STORY: "Brooklyn D.A. names advisors for his review of convictions" by reporter Andrew Keshner, published by the New York Law Journal on February 24, 2014.
GIST:
"As New York City averted a lawsuit from David Ranta, who spent 23
years
in prison for a now-vacated murder conviction, the Brooklyn District
Attorney's Office announced the appointment of an outside advisory panel
to help review other questionable convictions in the wake of the Ranta
case. On Thursday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer announced a $6.4
million
settlement with Ranta, who had submitted a $150 million notice of claim
against the city but had not yet filed a full-fledged suit. On Friday,
Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson announced the
appointment of a three-member panel to consult with the office's
Conviction Review Unit about convictions connected to now-retired
detective Louis Scarcella, who handled the case against Ranta, and other
cases.
In a statement, Thompson—who ousted longtime incumbent Charles Hynes
after slamming him on questionable convictions—said the advisers'
"combined experience and uncompromising integrity will prove invaluable
in my office's efforts to meticulously examine available evidence in
order to right wrongs or confirm convictions. My ultimate goal is to
insure that the people of Brooklyn have faith in the fairness of our
criminal justice system." According to the announcement, the panelists
will meet as-needed and
advise on matters including if a "conviction should stand, needs
additional review or should possibly be overturned." Thompson has not
yet announced who will head his office's internal
unit. The press release said the conviction review unit "has recently
been expanded and re-organized," and details would be forthcoming. The
outside advisers are Bernard Nussbaum, a partner at Wachtell,
Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of
the
Columbia University School of Law's Center for the Advancement of Public
Integrity, and defense attorney Gary Villanueva. In an interview,
Nussbaum said he and the other panelists were tasked
with "examining various cases in which questions have arisen whether
there was a proper conviction, and to exercise judgment and give
opinions to the district attorney." Noting the panel would soon begin
its work, Nussbaum said participation
was "an important public service" and he and the other members would do
the job "to the best of our ability." Nussbaum noted his background as a
federal prosecutor, a defense attorney and his service as counsel to
President Bill Clinton.""
The entire story can be found at:
The entire story can be found at:
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.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
