Henry McCollum and Leon Brown; North Carolina; New York Times story details failure of prosecutors to share crucial forensic evidence with the defence - and the provision of misleading information about the existence of physical evidence - in what reporter Richard Oppel calls "a judicial horror story in which the two men were sent to death row though no physical evidence linked them to the murder."

COUNTDOWN: 20 days to Wrongful Conviction Day: (Thursday October 2, 2014);

STORY: As two men go free, a dogged ex-prosecutor digs in," by reporter Richard A. Oppel Jr., published by the New York Times on September 7, 2014.

GIST: "Also distressing, he said, were violations of the “Brady rule” requiring that exculpatory information be handed over to the defense. Three days before trial, the Red Springs police sought to test a beer can found at the scene for fingerprints of Mr. Artis and L. P. Sinclair, listing both as suspects. The can had two fingerprints, one from the victim, another from neither Mr. McCollum nor Mr. Brown. But mysteriously, tests for the other two men never were performed. None of that was shared with defense lawyers, Johnson Britt said. Nor was the information that Mr. Sinclair, the informer who said Mr. McCollum had admitted killing the girl, had previously said he did not know anything about the murder, and a lie-detector test indicated he was telling the truth. Another concern: the Red Springs police insisted for years that they no longer had any physical evidence. But this summer, Innocence Commission officials discovered evidence at the police station that included hair samples from the scene. No DNA from the newly found evidence matched Mr. McCollum’s or Mr. Brown’s."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/us/as-2-go-free-joe-freeman-britt-a-dogged-ex-prosecutor-digs-in.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=2

For background on Wrongful Conviction Day see the following link:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2014/06/wrongful-convictions-day-aidwyc.html
 
Interested participants may sign up by contacting Win Wahrer of The Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted at: winwahrer@aidwyc.org. (Update: Civil Liberties Australia is now on board);

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.