STORY: "DNA exoneration of co-defendant discredits conviction of Cleveland Wright in 1978 killing," by reporter Spencer S. Hsu, published by the Washington Post on January 17, 2014. (Reporter Hsu was nominated for 'The Charles Smith Blog Award" for his his ground-breaking exposee of flawed FBI hair examinations);
GIST: "Prosecutors have agreed that a court should throw out the conviction of a District man who spent 28 years in prison for murder, acknowledging that flaws in their case were revealed by DNA testing that exonerated his co-defendant. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. cited discredited scientific evidence in agreeing to dismiss charges against Cleveland Wright, 55. Prosecutors have agreed that a court should throw out the conviction of a District man who spent 28 years in prison for murder, acknowledging that flaws in their case were revealed by DNA testing that exonerated his co-defendant. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. cited discredited scientific evidence in agreeing to dismiss charges against Cleveland Wright, 55.cIt is as much a prosecutor’s “duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one,” Machen wrote in court papers, quoting an oft-cited 1935 U.S. Supreme Court opinion. In the papers, signed Wednesday and received by Wright’s attorneys Friday, Machen stopped short of joining Wright’s bid for a declaration of innocence, but he said he would not try Wright again. Wright was convicted of murdering a District floral shop worker in an early morning robbery in July 1978. He was released from prison and placed on lifetime parole in 2007. Thirty-five years ago, Wright, then 20, and Santae Tribble, then 17, were childhood friends who were accused of teaming up to rob and kill two men using the same gun, two weeks apart, in the same Southeast Washington neighborhood. Both defendants were charged in both killings. But Tribble was acquitted in the slaying of the flower shop worker, and Wright was acquitted in the slaying of a cabdriver. DNA testing in 2012 indicated that prosecutors and the FBI Laboratory were incorrect in linking Tribble to a hair found in a stocking near the cabbie’s killing. A witness said the killer had worn a stocking mask, but DNA testing found that hairs in the stocking came from neither Wright nor Tribble. In December 2012, D.C. Superior Court Judge Laura A. Cordero found that “by clear and convincing evidence,” Tribble was not guilty and that he had nothing to do with the crime of which he was convicted. In August, Wright asked Cordero to review his conviction in the killing of the flower shop worker. “If neither of them was the masked murderer of [the first victim], then neither of them was the murderer of [the second], as the same gun was used to kill both men under similar circumstances,” wrote Sandra K. Levick, chief of special litigation for the D.C. Public Defender Service, which handled each man’s post-conviction petitions. In its reply, Machen’s office agreed that the prosecutions’ reliance on now-discredited hair evidence should void Wright’s conviction and that the government is not in a position to develop new evidence 35 years after the slaying. Prosecutors also noted that Cordero had declared Wright’s co-defendant innocent.".........Tribble’s case was featured in a series of reports in The Washington Post about flaws in FBI hair examinations that had led to wrongful convictions in the District and elsewhere."
The entire story can be found at:GIST: "Prosecutors have agreed that a court should throw out the conviction of a District man who spent 28 years in prison for murder, acknowledging that flaws in their case were revealed by DNA testing that exonerated his co-defendant. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. cited discredited scientific evidence in agreeing to dismiss charges against Cleveland Wright, 55. Prosecutors have agreed that a court should throw out the conviction of a District man who spent 28 years in prison for murder, acknowledging that flaws in their case were revealed by DNA testing that exonerated his co-defendant. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. cited discredited scientific evidence in agreeing to dismiss charges against Cleveland Wright, 55.cIt is as much a prosecutor’s “duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one,” Machen wrote in court papers, quoting an oft-cited 1935 U.S. Supreme Court opinion. In the papers, signed Wednesday and received by Wright’s attorneys Friday, Machen stopped short of joining Wright’s bid for a declaration of innocence, but he said he would not try Wright again. Wright was convicted of murdering a District floral shop worker in an early morning robbery in July 1978. He was released from prison and placed on lifetime parole in 2007. Thirty-five years ago, Wright, then 20, and Santae Tribble, then 17, were childhood friends who were accused of teaming up to rob and kill two men using the same gun, two weeks apart, in the same Southeast Washington neighborhood. Both defendants were charged in both killings. But Tribble was acquitted in the slaying of the flower shop worker, and Wright was acquitted in the slaying of a cabdriver. DNA testing in 2012 indicated that prosecutors and the FBI Laboratory were incorrect in linking Tribble to a hair found in a stocking near the cabbie’s killing. A witness said the killer had worn a stocking mask, but DNA testing found that hairs in the stocking came from neither Wright nor Tribble. In December 2012, D.C. Superior Court Judge Laura A. Cordero found that “by clear and convincing evidence,” Tribble was not guilty and that he had nothing to do with the crime of which he was convicted. In August, Wright asked Cordero to review his conviction in the killing of the flower shop worker. “If neither of them was the masked murderer of [the first victim], then neither of them was the murderer of [the second], as the same gun was used to kill both men under similar circumstances,” wrote Sandra K. Levick, chief of special litigation for the D.C. Public Defender Service, which handled each man’s post-conviction petitions. In its reply, Machen’s office agreed that the prosecutions’ reliance on now-discredited hair evidence should void Wright’s conviction and that the government is not in a position to develop new evidence 35 years after the slaying. Prosecutors also noted that Cordero had declared Wright’s co-defendant innocent.".........Tribble’s case was featured in a series of reports in The Washington Post about flaws in FBI hair examinations that had led to wrongful convictions in the District and elsewhere."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/dna-exoneration-of-co-defendant-lifts-murder-conviction-of-cleveland-wright-in-1978-killings/2014/01/17/b6b64b30-7fb7-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
