Thursday, July 18, 2013

Joseph Buffey: West Virginia; DNA evidence excludes him - and matches another man; Yet prosecution believes in the face of contradictory evidence that there was a second attacker! Court reserves decision after a three-day hearing;


STORY: "Will DNA evidence exonerate Joseph Buffey in West Virginia?" by Jeff Chinn, published by the California Innocence Project on July 15, 2013.

GIST: "Last week, Harrison Circuit (W.VA.) Judge Thomas Bedell heard evidence supporting the innocence claim of Joseph Buffey.   Buffey was convicted for the robbery and sexual assault of an elderly woman in 2001.  Last December, we reported that prosecutors still believed in Buffey’s guilt even though DNA tests excluded Buffey and matched another man, Adam Bowers......... The state agrees that Bowers is a suspect but have a theory that there were multiple attackers (even though the victim said there was only one attacker).   The local paper reports that: “Buffey took the stand Friday, following testimony earlier in the hearings from his former attorney, Tom Dyer, as well as ex-prosecutor John Scott, two DNA experts and a former appeals attorney.  Buffey, 30, of Clarksburg, was adamant that he wasn’t involved and that he didn’t even know Bowers in 2001.”.........To me, this case hinges on whether the prosecution can convince the judge that there was more than one perpetrator.  However, the original conviction rested only on Buffey’s confession, which his attorneys say contained statements inconsistent with the facts.  In addition, the victim herself could not identify Buffey, even though the attacker spent several hours with her. "

The entire story can be found at:

http://californiainnocenceproject.org/blog/2013/07/15/will-dna-evidence-exonerate-joseph-buffey-in-west-va/

 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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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. 

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