courts are loathe to be subjected to these types of dilatory defense tactics." Manning, who is black, had argued that hair found in one of the victim's cars was not proved to be his. DNA showed that the hair was from a black person, but other blacks had been seen in the car, according to trial testimony. Hood said Manning could have had the hair tested at any time but had not. The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution, in a 5-4 decision..........(Defence lawyer) Voisin said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is one of the options. He also said Hood is missing the point on the FBI's offer to conduct new testing. "The first DNA testing was done at the time of the trial. We have been seeking access to this evidence to see if it was possibly testable since 2001. There's nothing 11th hour about it," Voisin said. The Washington Post reported Friday (http://wapo.st/15bWdEP ) that federal officials are offering to retest the DNA in the case. Federal officials, in a letter to Mississippi officials and Voisin, said Manning's case was part of a broad review of the FBI's handling of scientific evidence in thousands of violent crimes in the 1980s and 1990s. The FBI announced last year that they would seek to correct past errors in forensic hair examinations before 2000. Voisin said Saturday that he knew the FBI was conducting a review but didn't know when it would announce anything.
The entire story can be found at:
See Justice For Willie site at:
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.
