PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL): Efforts by Mississippi prosecutors to shut up Jeffrey Havard's lawyer and seal the court file from the public send out an ugly message: Mississippi should be allowed to kill Jeffrey Havard without regard to the mounting evidence that he is innocent - in fact, that no crime took place. This is the case where pathologist Steven Hayne has repudiated his testimony at trial that the baby's death was a homicide consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Hayne now points to the research of biochemical engineers who believe that shaking alone cannot produce enough force to kill. This is the case where Hayne testified that the baby had a 1-inch anal bruise "consistent with penetration of the rectum with an object." He has since told the Clarion-Ledger that such a bruise can be caused by nothing more than "a hard stool." This is the case where pathologist Michael Baden has concluded that there was no evidence of sexual abuse or homicide - and that the injuries described in the autopsy were consistent with "the baby being accidentally dropped and striking her head on the toilet tank as the father described." Jeffrey Havard's prosecutors would like to shut up those people who dare write letters urging the government to put the brakes on the death and re-examine the case with an unjaundiced eye. They would like to shut up his lawyer for doing his job. They would presumably like to shut up the press for exposing the vulgar spectacle of a state so hungry to kill, in a case which cries out for reconsideration before it is too late. This is all the more reason for ordinary people in Mississippi and wherever else in the word where people value justice to inundate the prosecutors with letters sending a clear message that their actions are being closely scrutinized - as is the entire administration of justice in Mississippi.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "AG office: Facebook post could jeopardize sensitive case," by reporter Jerry Mitchell, published by the Clarion-Ledger on September 1, 2013. Wikipedia informs us that Jerry W. Mitchell is an investigative reporter for The Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. He convinced authorities to reopen seemingly cold murder cases from the Civil Rights Era, prompting one colleague to call him "the South's Simon Wiesenthal"..........[1]Mitchell's work so far has helped put at least four Klansmen behind bars: Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers, Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers for ordering the fatal firebombing of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer in 1966, Bobby Cherry for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four girls and, most recently, Edgar Ray Killen, for helping orchestrate the June 21, 1964, killings of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman."
GIST: "A lawyer’s Facebook post invoking a Kris Kristofferson song had the Mississippi attorney general’s office singing the blues, calling on the court to seal the file of that lawyer’s death row client.
On Friday, the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett, found that request out of tune, saying the Facebook post that quoted from Kristofferson’s song, “To Beat the Devil,” failed to justify sealing the public court records. Jackson lawyer Graham Carner is defending Jeffrey Havard, who has been on death row for a decade, convicted of sexually assaulting and killing his girlfriend’s 6-month-old daughter, Chloe Britt. He admits accidentally dropping her but denies sexually assaulting her or killing her. On Aug. 23, Carner posted on Facebook: “After responding to an asinine motion filed by the State, which not only wants to kill my client but doesn’t want to be bothered by actually responding to his claims of innocence, I am heartened by the following words penned by Kris Kristofferson.” Carner then quoted these Kristofferson lyrics: “And you still can hear me singin’ to the people who don’t listen, to the things that I am sayin’, prayin’ someone’s gonna hear. And I guess I’ll die explaining how the things that they complain about, are things they could be changin’, hopin’ someone’s gonna care.” In their motion to seal, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Melanie Thomas and Cameron Benton, both special assistant attorneys general, wrote that “Mr. Carner’s inability to maintain his professional integrity could compromise a case which is sensitive in nature. The victim in this case is a minor, a 6-month-old girl who was sexually battered before she was murdered. Mr. Carner has already demonstrated he is unable to refrain from speaking about this case to the public.” Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, said that “executing someone is obviously the ultimate penalty the state can impose, and the public deserves transparency at every step of the process. “If the state believes a defense attorney has behaved irresponsibly, it has remedies short of shutting out the public and operating in secret.” Lawyers for the attorney general’s office also complained of receiving numerous letters regarding the Havard case, some “identical in their wording, leading the State to believe the writers are procuring their information from the same source.”........On Friday, Jan Schaefer, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, told The Clarion-Ledger, “We agree with the judge’s ruling. “In fact, we had reconsidered our motion and were preparing to withdraw it when the judge ruled.” In 2002, an autopsy of the infant by pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne recorded no anal tears or similar injuries. Authorities also found no semen. At Havard’s 2002 trial, Hayne testified the baby had a 1-inch anal bruise, “consistent with penetration of the rectum with an object. ”He has since acknowledged to The Clarion-Ledger that such a bruise can be caused by nothing more than “a hard stool.” At trial, he testified the baby’s death was a homicide, consistent with shaken baby syndrome. But Hayne now disavows that conclusion, saying biochemical engineers believe shaking alone can’t produce enough force to kill. At trial, prosecutors pointed to the infant’s anal dilation as proof that sexual battery took place. Hayne has since acknowledged such dilation takes place when a lack of brain function or death takes place. At The Clarion-Ledger’s request, world-renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden examined the autopsy report and photographs. He concluded there was no evidence of sexual abuse or a homicide. The injuries described at autopsy were consistent with “the baby being accidentally dropped and striking her head on the toilet tank as the father described,” Baden said."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20130902/NEWS11/309020004/1002/rss?gcheck=1
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following the Dookhan debacle.
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
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