STORY: "Jerry Jenkins," published by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project in June, 2013,
GIST: "Mr. Jenkins had always proclaimed his innocence of the crime and first sought DNA testing to prove his innocence in 1988, when DNA testing was in its infancy. Unfortunately, the DNA testing available at the time was unable to obtain a result. When he again attempted to obtain DNA testing in the mid-1990s, he was told that the evidence did not exist. For the next fifteen years, he was told again and again that the physical evidence did not exist. Then, in 2006, he learned that a notorious serial rapist who was incarcerated in Virginia had been convicted of the 1984 rape based on a DNA cold hit. He wrote to MAIP, and Screening Director Eily Raman recommended immediately accepting it as a non-DNA case. After an investigation that convinced MAIP staff that the other man had committed the crime, MAIP teamed up with partner Jim Bensfield and associate Jonathan Kossak of Miller and Chevalier to litigate the case. In 2010, before filing a non-DNA innocence claim based on the non-biological evidence, MAIP and Miller and Chevalier decided to attempt one last search for DNA evidence. This time, Charles County was able to locate a box of physical evidence containing a hair. Technicians at Bode Technologies obtained a full Y-STR profile on semen that remained on the hair, and subsequent testing confirmed that the semen belonged to Derr."
The entire story can be found at:
GIST: "Mr. Jenkins had always proclaimed his innocence of the crime and first sought DNA testing to prove his innocence in 1988, when DNA testing was in its infancy. Unfortunately, the DNA testing available at the time was unable to obtain a result. When he again attempted to obtain DNA testing in the mid-1990s, he was told that the evidence did not exist. For the next fifteen years, he was told again and again that the physical evidence did not exist. Then, in 2006, he learned that a notorious serial rapist who was incarcerated in Virginia had been convicted of the 1984 rape based on a DNA cold hit. He wrote to MAIP, and Screening Director Eily Raman recommended immediately accepting it as a non-DNA case. After an investigation that convinced MAIP staff that the other man had committed the crime, MAIP teamed up with partner Jim Bensfield and associate Jonathan Kossak of Miller and Chevalier to litigate the case. In 2010, before filing a non-DNA innocence claim based on the non-biological evidence, MAIP and Miller and Chevalier decided to attempt one last search for DNA evidence. This time, Charles County was able to locate a box of physical evidence containing a hair. Technicians at Bode Technologies obtained a full Y-STR profile on semen that remained on the hair, and subsequent testing confirmed that the semen belonged to Derr."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.exonerate.org/maip-victories/jerry-jenkins/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;
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.
