Friday, May 27, 2016

Bulletin: William Richards: California; Major Development; "Bite-mark" testimony. The California Supreme Court Thursday threw out the conviction of a man found guilty of killing his wife after jurors heard bite-mark testimony that was later recanted - and in doing so, the unanimous high court cited a new state law inspired by Richards' murder case in its ruling..."We're thrilled that Bill's decades-long incarceration for a crime he did not commit will soon come to an end," Richards' attorney, Jan Stiglitz, said in an emailed statement. "We also hope that this decision will pave the way for other victims of 'junk science' to find a path to freedom." The Fresno Bee.



Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article80130517.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article80130517.html

See Blogger Mike Bowers post on CSIDDS - Forensics in focus - with a link to the entire decision - at the link below; (California Supreme Court deterines advances of forensic science sufficient to vacate conviction: "Any new filing of murder charges by the DA against Richards will bring a litany of CSI high value evidence against Richard being guilty. In fact it forms a road to his actual innocence.A jury would have to consider some of the following; DNA from an unknown make have been recovered from the murder weapon; DNA from an unknown male was found under the victim’s fingernails. The Supreme Court court noted that the bite mark evidence had been “clearly repudiated” and that “new technological advances undermined” the bite mark evidence presented at trial;  The crime scene evidence collection was either faulty or not complete which resulted in significant evidence being abandoned or lost at the outset of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s investigation. The Supreme Court also said that the defense had presented strong evidence opposing Richard’s guilt at his 4th trial where he was convicted except for the bitemark evidence.
https://csidds.com/2016/05/27/california-supreme-court-determines-advances-of-forensic-science-sufficient-to-vacate-conviction/