STORY: "Forensic staff investigated following wrongful conviction," by Jasmin McDermott, (Public Oracle UK) published by the Wrongful Convictions Blog on July 5, 2013. (Thanks to the Wrongful Convictions Blog for drawing this story to our attention.)
GIST: "Forensic Science Service (FSS) staff involved in a crime scene
exhibit mix up that resulted in a man being wrongfully convicted of
possessing a live round will have to answer for their actions following
claims they were aware the exhibit was a dummy. Officers from Merseyside Police carried out a search of Thomas
Smart’s property in Liverpool in January 2008 and discovered what
appeared to be a live round. He was arrested on suspicion of illegally
possessing ammunition. Mr Smart told officers that he bought the round as an ornament and
assumed it was not live. However, forensic scientist Philip Rydeard,
employed by the FSS, said in a report that it was a bulleted cartridge. Mr Smart was charged and pleaded guilty. He was given a four-month
suspended sentenced and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work. However, following an internal review a a year later in January 2009,
staff discovered that there had been a mix up and that the exhibit
numbers had been altered. They apologised for the “quality failure” and admitted that there was
the potential for a miscarriage of justice. But they denied that they
owed any duty of care and said that Mr Rydeard was immune from any civil
proceedings......... Lord Justice Moses sitting in the Court of Appeal ordered a full
hearing into the case. He said: “Witnesses, if called by the FSS, will
have to explain and justify the handling of the exhibits in this case. “They cannot be protected from being questioned or from accounting for their actions.” He added: “It must be recognised that, as a result of interference
with the exhibit number, the real bullet was falsely attributed to Mr
Smart. “The effect of interference with exhibit numbers, whether it was
designed originally to conceal confusion or ‘mix up’ or not, was the
same as planting the real bullet in Mr Smart’s premises. “It is alarming that the course of justice appears to have been
perverted by the alteration of exhibit numbers and the failure to
disclose that that had occurred or any reason why it occurred.”"
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/07/06/forensic-staff-investigated-following-wrongful-conviction/
The entire story can be found at:
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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