Rodricus Crawford: Louisiana; Death row: (Part One): 'TakePart' tells the compelling story of a sister's (Vicki Crawford-Sharp) efforts to save her brother from Louisiana's death row - with the fervent support of a Canadian woman (Marlene Belliveau) drawn to the case by a horrific personal experience of her own..."Crawford was accused of smothering his son to death and sentenced to death in 2013. Dale Cox, the district attorney who sought the death penalty in Crawford’s case, wrote a memo to the state’s probation department expressing regret that the state only used lethal injection for the death penalty, because “Crawford deserves as much physical suffering as it is humanly possible to endure before he dies.”..." Crawford-Sharp renewed her efforts to prove her brother’s innocence this week with a petition asking the district attorney who replaced Cox last November, James Stewart, to drop the charges. Stewart has echoed Cox’s arguments in response to a request from Crawford’s lawyers to overturn the sentence, and he appears unwilling to budge. Crawford's lawyers allege that the forensic evidence used to prove Rodricus was smothered is inconclusive. Last year, in a brief requesting a new trial, three doctors testified that the autopsy results were inconclusive."..."Last year, in a brief requesting a new trial, three doctors testified that the autopsy results were inconclusive. Amid the chaos of trying to keep in touch with her brother and spread the word about his case, Crawford-Sharp was surprised to connect with a complete stranger. Marlene Belliveau, who lives in Canada and is the vice-chair of the Canadian Sudden Infant Death Syndrome foundation, read about Roderius’ death and reached out about a year ago. “When my granddaughter passed away, my son and daughter-in-law were accused of murder,” Belliveau told TakePart. “Between Rodricus and my children, the stories are very similar. It’s a horrific nightmare.” Like Crawford, Belliveau’s son was interrogated by police and told he couldn’t go to the hospital to see his daughter when she died. Though Belliveau’s son and her daughter-in-law weren’t charged with a crime, the experience was traumatic."

STORY: "Sister Revives Efforts to Save Her Brother From Louisiana’s Death Row," by reporter Rebecca McCrae, published by TakePart on May 22, 2106. (TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as Citizen four, An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc. and feature films including  Lincoln and Spotlight.  Rebecca McCray is a staff writer covering social justice. She is based in New York).

SUB-HEADING: "Out of tragedy and loss, a friendship helps one woman cope with a legal battle."

GIST: "It has been four years since Vicki Crawford-Sharp lost her brother. Accused in 2012 of killing his one-year-old son, 27-year-old Rodricus Crawford sits on Louisiana’s death row and insists on his innocence. “My brother really loved his kid,” Crawford-Sharp told TakePart. “He never did anything to hurt anybody.” Crawford says he woke to find his son, Roderius Lott, unconscious next to him in the bed they shared. He called 911 while his mother and sister tried to resuscitate the baby, but they were unsuccessful. When the police arrived with the ambulance at his family’s house in Shreveport, Louisiana, they took Crawford in and questioned him about bruises on the baby’s head and lip, which he said came from a fall. Crawford was accused of smothering his son to death and sentenced to death in 2013. Dale Cox, the district attorney who sought the death penalty in Crawford’s case, wrote a memo to the state’s probation department expressing regret that the state only used lethal injection for the death penalty, because “Crawford deserves as much physical suffering as it is humanly possible to endure before he dies.” Crawford is the second-youngest man on death row in the state. Crawford-Sharp renewed her efforts to prove her brother’s innocence this week with a petition asking the district attorney who replaced Cox last November, James Stewart, to drop the charges. Stewart has echoed Cox’s arguments in response to a request from Crawford’s lawyers to overturn the sentence, and he appears unwilling to budge. Crawford's lawyers allege that the forensic evidence used to prove Rodricus was smothered is inconclusive. Last year, in a brief requesting a new trial, three doctors testified that the autopsy results were inconclusive. Amid the chaos of trying to keep in touch with her brother and spread the word about his case, Crawford-Sharp was surprised to connect with a complete stranger. Marlene Belliveau, who lives in Canada and is the vice-chair of the Canadian Sudden Infant Death Syndrome foundation, read about Roderius’ death and reached out about a year ago.  “When my granddaughter passed away, my son and daughter-in-law were accused of murder,” Belliveau told TakePart. “Between Rodricus and my children, the stories are very similar. It’s a horrific nightmare.” Like Crawford, Belliveau’s son was interrogated by police and told he couldn’t go to the hospital to see his daughter when she died. Though Belliveau’s son and her daughter-in-law weren’t charged with a crime, the experience was traumatic. Belliveau, her son, and her daughter-in-law sued the Royal Canadian Mountain Police for their treatment. “She has helped me, my mom, and my brother so much,” said Crawford-Sharp, who said she and Belliveau now talk on the phone every day. “I want to bring [Crawford] home to his family so they can finally grieve and be together, and I want it known that he is innocent,” said Belliveau.

The entire story can be found at: 

http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/22/rodricus-crawford

See 'The Guardian's'  take on the Rodricus Crawford case, at a  previous post (April 23) on this Blog at the link below: The Guardian takes a look at Louisiana - America's death penalty capital - and asks, through the Rodricus Crawford case, if a black DA (James Stewart) can really change the system?..."He (Stewart) has also remained quiet on the Rodricus Crawford case, even though he has the power to drop charges or dismiss an indictment, even if the person has already been convicted – which is what Crawford, who was sentenced to death, is hoping for. Cecelia Trenticosta Kappel, senior attorney with the Justice Center, says the hope was that Stewart would “see that the state’s theory that Rodricus Crawford decided to murder his son out of nowhere is implausible, unsupported by evidence, and based on abject stereotypes". According to Crawford’s attorneys and evidence submitted with his petition, she says that “the state’s case for capital murder essentially rested on two pieces of evidence: brain swelling and a busted lip. New evidence proves that the brain swelling was absolutely inconsistent with smothering; and had the state’s forensic pathologist followed standard medical protocol, the timing of the lip injury could have been conclusively proven.” In spite of these facts, Stewart’s office has filed an opposition brief to Crawford’s petition that his sentence be overturned. The brief, which rehashes the former prosecutor’s arguments in favor of the death penalty, is eerily reminiscent of Cox. So too is Stewart’s perspective on religion. “Some people get caught up in the separation of church and state. To me, all authority comes from God,” he said during an interview. Still, which “God” will you get? The one that has entire communities asking for mercy, or the one that had Cox demanding death?"

http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/04/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-guardian.htmlhttp://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/04/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-guardian.html

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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:

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Harold Levy;

Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;