Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: His lawyers have failed to to block the felony abuse-of-power charges against him on constitutional grounds; The Associated Press. (The charges are not related to his actions as governor related to the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham on discredited arson-murder charges. ((They should be!)); HL);

 STORY: "Criminal case against former Texas gov moves forward," by Associated Press reporter Will Weissert, published on January 27, 2015.

 GIST:  "A Texas judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a felony abuse-of-power case against former Gov. Rick Perry on constitutional grounds, ruling that criminal charges against the possible 2016 presidential candidate should stand.........Perry was indicted in August on charges of abuse of official power and coercion of a public servant. He is accused of publicly threatening — then making good on — the veto of $7.5 million in state funding for a public corruption division within the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. That came after Lehmberg, a Democrat whose county includes Austin, rebuffed Perry's calls to resign following her drunken driving conviction. Texans for Public Justice, a, Austin, left-leaning watchdog group, raised concerns that helped spark the criminal case. The group's executive director, Craig McDonald, released a statement Tuesday saying, "The prosecutor and a grand jury have said there's compelling evidence against Perry. That evidence should be presented in court for all to see. The chances of that happening improved today.".........The special prosecutor assigned to the case, San Antonio attorney Michael McCrum, has said from the start that the case is stronger than it may outwardly appear, and that it should be heard by a jury.""

The entire story can be found at:

 http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20150127_criminal_case_against_former_texas_gov_moves_forward.html

See Salon article: "Texas executed 279 people on Rick Perry's watch," by Luke Brinker;  "Take the question of innocence. Since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 150 death row inmates have been exonerated and, with one exception, subsequently released from prison. (One inmate died of cancer before he was cleared.) Since Perry became governor in December 2000, five of those exonerations have occurred in his state. You can’t quite call those five former inmates “lucky,” given that they spent years behind bars serving time for crimes they didn’t commit. But they had better fortune than Cameron Todd Willingham, whom the state of Texas put to death in 2004. Willingham was executed for the 1991 deaths of his three young daughters in a house fire prosecutors charged Willingham had set himself. Later investigations demonstrated that the charges were based on shoddy forensic work. Shortly before Willingham’s execution, the renowned arson expert Gerald Hurst sent Perry and the Texas Board of Pardon and Parole an analysis demonstrating that Willingham could not have set the fire that killed his daughters, but a defiant Perry signed Willingham’s death warrant anyway. Subsequent investigations have only cast further doubt on the case against Willingham..........Should Perry proceed with plans to launch a second White House bid in 2016, he will do so amid a renewed national focus on overzealousness and racism in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Although he shows no signs of having thought much about such problems, his state has often been Ground Zero for them."

 http://www.salon.com/2015/01/20/texas_executed_279_people_on_rick_perrys_watch/

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.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;