POST: "These are the wrongful conviction cases that haunt me," by Phil Locke, published by the wrongful convictions Blog on May 16, 2015.
GIST: "I’ve been doing “innocence work” for seven years now. So …. just
what is it that I do? I am Science & Technology Advisor to the Ohio
Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and to
the Duke Law Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke University. This means
I advise on cases that include factors involving science and/or
technology – usually forensics. I will also advise any innocence
organization or agent that requests my input, and I do this pro bono. I do some other stuff too, like write for this blog, but those are the roles in which I get involved in case work.........We relish talking about the successes, the exonerations, but nobody
ever hears about the failures. I count a failed case as one in which,
based upon careful and intensive study of all the facts, testimony and
evidence, we (I) are absolutely confident that the defendant is actually
innocent; but our efforts to exonerate have not succeeded, and there’s
really nothing more we can do. Sadly, the failures occur much, much more
frequently than the successes. There are no good data for this, but in
my experience, an exoneration takes years of time (average about 7),
thousands of hours of total effort by a great many people, and, in some
cases, thousands of dollars. And the failures can take just as much as
the successes, if not more. Most of the cases I’ve worked remain “open,” at least technically,
but there are some for which we have seemingly come to the end of the
legal road, and there’s little, if anything, that can still be done.
There are five of these cases, in particular, that keep me
awake at night, because I get so outraged and frustrated by the
injustice. I thought I would share them with you, so you might get some
idea of what the people doing innocence work have to deal with on a
daily basis. Since these cases are unresolved, I will not reveal any
names, dates, or places, and will provide only sketchy details of the
incidents involved, but you’ll get the idea.
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2015/05/16/these-are-the-wrongful-conviction-cases-that-haunt-me/
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;
