Joseph Sledge (North Carolina) and James Hugney Sr. (Pennsylvania); Radley Balko looks at their cases (between them they wrongly served about 75 years in prison) in a Washington Post column called "This week in innocence" - and wonders whether some cases require a "bifurcated" trial, in which the jury is asked to decide not only who committed the crime, but also whether a crime was committed at all."

POST: "This week in Innocence: Joseph Sledge and James Hugney Sr.," by Radey Balko, published by the Washington Post o  January 26, 2015.

GIST: (Sludge): "After serving nearly four decades behind bars, Joseph Sledge was found innocent by a three-judge panel who heard testimony from a DNA expert. The expert said none of the evidence collected in the case – hair, DNA and fingerprints – belonged to Sledge. A key jailhouse informant had also recanted his story, saying authorities promised him leniency in his own case for his trial testimony against Sledge."

GIST: Hugney Sr.): " “The pivotal scientific evidence of negative corpus had been debunked,” McShane said in a news release. “All of the scientific evidence used in the case was based on popularly held beliefs and myths of the time that modern science has totally refuted.” Through the retention of three internationally known fire scientists, their analysis of the methods used in the Hugney conviction were shown to not stand with modern science. In their reports filed with the court, the three investigators could [not] conclude that the fire was an arson using modern practices for fire science."

The entire post can be found at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/01/26/this-week-in-innocence-joseph-sledge-and-james-hugney-sr/

 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;