EDITORIAL: "Freedom for a prisoner of bad science, published by the Dallas Morning News on October 14, 2015.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Steven Mark Chaney hugs his mother, Darla Chaney, after being released
from prison on Monday at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts Building.
Chaney, imprisoned for 28 years for the 1987 slayings of two people in
Dallas was released after his conviction based on now-discredited
bite-mark analysis was overturned by State District Judge Dominique
Collins."
GIST: "Steven Mark Chaney emerged from 28 years behind bars after a Dallas
County judge ruled Monday that junk science played a decisive – and
clearly wrongful – role in winning his 1987 murder conviction. It marked
not just a victory for Chaney but also for landmark 2013 legislation
that made it easier for convicts to challenge the shenanigans that
prosecutors resort to when their evidence is weak. In Chaney’s
trial, Dallas County prosecutors faced an uphill battle countering
testimony by nine witnesses that they saw Chaney the day a Dallas
couple, John and Sally Sweek, were slain in 1987. Prosecutors introduced
the “expert” testimony of dentist Jim Hales and another forensic
odontologist. They asserted that the scientific study of bite marks
could determine with precision that indentations found on John Sweek’s
arm could be traced directly to Chaney’s teeth. Hales was so confident,
he declared that there was a “one to a million” chance that anyone other
than Chaney bit Sweek’s arm. His confidence, combined with some
apparently manipulated evidence and other prosecutorial misconduct, were
enough to sway the jury to convict. But Hales now says he was wrong
based on findings by fellow scientists debunking bite-mark science... The
path to Chaney’s victory was paved by landmark legislation passed in
2013 in the wake of high-profile exonerations, including that of Michael
Morton, a Texan wrongfully convicted for the 1987 murder of his wife.
SB 344, one of several bills signed into law that year, allows judges to
overturn convictions that were based on forensic science later proven
to be meritless. Bite mark science joins a host of other
questionable techniques, such as some arson forensics and police lineups
using sniffer dogs to identify supposed perpetrators, that have
undergone a through and welcome vetting by the Texas Forensic Science
Commission. The review was prompted, in part, by the execution of
Cameron Todd Willingham based on highly suspect arson science that
linked Willingham to the deaths of his three daughters in Corsicana. Chaney
was wrongfully convicted. But he still faces an arduous process of
filing for official designation as an exoneree, after which he could be
eligible for up to $50,000 for every year he spent in prison. The state
must waste no time processing this review and compensating Chaney for
the freedom robbed from him by junk science."
The entire editorial can be found at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20151014-editorial-freedom-for-a-prisoner-of-bad-science.ece
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.
