OPEN LETTER: From Rodricus Crawford to whoever will listen:
"It is my
firm belief that Dale Cox prosecuted me for the alleged murder of my one
year old son because his personal view of my life was not to his
liking. I know that may be hard to believe, but it is the only thing
that makes sense and is supported by the evidence and his actions. Look
at the personal comments he made about me and the specific questions he
asked that weren't related to any actual crime or even the alleged
crime I am accused of, the phantom time I've been convicted of.
Dale
Cox took it personally that I smoked weed and I didn't have a job. He
was angered because I had multiple beautiful , young women in my life
and several children. He didn't like the fact that I lived with my mama. None
of these things had anything to do with the alleged crime I've been
convicted of. Dale Cox abused his position and his authority to wage his
own personal war against a young African American man. I
have been accused of smothering my baby boy. I still have trouble
believing that this is really happening. I was denied the opportunity to
properly mourn my son death.
There were
several critical errors made due to either incompetence or apathy the
coroner ruled my son's death a homicide simply because he had some small
scars on his mouth. My son's mother and I explained that my son had
fallen a couple of days prior to his death and that was how he got the
injury. With their preconceived notion that a
homicide had occurred, they rejected this explanation and charged me
with first degree murder. Had the incompetent coroner examined the skin
of the injury, he could have determined conclusively that the injury was
at least a couple of days old. This alone would have destroyed Cox's theory that I smothered my son to death. There
are several medical experts that have examined the available evidence
in the form of medical reports and they have all reached the conclusion
that my son could not have and did not die from smothering. There
was edema present to his brain which could only have come from a
disease that existed for a significant period of time. This edema is not
associated with death from immediate smothering. My
son had been sick for a while and he had been taken to a doctor for
examination. The doctor failed to diagnose pneumonia which lead to my
son's death. I loved my son and would have given my life for him. Dale
Cox and the corrupt legal system in Shreveport, LA. has sent me to
death row for a crime I did not commit, it's a crime that did not
happen. The coroner failed to perform critical
test on the skin from the injury to my son's mouth. Why? Because he was
not an objective party. He wrongly assumed that I was guilty and instead
of doing what needed to be done to make a fair and objective
determination as to the cause of death, he did what he could to support
Dale Cox's witch hunt. If I had been a young white man, those actions would not have occurred in this manner. I
am angry because my life, the life's of my family members and my
daughter plus close friends have been upset, altered and changed and not
in a good way. We have seen this too many
times. With the advent of more precise DNA, innocent people are being
set free. There is no DNA involved in this case, but the evidence of
innocence is blaringly clear. All of this
cruelty could have been avoided if Dale Cox, the police or the coroner
had given a damn about the rights and life of this young black man. All I ask is for the new DA to do the right thing and re examine the case. There's only one reasonable conclusion.--- Rodricus Crawford."
See CBS news story on ex-Louisiana prosecutor Marty Stroud's extraordinary admission to CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker that he had abused his authority to secure the conviction of Glenn Ford - an innocent man - and Whitaker's extraordinary interview with Dale Cox, Rodricus Crawford's prosecutor (now retired): A taste: "There may be no more controversial prosecutor in the U.S. than Dale Cox. Between 2010 and 2014, his Caddo Parish office put more people on death row per capita than anywhere else in the country. Dale Cox: I think society should be employing the death penalty more rather than less. Bill Whitaker: But there have been 10 other inmates on death row in Louisiana who have been exonerated. Clearly, the system is not flawless. Are you sure that you've gotten it right all the time? Dale Cox: I'm reasonably confident that-- that I've gotten it right. Bill Whitaker: Reasonably confident? Dale Cox: Am I arrogant enough, am I narcissistic enough to say I couldn't make a mistake? Of course not. Bill Whitaker: But until this information came out, the state was convinced that Mr. Ford was guilty. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: He could have been killed. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: And it would've been a mistake. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: It sounds like you're saying that's just a risk we have to take. Dale Cox: Yes. If I had gotten this information too late, all of us would've been-- grieved beyond description." http://www.cbsnews.com/news/30-years-on-death-row-exoneration-60-minutes/
See also the following New Orleans Advocate story at the link below for a picture of the perverse criminal justice culture which has trapped Rodricus Crawford - and all too many others - and its weird definition of 'reform.' ..."There was nothing particularly unusual about the case of David Brown. Prosecutors failed to disclose evidence that might have helped him, and he wound up on death row. The U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider whether to cancel his date with the executioner. That wouldn’t be particularly unusual in an appeal out of Louisiana, either. The lead prosecutor in the Brown case was Louisiana’s itinerant death penalty specialist, Hugo Holland. DAs who really want a defendant dead will call in Holland. It doesn’t make much difference in the long run. As Louisiana Public Defender Board Chairman Robert Burns noted in a recent letter to the editor, 50 of the 52 death sentences imposed in Louisiana since 2000 have been thrown out by higher courts. Seven death-row inmates have been entirely exonerated. It was no great shock, therefore, when Holland, along with several other prosecutors, appeared at the State Capitol again last week to support a bill that tilts the odds against defendants in capital cases. The bill, which has now passed, revamps the state Public Defender Board and diverts state funds from death cases, which are frequently farmed out to private outfits. The idea is to free up some of the millions spent on capital cases and bail out local public defender offices handling less heinous offenses. With 20 of Louisiana’s 42 local offices insolvent, the criminal justice system is in danger of grinding to a halt. Prosecutors, thus, had a legitimate and compelling interest in the bill, for they cannot go about the business of racking up convictions unless counsel is provided for all defendants. Prosecutors were not just for this bill but proved its most vociferous advocates at committee hearings. That might raise a suspicion that the welfare of indigent defendants was not the bill’s principal concern. Holland certainly thinks the state Public Defender Board has spent too much hiring what he calls “boutique law firms” to provide defense counsel in capital cases. He was gung ho for the bill, because it changes the make of the board, which he thinks has been dominated by “anti-death penalty zealots.” Holland is something of a zealot on the other side, devoting his life to securing the death penalty."
http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/opinion/15900559-123/james-gill-defender-bill-an-odd-way-to-reform
For more on Louisiana's perverse criminal justice culture - see Radley Balko's incisive post (April 6, 2015; "In Louisiana prosecutor offices a toxic culture of death and invincibility: One of Thompson’s prosecutors, Orleans Parrish Assistant District Attorney James Williams, told the Los Angeles Times in 2007, “There was no thrill for me unless there was a chance for the death penalty.” Williams kept a replica electric chair on his desk. “It was hooked up to a battery, so you’d get a little jolt when you touched it,” recalls Michael Banks, one of Thompson’s attorneys. In 1995, Williams posed with this mini-execution chair in Esquire magazine. On the chair’s headboard, he had affixed the photos of the five men he had sent to death row, including Thompson. Of those five, two would later be exonerated and two more would have their sentences commuted. Williams is no longer in office. But as James Gill writes in the New Orleans Advocate, the bloodlust persists in other parts of the state. If it weren’t for Caddo Parish, capital punishment would have been largely phased out in Louisiana by now. And Caddo largely owes its pre-eminence to just two prosecutors, Dale Cox and Hugo Holland. Of the eight death sentences handed down in the last five years, Cox takes credit for four and Holland for two. Such numbers suggest they approach their grisly duty with relish. Indeed Cox, who is chief assistant district attorney up there, recently said it is a shame that executions aren’t more frequent . . . “I think we need to kill more people,” he said. He believes “we’re going the wrong way with the death penalty; we need it more than ever, and we’re using it less now.” He and Holland have certainly done their best to keep the executions coming. Holland is no longer on the DA’s staff in Caddo. He and another assistant, Leah Hall, who was also on the prosecution team in four of the successful capital cases, were fired in 2012 after obtaining a slew of automatic rifles from the Federal Property Assistance Agency to be used in the course of highly hazardous — but imaginary — joint operations with police and sheriff’s departments. Holland and Hall remain in the prosecution game in various Louisiana jurisdictions. Hall last year pulled a gun on a colleague in the Claiborne Parish DA’s office."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/06/in-louisiana-prosecutor-offices-a-toxic-culture-of-death-and-invincibility/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
See CBS news story on ex-Louisiana prosecutor Marty Stroud's extraordinary admission to CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker that he had abused his authority to secure the conviction of Glenn Ford - an innocent man - and Whitaker's extraordinary interview with Dale Cox, Rodricus Crawford's prosecutor (now retired): A taste: "There may be no more controversial prosecutor in the U.S. than Dale Cox. Between 2010 and 2014, his Caddo Parish office put more people on death row per capita than anywhere else in the country. Dale Cox: I think society should be employing the death penalty more rather than less. Bill Whitaker: But there have been 10 other inmates on death row in Louisiana who have been exonerated. Clearly, the system is not flawless. Are you sure that you've gotten it right all the time? Dale Cox: I'm reasonably confident that-- that I've gotten it right. Bill Whitaker: Reasonably confident? Dale Cox: Am I arrogant enough, am I narcissistic enough to say I couldn't make a mistake? Of course not. Bill Whitaker: But until this information came out, the state was convinced that Mr. Ford was guilty. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: He could have been killed. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: And it would've been a mistake. Dale Cox: Yes. Bill Whitaker: It sounds like you're saying that's just a risk we have to take. Dale Cox: Yes. If I had gotten this information too late, all of us would've been-- grieved beyond description." http://www.cbsnews.com/news/30-years-on-death-row-exoneration-60-minutes/
See also the following New Orleans Advocate story at the link below for a picture of the perverse criminal justice culture which has trapped Rodricus Crawford - and all too many others - and its weird definition of 'reform.' ..."There was nothing particularly unusual about the case of David Brown. Prosecutors failed to disclose evidence that might have helped him, and he wound up on death row. The U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider whether to cancel his date with the executioner. That wouldn’t be particularly unusual in an appeal out of Louisiana, either. The lead prosecutor in the Brown case was Louisiana’s itinerant death penalty specialist, Hugo Holland. DAs who really want a defendant dead will call in Holland. It doesn’t make much difference in the long run. As Louisiana Public Defender Board Chairman Robert Burns noted in a recent letter to the editor, 50 of the 52 death sentences imposed in Louisiana since 2000 have been thrown out by higher courts. Seven death-row inmates have been entirely exonerated. It was no great shock, therefore, when Holland, along with several other prosecutors, appeared at the State Capitol again last week to support a bill that tilts the odds against defendants in capital cases. The bill, which has now passed, revamps the state Public Defender Board and diverts state funds from death cases, which are frequently farmed out to private outfits. The idea is to free up some of the millions spent on capital cases and bail out local public defender offices handling less heinous offenses. With 20 of Louisiana’s 42 local offices insolvent, the criminal justice system is in danger of grinding to a halt. Prosecutors, thus, had a legitimate and compelling interest in the bill, for they cannot go about the business of racking up convictions unless counsel is provided for all defendants. Prosecutors were not just for this bill but proved its most vociferous advocates at committee hearings. That might raise a suspicion that the welfare of indigent defendants was not the bill’s principal concern. Holland certainly thinks the state Public Defender Board has spent too much hiring what he calls “boutique law firms” to provide defense counsel in capital cases. He was gung ho for the bill, because it changes the make of the board, which he thinks has been dominated by “anti-death penalty zealots.” Holland is something of a zealot on the other side, devoting his life to securing the death penalty."
http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/opinion/15900559-123/james-gill-defender-bill-an-odd-way-to-reform
For more on Louisiana's perverse criminal justice culture - see Radley Balko's incisive post (April 6, 2015; "In Louisiana prosecutor offices a toxic culture of death and invincibility: One of Thompson’s prosecutors, Orleans Parrish Assistant District Attorney James Williams, told the Los Angeles Times in 2007, “There was no thrill for me unless there was a chance for the death penalty.” Williams kept a replica electric chair on his desk. “It was hooked up to a battery, so you’d get a little jolt when you touched it,” recalls Michael Banks, one of Thompson’s attorneys. In 1995, Williams posed with this mini-execution chair in Esquire magazine. On the chair’s headboard, he had affixed the photos of the five men he had sent to death row, including Thompson. Of those five, two would later be exonerated and two more would have their sentences commuted. Williams is no longer in office. But as James Gill writes in the New Orleans Advocate, the bloodlust persists in other parts of the state. If it weren’t for Caddo Parish, capital punishment would have been largely phased out in Louisiana by now. And Caddo largely owes its pre-eminence to just two prosecutors, Dale Cox and Hugo Holland. Of the eight death sentences handed down in the last five years, Cox takes credit for four and Holland for two. Such numbers suggest they approach their grisly duty with relish. Indeed Cox, who is chief assistant district attorney up there, recently said it is a shame that executions aren’t more frequent . . . “I think we need to kill more people,” he said. He believes “we’re going the wrong way with the death penalty; we need it more than ever, and we’re using it less now.” He and Holland have certainly done their best to keep the executions coming. Holland is no longer on the DA’s staff in Caddo. He and another assistant, Leah Hall, who was also on the prosecution team in four of the successful capital cases, were fired in 2012 after obtaining a slew of automatic rifles from the Federal Property Assistance Agency to be used in the course of highly hazardous — but imaginary — joint operations with police and sheriff’s departments. Holland and Hall remain in the prosecution game in various Louisiana jurisdictions. Hall last year pulled a gun on a colleague in the Claiborne Parish DA’s office."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/06/in-louisiana-prosecutor-offices-a-toxic-culture-of-death-and-invincibility/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
