POST: "Florida Supreme Court overturns 30-year death penalty conviction orders new trial for Paul Hildwin," by Terry Lenamon and Reba Kennedy, posted on July 10, 2014.
GIST: "Paul Hildwin resides on Florida’s Death Row, having been sentenced to death for the 1985 killing of Vronzettie Cox who had been raped before she was strangled to death and her body left to be found in the trunk of a car. For three decades, Mr. Hildwin has lived behind bars as a man awaiting execution — until now. The Florida Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Paul Hildwin and it’s not clear if the Florida prosecutor is going to re-try the case, given the language of the High Court’s opinion. DNA evidence and FBI expert's flawed trial testimony: What’s happened here? New DNA evidence has been presented that absolutely guts the evidence that was presented by the state’s prosecutors at Hildwin’s criminal trial. During his 1985 trial, an FBI expert testified that fluids collected at the Hernando County crime scene matched with Mr. Hildwin — and he also testified that these fluids could not have come from the victim’s boyfriend. Now, DNA evidence establishes the exact opposite is true. The fluids could not have originated with Paul Hildwin: they match the boyfriend, a man already behind bars on two sexual assault convictions. From the opinion: "In light of the evidence presented at trial, and considering the cumulative effect of all evidence that has been developed through Hildwin’s postconviction proceedings, we conclude that the totality of the evidence is of “such nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial” because the newly discovered DNA evidence “weakens the case against [the defendant] so as to give rise to a reasonable doubt as to his culpability."
The entire post can be found at:
http://www.deathpenaltyblog.com/florida-supreme-court-overturns-30yr-death-penalty-conviction-orders-new-trial-for-paul-hildwin/
http://www.deathpenaltyblog.com/florida-supreme-court-overturns-30yr-death-penalty-conviction-orders-new-trial-for-paul-hildwin/
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.
