PUBLISHER'S VIEW: As a huge admirer of Rubin Carter - a great, courageous inspirational man, I am distressed to learn through this article penned for the New York Daily News to learn that he is on his deathbed. At the same time, it is the mark of a truly great man to use what must be near the last moments of his life to make a plea on behalf of David McCallum, of Brooklyn, who he believes to be innocent. I will therefore do my best for Rubin to help get his message out to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson and add my voice accordingly. I encourage all of my readers to pray for Rubin, and add their voices too.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "Hurricane Carter's dying wish," by Rubin Hurricane Carter, published by the New York Daily News on February 21, 2014.
SUB-HEADING: "He asks Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson to free another man who was wrongly convicted."
SUB-HEADING: "Pressing for a world where justice really happens;"
GIST: "You may remember me from my other life as a middleweight boxer. But fate had other plans for me; I was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey, and spent 19 years in prison trying, along with generous friends and good people from every walk of life, to right this wrong and gain my freedom. I am now quite literally on my deathbed and am making my final wish to those with the legal authority to act. My single regret in life is that David McCallum of Brooklyn — a man incarcerated in 1985, the same year I was released, and represented by Innocence International since 2004 — is still in prison. I request only that McCallum be granted a full hearing by the Brooklyn conviction integrity unit, now under the auspices of the new district attorney, Ken Thompson. Knowing what I do, I am certain that when the facts are brought to light, Thompson will recommend his immediate release. A man like McCallum, who has been wrongly convicted and has so far spent 28 years (beginning when he was just 16) behind bars, needs an unprejudiced higher authority, a person with nothing to lose or gain by righting an injustice, to examine the evidence that people have refused to act on all these years. Is it willful blindness or self-interest that was to blame?".........The details of this case would be the subject of the hearing, but I can say unequivocally that McCallum (who is being represented pro bono by attorneys Oscar Michelen and John O’Hara) and Stuckey are as innocent of the kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old Nathan Blenner in October of 1985 as anyone now reading this plea. Not a single piece of evidence ever implicated them in this crime nor placed them anywhere near the scene. Their two confessions, gained by force and trickery, are not corroborated even by each other; they read as if two different crimes were committed. The police, prosecutor, and judge jumped on those confessions like dogs on a bone, and the office of the previous Brooklyn DA, Charlie “Joe” Hynes, had been chewing on it ever since. New affidavits strongly indicate that potentially exculpatory police reports were lost, discarded or suppressed. DNA testing and fingerprint evidence all point in other directions.........Just as my own verdict “was predicated on racism rather than reason and on concealment rather than disclosure,” as Sarokin wrote, so too was McCallum’s. My aim in helping this fine man is to pay it forward, to give the help that I received as a wrongly convicted man to another who needs such help now. If I find a heaven after this life, I’ll be quite surprised. In my own years on this planet, though, I lived in hell for the first 49 years, and have been in heaven for the past 28 years. To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all."
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/hurricane-carter-dying-article-1.1621747
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.
