Thursday, October 31, 2013

Kendrick Johnson : Update; Judge releases school surveillance video footage and will announce Monday whether an inquest is to be ordered. Family's lawyer calls it "a real-life murder mystery." Crimesider; CBS News.


STORY: "Kendrick Johnson update: "It's a real-life murder mystery," atty Benjamin Crump says of Ga. teen's gym mat death," by reporter Stephanie Slifer, published  by CNN on October 31, 2013.

 GIST:  "Benjamin Crump, the lawyer representing the family of a Georgia teen who was found dead inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in his high school gym in January, says the judge's decision to release school surveillance video connected to the case is a "major victory." "That was a major victory for Kendrick Johnson's family and for the community who stood on corners [protesting] for nine months," Crump, the high-profile attorney who represented Trayvon Martin's family, told CBS News' Crimesider on Wednesday.  Crump explained that, despite an objection by the sheriff, the judge made the decision to release not only video surveillance from inside the gym on the day Johnson was found dead, but also the video surveillance of the whole school from Jan. 10, 2013, the day Johnson went missing, until Jan. 11, when he was found..........The judge also said Wednesday that a decision will be made on Monday regarding the Johnson family's request for a coroner's inquest, according to Crump......... "It's a real-life murder mystery," Crump said. "It defies all logic, the rules of science and common sense that a 17-year-old athlete would climb into a wrestling mat and get stuck trying to get a tennis shoe and stop breathing. What's more likely is that someone rolled him up in that mat." He said the fact that Johnson's organs were determined to be missing just adds to the mystery. Crump said he has not received any explanation as to what happened to the teen's organs. "That's a part of the murder mystery, too," Crump said. "The fact that his organs are missing, his clothes that had DNA and blood evidence are missing, his fingernails are missing. All of this is missing and it just substantiates the belief that this was not an accident.""

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57610111-504083/kendrick-johnson-update-its-a-real-life-murder-mystery-atty-benjamin-crump-says-of-ga-teens-gym-mat-death/

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following 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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

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