Unreliable 'field' drug tests: Part two: Barry Scheck, co-founder and co-director of the Inncoence Project writes in the Huffington Post that 'Unreliable Field Drug Tests Result In Innocent People Pleading Guilty.'..." But individual stakeholders in the system must first acknowledge personal responsibility before we can make this right: the overburdened defense lawyers who take pleas without insisting on confirmatory laboratory tests, the prosecutors and judges who promote the pleas to get high rates of “dispositions” as quickly as possible, the back-logged crime laboratories that are relieved not to do confirmatory tests after guilty pleas, and police officials who ignore the high false positive rates and assume anyone who pleads guilty after a field test must have at least been attempting to possess drugs and couldn’t be an innocent victim of an unreliable test. In fact, the most telling aspect of this tragic story is that, starting in 2008, federal officials were funding local police efforts to perform presumptive field tests as a way to relieve crime lab backlogs. The policy was based on the explicit assumption that thousands of defendants would plead guilty after positive field tests because no one would require the laboratories to do confirmatory tests. That assumption was correct — 62 percent of laboratories do not do confirmatory tests after field test induced guilty pleas. But the policy overlooked the possibility that innocent people would plead guilty. It simply didn’t occur to anyone that scared, poor, overwhelmed innocent people would plead guilty, even in misdemeanor cases where the risk of innocents pleading guilty just to get out of jail is generally recognized to be greater than in felonies."

POST: "'Unreliable Field Drug Tests Result In Innocent People Pleading Guilty," by Barry Scheck, published by The Huffington Post on July 15, 2016. (Barry Scheck is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Innocence Project.)


GIST: "As the country — hopefully, finally — turns its attention to criminal justice reform in a concrete, non-rancorous, and constructive fashion, Pro Publica reporters Ryan Gabrielson and Topher Sanders have performed a great service through a first rate act of journalism. Their examination in the New York Times Magazine of innocent people pleading guilty in drug possession cases across the country based on false positive presumptive field tests reveals such miscarriages of justice are far more common — tens of thousands of cases — than even the most cynical suspected. It’s yet another hidden source of distrust, anger, and despair so many have justifiably felt for so long about the everyday functioning of the criminal justice system. And when we finally get around to counting these miscarriages of justice that generally arise from car and street stops who can doubt that we will learn that people of color have been disproportionally harmed? If, as President Obama recently observed, blacks are 30 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over and three times more likely to be searched after being pulled over, it’s likely they are being victimized more often by false positive field tests. In Houston, Pro Publica found blacks made up 59 percent of the wrongfully convicted drug test defendants in a city where they are 24 percent of the population. Yes, it’s important to understand the underlying root causes of this problem are poverty, race and gross underfunding of criminal justice agencies. But individual stakeholders in the system must first acknowledge personal responsibility before we can make this right: the overburdened defense lawyers who take pleas without insisting on confirmatory laboratory tests, the prosecutors and judges who promote the pleas to get high rates of “dispositions” as quickly as possible, the back-logged crime laboratories that are relieved not to do confirmatory tests after guilty pleas, and police officials who ignore the high false positive rates and assume anyone who pleads guilty after a field test must have at least been attempting to possess drugs and couldn’t be an innocent victim of an unreliable test. In fact, the most telling aspect of this tragic story is that, starting in 2008, federal officials were funding local police efforts to perform presumptive field tests as a way to relieve crime lab backlogs. The policy was based on the explicit assumption that thousands of defendants would plead guilty after positive field tests because no one would require the laboratories to do confirmatory tests. That assumption was correct — 62 percent of laboratories do not do confirmatory tests after field test induced guilty pleas. But the policy overlooked the possibility that innocent people would plead guilty. It simply didn’t occur to anyone that scared, poor, overwhelmed innocent people would plead guilty, even in misdemeanor cases where the risk of innocents pleading guilty just to get out of jail is generally recognized to be greater than in felonies. This is particularly troubling because the collateral consequences of misdemeanor convictions can affect nearly every aspect of a person’s life including employment and licensing, housing, education, public benefits, credit and loans, immigration status, parental rights, interstate travel and even volunteer opportunities."

The entire post can be found at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-scheck/unreliable-field-drug-tes_b_11016904.html

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Florida; Unreliable 'field' drug tests; Part One: Daniel Rushing; Florida: Orlando Sentinel reports how road-side drug tests got it wrong - sending an Orlando man to jail because of doughnut glaze - in a story headed: "Cops mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for meth, Orlando man says."Cops mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for meth, Orlando man says."..."The Orlando Police Department did not explain why the two drug field tests that Riggs-Hopkins conducted were wrong. When asked how many other road-side drug tests have produced false positive results, an OPD spokeswoman wrote, "At this time, we have no responsive records. … There is no mechanism in place for easily tracking the number of, or results of, field drug testing." FDLE spokeswoman Molly Best wrote that her agency has no information about the prevalence of false-positive field drug tests. The New York Times reported on July 7 that its review of FDLE data showed that 21 percent of the time, drug evidence that was listed by local authorities as methamphetamine turned out to be something else. In its statement, OPD described the arrest as a lawful one."

STORY: "Cops mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for meth, Orlando man says," by reporter Rene Stutzman, published by the Orlando Sentinel on July 27, 2016.

SUB-HEADING: "Daniel Rushing was arrested after an Orlando cop searched his car and tested Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze as positive for methamphetamine. He was charged with possession of meth and carrying a firearm."

SUB-HEADING:  "Road-side drug tests get it wrong. Orlando man says he went to jail because of doughnut glaze."

GIST: "Daniel Rushing treats himself to a Krispy Kreme doughnut every other Wednesday. He used to eat them in his car. Not anymore. Not since a pair of Orlando police officers pulled him over, spotted four tiny flakes of glaze on his floorboard and arrested him, saying they were pieces of crystal methamphetamine. The officers did two roadside drug tests and both came back positive for the illegal substance, according to his arrest report. He was handcuffed, arrested, taken to the county jail and strip searched, he said. A state crime lab, however, did another test several weeks later and cleared him.........The officer who made the arrest, Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, an eight-year department veteran, had staked out the 7-Eleven because of complaints about drug activity, she wrote in her report. She pulled over Rushing because he failed to come to a full stop before pulling out of the convenience store. When Rushing opened his wallet, she saw that he had a concealed weapons permit, she wrote. He told her that he had a gun, and she asked him to step out of his car, a small Chevy. That's when she spotted "a rock like substance on the floor board where his feet were," she wrote. "I recognized through my eleven years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic," she wrote. She asked for permission to search his vehicle, the report says, and Rushing agreed. "I didn't have anything to hide," he said. "I'll never let anyone search my car again." Riggs-Hopkins and other officers spotted three other pieces of the suspicious substance in his car, according to the report. "I kept telling them, 'That's … glaze from a doughnut. … They tried to say it was crack cocaine at first, then they said, 'No, it's meth, crystal meth.'" His arrest report confirms that he tried to tell them. "Rushing stated that the substance is sugar from a Krispie Kreme Donut that he ate," Riggs-Hopkins wrote. She booked him into the county jail on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with a firearm. He was locked up for about 10 hours before his release on $2,500 bond, he said. According to FDLE, an analyst in its Orlando crime lab did not try to identify what police found in his car. She only checked to determine whether it was an illegal drug and confirmed that it was not. Three days later, the State Attorney's Office in Orlando filed paperwork, saying that it was dropping the case.........The Orlando Police Department did not explain why the two drug field tests that Riggs-Hopkins conducted were wrong. When asked how many other road-side drug tests have produced false positive results, an OPD spokeswoman wrote, "At this time, we have no responsive records. … There is no mechanism in place for easily tracking the number of, or results of, field drug testing." FDLE spokeswoman Molly Best wrote that her agency has no information about the prevalence of false-positive field drug tests. The New York Times reported on July 7 that its review of FDLE data showed that 21 percent of the time, drug evidence that was listed by local authorities as methamphetamine turned out to be something else. In its statement, OPD described the arrest as a lawful one."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-cop-mistook-doughnut-glaze-for-meth-20160727-story.html

See New York Times story referred to above at the link below: (How a $2.00 roadside drug test sends innocent people to jail): Widespread evidence shows that these tests routinelyproduce false positives. Why are police departments and prosecutors across the country still using them?"

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/magazine/how-a-2-roadside-drug-test-sends-innocent-people-to-jail.html?_r=0

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/charlessmith


Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Leo Ackley; Anthony Ball; Michigan; Bulletin; Battlecreek Inquirer; Shaken baby syndrome; (Disappointing decision. HL); Judge has ruled that prosecutors can present evidence about head trauma in the October murder trials of Leo Ackley and Anthony Ball even if the science is disputed.Calhoun County judge ruled Friday. Circuit Judge John Hallacy said prosecutors could present evidence about head trauma in the October trials of Leo Ackley and Anthony Ball even if the science is disputed. "There is widespread acceptance even though it is not unanimous," Hallacy said Friday. He said there is science that has validity even though two experts who testified in a daylong hearing agreed there is a difference of opinion."...""You will never get 100 percent agreement," said Castellani, who was called by prosecutors to testify. "There is broad consensus but there will always be people with other points of view." Dragovic, a defense witness, said cases are individual "and there are cases when we can't determine the manner of death and we sometimes have to say 'I don't know.'"..."Calhoun County Assistant Prosecutor Karen Pawloski said while there may be different opinions reached by doctors in each case, the basic science still is sound and can be introduced. But Kymberly Schroder, representing Ball, argued the testimony only showed gray areas in the science and "both doctors said there are no reliable principals or methods. Everything is case-by-case and there is not a large body they can rely on." Andrew Rodenhouse, representing Ackley said the science can't determine how much force is required to injure a child, the critical question in both cases." Reporter Trace Christenson; Battle Creek Inquirer;

"Scientific evidence about head trauma in children will be part of two upcoming murder trials, a Calhoun County judge ruled Friday. Circuit Judge John Hallacy said prosecutors could present evidence about head trauma in the October trials of Leo Ackley and Anthony Ball even if the science is disputed. "There is widespread acceptance even though it is not unanimous," Hallacy said Friday. He said there is science that has validity even though two experts who testified in a daylong hearing agreed there is a difference of opinion. Defense attorneys for both Ackley and Ball argued Friday that the medical science in brain trauma cases is faulty and should not be presented to a jury. Ackley, 29, was granted a new trial last year by the Michigan Supreme Court after his 2011 murder and child abuse convictions in the death of 3-year-old Baylee Stenmann. Ball, 29, is awaiting trial in the Dec. 19, 2014, death of Athena Ramey, 20 months, in Marshall. Both men were caring for the children of their girlfriends when the injuries occurred. Hallacy heard from Dr. Rudolph Castellani of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine and Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, the Oakland County Medical Examiner. Both were questioned about head trauma in children and determining the cause and the manner of death in those cases. The doctors said precise studies on brain trauma are not possible while children are alive, even though thousands of studies have been conducted dating to the 1800s. "You will never get 100 percent agreement," said Castellani, who was called by prosecutors to testify. "There is broad consensus but there will always be people with other points of view." Dragovic, a defense witness, said cases are individual "and there are cases when we can't determine the manner of death and we sometimes have to say 'I don't know.'" Calhoun County Assistant Prosecutor Karen Pawloski said while there may be different opinions reached by doctors in each case, the basic science still is sound and can be introduced. But Kymberly Schroder, representing Ball, argued the testimony only showed gray areas in the science and "both doctors said there are no reliable principals or methods. Everything is case-by-case and there is not a large body they can rely on." Andrew Rodenhouse, representing Ackley said the science can't determine how much force is required to injure a child, the critical question in both cases. At the end of the hearing, Hallacy said there is nothing to show that the scientific evidence can't be presented to juries."

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/local/2016/07/29/head-trauma-evidence-included-murder-trials/87747938/

Charles Erickson: Missouri; Bulletin: The Midwest Innocence Project has taken on his case. Erickson is serving a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder in the 2001 death of Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt..."The Kansas City-based organization works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska."...... (Associated Press);

"The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the Midwest Innocence Project has taken the case of Charles Erickson, who's serving a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder in the 2001 death of Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt. Erickson's testimony in the case, which he has since claimed was a lie, implicated Ryan Ferguson, who served nearly 10 years behind bars before he was released in 2013.

The Kansas City-based organization works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska."

http://krcgtv.com/news/local/midwest-innocence-project-takes-columbia-case

 

See also Erickson's supporter's web site at the link below. (There is a thorough summary of the case and a section deals in some detail with false confessions); 

http://www.freecharleserickson.org/siteindex.html

 

See related Daily Beast story 'Escaping the hell of forced confessions' at the link below;

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/27/the-prison-fitness-guru-out-to-help-the-wrongly-convicted.html

Ingmar Gaundique; (Chandra Levy case): Bulletin: 'Unforeseen developments': Political Blog The Daily Kos on ' truly bizarre turn in the much-publicized Chandra Levy murder case that dominated the news media fifteen years ago, in the summer of 2001...Chandra Levy's convicted killer may be released to El Salvador after prosecutors drop charges."...Washington Post story (link): " "No eyewitness, forensic evidence or medical cause of death linked Guandique to Levy’s death."

"In the midst of the amazing political events going on, there comes a truly bizarre turn in the much-publicized Chandra Levy murder case that dominated the news media fifteen years ago, in the summer of 2001. The storyline of a young intern involved with married California Congressman Gary Condit who disappeared in early summer was irresistible to the then-maturing cable news industry, and the print media followed suit.  We heard about little else all that summer, until the events of September 11 tore the story off the front pages for good. Chandra’s body was found almost a year later in Rock Creek Park, where she frequently went jogging.  A Salvadoran immigrant named Ingmar Gaundique was eventually charged with the crime, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Now comes that news that all charges against Guandique have been dropped.  The prosecutors cited “recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week” I can’t deny that I will be waiting with great curiosity to hear more about these “unforeseen developments." (Daily Kos); /ˈkoʊs/ is an American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a liberal point of view.[

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/28/1553777/-This-is-weird-Chandra-Levy-case-takes-a-bizarre-turn
 
For extensive  background on this case see  Wikipedia entry at the link below: "Chandra Ann Levy (April 14, 1977 – c. May 1, 2001) was an American intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., who disappeared in May 2001. She was presumed murdered after her skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek Park in May 2002. The case attracted attention from the American news media for years. The police investigation revealed she was having an affair with Congressman Gary Condit, a married Democrat then serving his fifth term representing California's 18th congressional district, and a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Condit was never named as a suspect by police and was eventually cleared of involvement. However, after a cloud of suspicion was raised by the intense media focus on the missing intern and the later revelation of the affair, he was not re-elected in 2002, with the Levy issue cited as a contributory factor. The circumstances surrounding Levy's death were unclear for eight years. On March 3, 2009, D.C. authorities obtained a warrant to arrest Ingmar Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. He had been convicted of assaulting two other women in Rock Creek Park around the time of Levy's disappearance. Prosecutors alleged that Guandique had attacked and tied up Levy in a remote area of the park and left her to die of dehydration or exposure. In November 2010 Guandique was convicted of murdering Levy; he was sentenced in February 2011 to 60 years in prison. In June 2015, Guandique was granted a new trial and in March 2016, the date was set to October 11, 2016. On July 28, 2016, prosecutors announced that they would not proceed with the case against Guandique and would, instead, seek to have him deported.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy

See Washington Post story on the decision allowing Gaundique a retrial  at the link below: "No eyewitness, forensic evidence or medical cause of death linked Guandique to Levy’s death. Instead, prosecutors asked female joggers to testify about two previous attacks at knifepoint in Rock Creek Park, for which Guandique pleaded guilty in 2002 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/retrial-in-chandra-levy-murder-case-scheduled-for-march/2015/06/12/4bb8a646-1126-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html

Sonia Cacy; Texas; Flawed arson 'science;' After being declared "actually innocent of murder" justice has been delayed for Sonia Cacy again. "After a reviewing jurist declared Sonia Cacy actually innocent of murder, and issued a “findings of fact” that laid bare his misbegotten case, the end was clearly nigh. Cacy had been convicted in 1993 of dousing her uncle Bill Richardson with an accelerant and burning him to death in his Fort Stockton home. But every renowned arson expert in the country—including the State Fire Marshal’s Office—has since concluded that the fire was accidental and that Cacy has been done a grave injustice. The case was bound for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a final benediction, and Cacy, after living more than twenty years as a convicted murderer, was close to clearing her name. The Texas legal system should have been finished with her. But Ponton responded to this decision by passing off the case to state prosecuting attorney Lisa McMinn. Last Monday, McMinn’s office filed a pro forma motion to stay the proceedings in the CCA for an additional sixty days to allow for a thorough review of “a complex case with a long history.” Brantley Hargrove; Texas Monthly.

STORY: "Justice Delayed For Sonia Cacy Again," by reporter Branley  Hargrove, published by Texas Monthly on July 27, 2016.

SUB-HEADING: "After new evidence found her to be innocent of murder, the state is now reviewing her case again."

GIST: "There seemed to be nowhere for 83rd District Attorney Rod Ponton to turn in June. After a reviewing jurist declared Sonia Cacy actually innocent of murder, and issued a “findings of fact” that laid bare his misbegotten case, the end was clearly nigh. Cacy had been convicted in 1993 of dousing her uncle Bill Richardson with an accelerant and burning him to death in his Fort Stockton home. But every renowned arson expert in the country—including the State Fire Marshal’s Office—has since concluded that the fire was accidental and that Cacy has been done a grave injustice. The case was bound for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a final benediction, and Cacy, after living more than twenty years as a convicted murderer, was close to clearing her name. The Texas legal system should have been finished with her. But Ponton responded to this decision by passing off the case to state prosecuting attorney Lisa McMinn. Last Monday, McMinn’s office filed a pro forma motion to stay the proceedings in the CCA for an additional sixty days to allow for a thorough review of “a complex case with a long history.” To Cacy’s supporters, this looks like a stalling tactic; Cacy is seventy years old, and her health has been poor for some time. But the motion could signal any number of things. On Thursday, McMinn told Texas Monthly that she hadn’t had time to acquaint herself with the facts. Once she does, she could choose one of several paths: Her office could seek a retrial; it could pass on litigating an arson case crippled by the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever of an accelerant at the scene; or, McMinn’s office could join Cacy in requesting relief from the CCA. Either way, Ponton, who hasn’t responded for comment as of this writing, has officially exited the field of this battle. In recent years, his pursuit of Cacy has been met with a series of setbacks. His own expert, Dr. Elizabeth Buc, concluded there was no evidence of an intentional fire. Ponton kept her report to himself at first, but Cacy’s attorneys, Gary Udashen and Natalie Roetzel, caught wind of it and filed a motion forcing the prosecution to produce the exculpatory evidence. Then, the State’s star witness, a now-retired Bexar County toxicologist, came forward with the revelation that the lab that performed the testing on Bill Richardson’s clothing and carpet had been contaminated. When asked why he’d never mentioned this to anyone, the toxicologist replied that no one had asked him. And then there was the grilling Ponton endured from Judge Bert Richardson during oral arguments. Here’s an exchange: “That’s my question,” Richardson began. “I mean, is it your position now that there was no accelerant or you just don’t know? “We don’t know,” Ponton responded. Even within his own office, there appears to be little confidence in the case against Cacy."

The entire story can be found at the following link: 

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/justice-for-sonia-cacy-delayed/

Some fascinating documents relating to the case - including Judge Richardson's ruling - can be found at the following  site. I am grateful to John Lentini - who has played an important role in exposing flawed arson investigation techniques sued over the decades to wrongfully charge and convict innocent people  - for his permission to  publish these documents - and I trust that the Texas  prosecutors will quickly  abandon their spiteful pursuit of Ms. Cacy, who they have so greatly wronged. HL.

 https://app.box.com/s/icrdrzpztevcd7veqne8

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Joseph Buffey: West Virginia; Bulletin: A trial date (without jury) has been set for October..."Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled Buffey would be permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas to sexual assault and robbery. The state, the justices decided, had a duty that it failed to meet when it didn’t disclose potentially exculpatory DNA test results to Buffey before his guilty pleas were accepted and he was sentenced on May 21, 2002. Buffey was released from prison after spending close to 15 years behind bars." WBOY

"Joseph Buffey has agreed to waive his right to a jury trial and will instead have a bench trial this October. Harrison County Circuit Judge John Marks also has ruled that all the charges in two indictments returned against Buffey in January of 2002 will stand. That denied a request by Buffey's lawyers to dismiss all of the charges except for the three, two counts of first-degree sexual assault, and one count of first-degree robbery. During the motions hearing today the defense and prosecution have decided the alleged 98-year-old victim won’t be available to testify. Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled Buffey would be permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas to sexual assault and robbery. The state, the justices decided, had a duty that it failed to meet when it didn’t disclose potentially exculpatory DNA test results to Buffey before his guilty pleas were accepted and he was sentenced on May 21, 2002. Buffey was released from prison after spending close to 15 years behind bars." Marks took over the case after Bedell recused himself earlier this year."

http://www.wvalways.com/story/32566800/trial-set-for-man-who-withdrew-guilty-pleas-in-sexual-assault-case

Davontae Sanford: Michigan; Interrogation of juveniles; (Part Two); A young man's first hand account of how, as a juvenile, he was pressured to confess four murders he did not commit by the police - and to plead guilty by his lawyer. Reporter George Hunter; The Detroit Free Press;

STORY: "Death of innocence: Davontae Sanford’s twisted road to freedom," by George Hunter, published by the Detroit Free Press, published on July 25, 2016.

GIST: "A conversation with a cop sent Davontae Sanford’s life spiraling out of control. It was Sept. 17, 2007. Four people had been gunned down in a drug house on Runyon, two blocks from the 14-year-old Sanford’s home on Detroit’s east side. When the teen ventured outside to see what was happening, he said he was approached by a Detroit Police homicide detective, who asked what he knew about the killings. That question and the police’s actions afterward eventually led to Sanford confessing and pleading guilty to murders he didn’t commit. Sanford says he was a naive kid whose confession and guilty plea were coerced by police and his defense attorney. “I was young; I was just lost in space,” he said. “I couldn’t really comprehend what was going on; it all happened so fast. I got arrested, and ... eight months later I was in prison.”.........For Inmate #684070, it would be a long road to freedom. An eight-year struggle by family, lawyers and supporters to exonerate Sanford was repeatedly stymied by prosecutors who insisted his conviction was solid. The case became a national cause for innocence advocates who called Sanford’s conviction a miscarriage of justice. “This is the most compelling case you’ll ever see, because it shows how the system can totally fail a young boy,” said David Moran of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, which represented Sanford’s appeal. “It’s the thickest file we’ve ever had here at the Michigan Innocence Clinic, and this case had some of the most complex issues we’ve ever handled. “So many things went wrong at so many levels, and so many actors were involved, that it’s really an indictment on the entire criminal justice system in Wayne County. There’s plenty of blame to go around.”.........Sanford’s luck changed in May, when Michigan State Police submitted the results of their 11-month reinvestigation of the case: They said someone else had committed the killings for which Sanford was convicted.] The findings set off a whirlwind of developments in Sanford’s case, and after fighting for eight years, Sanford’s team was finally rewarded when he walked out of the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia on June 8, smiling and squinting into the sun. He was free.........‘Just sign your initials’: Sanford remembers what his aunt served for dinner the night his life changed nine years ago: A roast with potatoes and carrots. When Sanford returned home, his mother told him four people had just been killed on Runyon. “News vans and police cars had that area blocked off. I start walking up the street … that’s when … (Sgt. Mike Russell) started asking me questions … have I heard or seen anything.” “I told them I didn’t know nothing; that’s when they said they wanted to question me. They brought me back to my house to get a consent form from my grandmother.” Tolbert, then a commander in charge of the Major Crimes Section, drove Sanford around for about two hours, according to Sanford and state police. “(Tolbert) wanted to know who could have done something like this; what guys were doing in the neighborhood, that kind of stuff.”Why was he being interviewed? “I asked them ... They said, ‘this is something we need to do.’ ” At about 3 a.m., Tolbert dropped Sanford off on Runyon, where police technicians tested his hands and clothing for gunshot residue. The test was negative. “We went to Coney Island, got something to eat. We went back to 1300 Beaubien (former police headquarters); they let me get on the computer. (They were) friendly. It wasn’t hostile at all.” Sanford said he was pressured into telling police something, so he made up a story about four older teens from his neighborhood. Police cleared the four after their alibis checked out. “My first statement was took. They all left, and I spent the night at 1300 Beaubien, sleeping on the couch. I was woken up by (homicide investigator) Barbara Simon. She had my statement; she was like ‘sign your name here, here, here, here.’ I told her, ‘I can’t read.’ She said ‘just sign your initials.’ ” Officers then took Sanford home. Later that day, police returned to his house. “They told my mother, ‘we think your son knows something; we think your son’s lying; he needs to tell the truth.’ And I told them repeatedly: ‘I don’t know nothing. I don’t know nothing.’ ” Sanford said Russell told his mom: “We just want to talk to him one more time. I promise you we’re going to bring him home. I promise you we’re going to bring your son back.” Sanford said Russell and Tolbert told him to sign a typewritten statement saying he was involved in the killings. “Once I sign the statement, he was like ‘I’m about to take you to the precinct so we can get this on camera. Once we do that I’m taking you home. “Once they got me there, they fingerprinted me, took pictures. And it’s still not registering to me what is really going on. After the interview was over, I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m about to go home; this is it.’ When I got back in the back of the car, (Russell) was like, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, but I can’t take you home. I gotta take you to juvenile.” Detroit police have launched an internal investigation into how detectives handled the case, police Chief James Craig said. Russell, who now runs the Detroit Police Arson Unit, defended his work in the Sanford case. “I did nothing improper, so I’m not worried about anything,” he told The Detroit News. “I handled everything by the book.” Earliest release date: 2046; After Sanford was charged with first-degree murder, he said his attorney Robert Slameka convinced him to plead guilty to second-degree murder, and to seek a bench trial. “(He said), ‘you’re a black kid from the ghetto; these white people from the suburbs are gonna come in here and they’re gonna find you guilty.’ ” Sanford said Slameka, who has been disciplined several times for failing to properly serve clients, said he was friends with the judge, and promised Sanford he’d get a light sentence. Sullivan gave him 37-90 years. Slameka has not returned several phone calls seeking comment."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/07/25/davontae-sanfords-twisterd-road-freedom/87514192/

See Shaun King's moving commentary in the New York Daily News  'Blind 14-year-old Detroit boy Davontae Sanford spends nine years in prison for four murders he didn't commit' at the link below; "Davontae Sanford might've been a man when he was exonerated, but he was no man when he was wrongfully framed, forced into a confession and convicted for a quadruple murder he did not commit.  He was just a boy — a black boy, completely blind in one eye and developmentally impaired — who was found by police wandering in a Detroit neighborhood in his pajamas the night the murder took place in a nearby drug house. He wasn't bloody. He didn't have a murder weapon. He wasn't covered in gunshot residue from the dozen bullets he would've had to fire to kill four people. He wasn't seen going in and out of the house by eyewitnesses. He wasn't known as a local thug who'd kill you if you crossed him. He was just young and black, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only 14 years old, Davontae Sanford, after being picked up by police in his pajamas and taken to a local precinct, was interrogated for two days without an attorney or any family present. Finally, Sanford confessed. Any child under so much pressure would've considered the same thing. Even though no evidence backed up Sanford committing the crime, and his outrageous confession got more details wrong about the case than it got right, police made it stick. Officers falsely claimed Sanford drew a diagram of the crime scene. That never happened. Whatever Sanford knew, he knew because police told him. It stuck, though. From that day in September 2007 until last month, Davontae Sanford never saw another free day. Convicted for all four murders, he was tried as an adult, and sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison.........Davontae Sanford spent each and every day of those nine years in prison. Like most of us would've felt, he wanted to die and attempted suicide while incarcerated. Anything seemed better than being there — for the rest of his life. Then, four full years ago, another man, Vincent Smothers, already in prison for eight other murders, confessed it was him who shot and killed four people in the drug house that night in 2007. He had been hired to do it as he had been hired before. He had never even seen or heard of Davontae Sanford and openly said Sanford played no role whatsoever in the murders. Year after year, Smothers continued to claim the crimes as his own, offering details that only the murderer could've known. Attorneys for Davontae Sanford repeatedly attempted to appeal the conviction, but were denied. In 2014, Smothers even offered a 26-page affidavit in which he detailed every single aspect of the crime. Finally, earlier this year, local prosecutors agreed to hear the case and the wheels were set in motion to free a man who had his childhood stolen from him. Davontae Sanford, in June, without even an apology from prosecutors or police, walked out of prison when a Detroit judge ordered his release because of a wrongful conviction."

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/blind-boy-14-spends-9-years-jail-false-murder-convictions-article-1.2720270

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Brendan Dassey; Teina Pora; Interrogation of juveniles; (Part One); Is Brendan Dassey - the American equivalent of New Zealand's Teina Pora?..."Lawyer Jerry Buting compared the two cases while speaking to Paul Henry this morning, saying most people don't realise how common wrongful convictions and false confessions really are. "Wrongful convictions are not unique to America. You've had them in New Zealand," the defence attorney said. "You've had the very well-publicised case of Teina Pora, who spent many years incarcerated in New Zealand and wrongfully and falsely confessed. You see that in this documentary with 16-year-old Brendan Dassey, the nephew of Steven Avery as well. I think people are really shocked that they see [this]. "Dassey, like Pora, has limited intelligence. His uncle had an IQ of 70, and a Newsweek article about the Netflix show said Dassey had "severely below-average intelligence, poor social skills and limited reasoning ability". Pora suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which went undiagnosed at the time of his original conviction. Buting says while Avery remains the only person in the US charged with a homicide after being wrongfully imprisoned and freed, cases like those of Dassey and Pora are all too common. "Particularly the interrogation of juveniles and people of limited mental capacity or disabilities that can fall prey to the sorts of psychological course of techniques that police officers use. That unfortunately is very commonplace, particularly in America." Dassey was interrogated numerous times by police without a lawyer, parent or other adult present, repeatedly accused of carrying out the crimes. Pora initially denied murdering Susan Burdett, but later went to police hoping to win a $20,000 bounty for information about the case. He too was interrogated without a lawyer present."..."Dassey's appeal is currently pending in federal court, and Buting says a decision could be made any day." Reporter Dan Satherly; Newshub. (NZ);

STORY: "Is Brendan Dassey - an American Teina Pora?

" by Dan Satherly, published by Newshub  (NZ) on July 27, 2016.

GIST: "A teenager is convicted of rape and murder and thrown in prison after giving a false confession. It's the story of Teina Pora's life, but also that of Brendan Dassey, one of the men at the centre of hit Netflix documentary Making a Murderer - at least according to his ex-lawyer. Dassey was 17 when he and uncle Steven Avery were convicted of raping and murdering Teresa Halbach. Avery, who had already spent 18 years behind bars for another rape he was later proven innocent of, denied having anything to do with the 2005 crimes. Dassey, then 16, was his alibi - but the teenager cracked under a controversial police interrogation and confessed. He later recanted - just like Pora, then 17, who had to wait two decades for his freedom. Lawyer Jerry Buting compared the two cases while speaking to Paul Henry this morning, saying most people don't realise how common wrongful convictions and false confessions really are. "Wrongful convictions are not unique to America. You've had them in New Zealand," the defence attorney said. "You've had the very well-publicised case of Teina Pora, who spent many years incarcerated in New Zealand and wrongfully and falsely confessed. You see that in this documentary with 16-year-old Brendan Dassey, the nephew of Steven Avery as well. I think people are really shocked that they see [this]. "Dassey, like  Pora, has limited intelligence. His uncle had an IQ of 70, and a Newsweek article about the Netflix show said Dassey had "severely below-average intelligence, poor social skills and limited reasoning ability". Pora suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which went undiagnosed at the time of his original conviction. Buting says while Avery remains the only person in the US charged with a homicide after being wrongfully imprisoned and freed, cases like those of Dassey and Pora are all too common.

"Particularly the interrogation of juveniles and people of limited mental capacity or disabilities that can fall prey to the sorts of psychological course of techniques that police officers use. That unfortunately is very commonplace, particularly in America." Dassey was interrogated numerous times by police without a lawyer, parent or other adult present, repeatedly accused of carrying out the crimes. Pora initially denied murdering Susan Burdett, but later went to police hoping to win a $20,000 bounty for information about the case. He too was interrogated without a lawyer present.

Buting has testified with supporting evidence that his client was framed for the later conviction as retaliation for rubbing the establishment up the wrong way, after he won his freedom for the original wrongful conviction. Dassey's appeal is currently pending in federal court, and Buting says a decision could be made any day."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/brendan-dassey---an-american-teina-pora-2016072711#axzz4FeFfUNnB

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Oral Nicholas Hillary: New York State; Defence says ssues in the DNA hearing could have nationwide “ripple effect.”..."Criminal and civil rights trial attorney Earl S. Ward, another of Hillary’s attorneys, cautioned that this is not a case where “DNA is the finger of God pointing at the accused.” “This is not that case,” Mr. Ward said. “This is the finger of a statistician pointing at Nick Hillary and that is not what DNA should be all about.”..."Trial is scheduled to start Sept. 6." Watertown Daily Times;

STORY: "Issues in Hillary DNA hearing could have nationwide “ripple effect,” defense says,"  by reporter W.T. Eckert, published by the Watertown Times on July 26, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Oral “Nick” Hillary, the Potsdam man accused of the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips, talked with friends Monday prior to the start of a Frye hearing in St. Lawrence County Court, during which his defense team argued the reliability of biological evidence."

GIST: Murder suspect Oral “Nick” Hillary will have to wait for a judge to rule on whether to allow the only reported sliver of physical evidence prosecutors are trying to bring against Hillary at his September trial. Hillary and his team of defense attorneys were in St. Lawrence County Court Monday during a Frye hearing to argue that prosecutors should not be allowed to use a DNA sample produced by STRmix, a forensic software tool used in testing DNA that could implicate Hillary in the 2011 strangulation death of 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips. Hillary, 41, of 131 Leroy St., Potsdam, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly strangling the boy on Oct. 24, 2011, at the Market Street apartment where he lived with his mother. Trial is scheduled to start Sept. 6. The issues in the hearing raised Constitutional questions, according to one of Hillary’s attorneys, NYCLU Executive Director Norman Siegel, of Siegel Teitelbaum & Evans, LLP, New York City. “... It could have a ripple effect, as I said before, not just in St. Lawrence County, but across the state and across the country,” Mr. Siegel said. “So my experience is people will rise to the occasion and I am certain that this will happen here as well. Now, after saying all that, we clearly, clearly prefer this to not be admissible because of the arguments that we made today.” Presiding Judge Felix J. Catena, in his granting of the hearing, wrote that there were issues raised in the reliability of the STRmix results in the Hillary case “given that the portion of DNA found in the fingernail scrapings (taken from Garrett) in the 550C2 sample from the minor contributor was very small and would be termed ‘low-template.’” “As such, this court grants defendant a pre-trial hearing on the issue of whether this software program is generally accepted as reliable in analyzing the extreme mixture ratios presented in this case,” Judge Catena wrote. Dr. John S. Buckleton, a forensic scientist from Maryland, formerly of New Zealand, and one of the three developers of STRmix, defended the reliability of the tool when he was called to testify for the prosecutors, Onondaga District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick and St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain. “I certainly consider it reliable in my belief and a broader community also does,” Dr. Buckleton said.“I base that on validation studies we have done, validation studies other people have done, on an understanding of how this software works.” Many of those validation studies have been done at low templates, similar to the one in question, Dr. Buckleton said. While Dr. Buckleton said that STRmix is “relatively new software being applied in the field,” he countered that “all science evolves,” calling the software “evolutionary, not revolutionary. “I would hope everything is a work in progress, but this certainly is,” Mr. Buckleton said. “We will continue to make evolutionary improvements.” Dr. Buckleton said the DNA profile he tested seemed to be a mixture of two people, a major and a minor DNA contributor. He said there was no evidence of more than two people, though there could have been more, if that was what he was looking for.........Hired defense expert Dan E. Krane, a professor of biological sciences at Wright State University, Ohio, and president, CEO and co-founder of Forensic Bioinformatics, a consulting and testimony service that reviews cases involving forensic DNA testing, said that STRmix works great when it is fed a lot of DNA; however, as in this case, when it is fed a minute amount — between 4 and 8 trillionths of a gram — it becomes problematic. “I find myself in close agreement with Dr. Buckleton in saying that the most extreme mixture rations I have seen were 25 to 1, with one exception,” Dr. Krane said. “That is what I saw in his June statement for this hearing.” That ratio, around 220 to 1, is a DNA that is low-template and doesn’t show the entire profile, said Clinton Hughes, a staff attorney and member of the DNA unit with the Legal Aid Society in New York City who is working on the Hillary defense team pro bono. “We are dealing with something 10 times that amount with a very, very small, minor component that could be more than one person,” Mr. Hughes said. “It becomes an issue and there are a lot of problems in analyzing it, and that is a concern for us that they would want to attach such a large statistic to such a tiny amount of DNA that is based upon a lot of moving parts.”.........Criminal and civil rights trial attorney Earl S. Ward, another of Hillary’s attorneys, cautioned that this is not a case where “DNA is the finger of God pointing at the accused.” “This is not that case,” Mr. Ward said. “This is the finger of a statistician pointing at Nick Hillary and that is not what DNA should be all about.”

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news05/issues-in-hillary-dna-hearing-could-have-nationwide-ripple-effect-defense-says-20160726

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Raymond Tempest: Rhode Island; Bulletin; Earlier this month, the state's high court upheld a new decision granting him a new trial because the judge found that police and prosecutors had violated Tempest’s right to a fair trial by coaching witnesses, failing to disclose evidence and suppressing key details about a witness’s changing statements. Now the state has filed a petition to re-argue the appeal on the basis that a note written by the then-prosecutor, James Ryan, that reads, "“too late, don’t volunteer new info, will cause big problems,” does not indicate a deliberate intention to obstruct justice..."Respectfully then, it is simply incorrect that 'the former prosecutor's own words 'don't volunteer' are indicative of a considered decision by the former prosecutor to suppress for the purpose of obstructing," read the petition (to re-open the case) signed by Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin." ..."The state asserts that Ryan was concerned about delaying the trial and argues the lower court "committed clear error" by not believing Ryan during a lengthy post-conviction hearing." Reporter Katie Mulvaney; The Providence Journal;

"State prosecutors are asking to argue, again, their appeal before the state Supreme Court in the Raymond D. "Beaver" Tempest Jr. murder case. The state Tuesday filed a petition to re-argue the case, now 34 years after prosecutors say Tempest bludgeoned to death 22-year-old Doreen Picard and severely injured Picard's landlord. The state disputed the value of evidence the high court determined had been withheld and its finding that then-prosecutor James Ryan deliberately failed to disclose witness statements in Tempest's 1992 trial. "Respectfully ... then, it is simply incorrect that 'the former prosecutor's own words 'don't volunteer' are indicative of a considered decision by the former prosecutor to suppress for the purpose of obstructing," read the petition signed by Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin. He was referring to a 1992 note from Ryan that read, “too late, don’t volunteer new info, will cause big problems.” The state asserts that Ryan was concerned about delaying the trial and argues the lower court "committed clear error" by not believing Ryan during a lengthy post-conviction hearing. The high court earlier this month found that Tempest was entitled to a new trial. In doing so, the court upheld a decision by Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini to vacate Tempest’s second-degree murder conviction for Picard's beating death. Procaccini found that police and prosecutors had violated Tempest’s right to a fair trial by coaching witnesses, failing to disclose evidence and suppressing key details about a witness’s changing statements. Procaccini did not declare Tempest innocent, but said he deserved a new trial. Tempest has been on home confinement since September. The high court agreed with Procaccini, with majority finding that Ryan violated Tempest’s due-process rights by failing to disclose witness statements to Tempest’s defense lawyer. In doing so, he violated rules governing the disclosure of exculpatory evidence or evidence that could be used to impeach witnesses at trial. A jury in 1992 convicted Tempest of Picard's murder. He was sentenced to serve 85 years in prison."
http://m.providencejournal.com/news/20160726/state-asks-ri-supreme-court-for-new-arguments-in-tempest-murder-case

See earlier Innocence Project note on the case at the link below:  "On April 22, 1992, Tempest was convicted of the 1982 murder of 22-year-old Doreen Picard. At his trial, the prosecution offered no physical evidence connecting Tempest to the crime, and there were no eyewitnesses claiming to have seen Tempest at the crime scene. The state’s case rested on four individuals who claimed that Tempest had confessed to them.  The individuals were all vulnerable to police pressure, due to their backgrounds in drug trafficking, drug use or prostitution.  Tempest was convicted and sentenced to 85 years."
 http://www.innocenceproject.org/raymond-d-tempest-jr-released-from-prison-on-bail/


Sent from my iPhone

Kerry Max Cook; Texas; Bulletin; Major (distressing) Development; A judge has recommended against finding Kerry Max Cook 'actually innocent'...“The ultimate issue in this case is a determination of who murdered Linda Edwards, not who had sexual relations with Linda Edwards,” Carter wrote. “(The new evidence) is definitely helpful to Cook’s defense, but this court does not find that it unquestionably proves that Cook is actually innocent. ”Tyler Morning Telegraph;

BACKGROUND: (From Northwestern's Bluhm Legal Clinic: 'Doctors diagnosis was nearly fatal': "Kerry Max Cook was twice convicted and twice sentenced to death for the 1977 murder and mutilation of a 21-year-old secretary in Tyler, Texas. The first conviction, in 1978, rested primarily on the testimony of a jailhouse snitch who claimed that Cook had confessed. Other witnesses testified that Cook had on occasion peered through the victim's window, watching her undress, and that, shortly before the murder, he had watched a movie depicting the mutilation of a cat. Dr. James Grigson, a now-infamous Dallas forensic psychiatrist dubbed "Dr. Death" by defense lawyers, testified that Cook had an antisocial personality disorder, virtually assuring that he would kill again. The prosecutor branded Cook a "little pervert," telling the jury: "I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't eat [the victim's] body parts." The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and death sentence, but in 1988, with Cook 11 days from execution, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Texas court to review the case. Three years later, that court finally granted Mr. Cook a new trial. After one mistrial, Cook was convicted and sentenced to death a second time in 1994. Two years later, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned that conviction saying that "prosecutorial and police misconduct has tainted this entire matter from the outset." By this time, all of the evidence against Cook had been discredited, largely as a result of a reinvestigation conducted by Centurion Ministries. Prosecutors nonetheless threatened to try him yet again, even though DNA testing contradicted their original theory of the case, strongly suggesting that someone else committed the crime. Unaware of the DNA results, Cook agreed to plead no contest to a reduced charge of murder in order to avoid another possible death sentence."
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/tx/kerry-max-cook.html

TYLER MORNING NEWS STORY: Reporter Roy Maynard: (July 25, 2016): "A state district judge has declined to recommend that the state Court of Criminal Appeals approve Kerry Max Cook’s writ of actual innocence in the death of Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. Though Cook was twice convicted of her murder and spent nearly 20 years on death row, his conviction was set aside by Judge Jack Carter in June, following an agreement between Cook’s lawyers and the Smith County District Attorney’s Office. That was based on the fact that false evidence was given by a witness in Cook’s trials. But setting aside that verdict wasn’t a full exoneration. That’s something Cook sought with his writ. But Judge Carter, in his ruling released late Monday, found that Cook hadn’t met the high bar that “actual innocence” would require. “In order to meet this high standard of proof, the convicted defendant must show that new evidence, not available during trial, unquestionably establishes the applicant’s innocence,” Carter wrote. “Said another way, the new evidence must clearly and convincingly establish innocence. The applicant must show by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would have convicted him, in light of the new evidence.” But new evidence must be weighed against the whole, Carter said. And there’s undisputed evidence Cook was in the victim’s apartment - his fingerprint was found. And that witness who lied - former college dean James Mayfield - was shown to have had an affair with Ms. Edwards, but that’s all. “The ultimate issue in this case is a determination of who murdered Linda Edwards, not who had sexual relations with Linda Edwards,” Carter wrote. “(The new evidence) is definitely helpful to Cook’s defense, but this court does not find that it unquestionably proves that Cook is actually innocent.” Contacted late Monday, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said he’s pleased with the recommendation, which will now go before the Court of Criminal Appeals.........Bingham could conceivably retry Cook on the charges. He did not rule that out Monday night. “If the Court of Criminal Appeals adopts Judge Carter’s findings, then I will decide at that point how I will proceed,” he said. Cook was tried for the crime in 1978, convicted and sentenced to die by a Smith County jury. But the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the case in 1989, because a psychologist had not read Cook his Miranda warning, thus rendering all information in the psychological interview useless. He was not freed at the time because he remained under indictment for capital murder, and then-Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen took two more tries at convicting Cook. In 1992, Smith County tried the case, but the jury deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared. In 1994, Cook was found guilty of capital murder, but prosecutors used the testimony of a witness who had died. That was reversed by the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1997. In 1998, as Smith County was moving forward with a fourth trial, Skeen offered Cook a deal that would convict him of murder but would not require him to admit he killed the woman. In exchange for his plea of no contest, Cook was convicted of murder but sentenced to the time he already served. He was released from prison and has been challenging the ruling ever since. If he had been declared actually innocent, Cook would have been eligible for restitution from the State of Texas for as much as $1.6 million."
http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-News+Local/238815/judge-recommends-against-ruling-kerry-max-cook-actually-innocent

See Texas Monthly article  by Michael Hall (June 6, 2016) - Reversal of Fortune Kerry Max Cook, a subject of The Exonerated, is finally exonerated - at the link below: "For almost 39 years, prosecutors in the Smith County District Attorney’s office have done their best to either send Kerry Max Cook to death row, keep him there, or—after he was freed on bond in 1997—prevent him from ever being able to walk the streets with absolute impunity. Today, these efforts stopped. This morning, in the 114^th District Court of Smith County, district attorney Matt Bingham agreed to not contest Cook’s writ of habeas corpus—and to join with Cook’s attorneys in recommending that his murder conviction be overturned. Cook, who has sworn his innocence since he was arrested in August 1977 for the murder of Linda Jo Edwards, has finally been legally exonerated. Cook’s lawyers had filed the habeas writ in 2015, then filed a couple of amended writs this past spring, containing additional grounds. The most important ground, and the one Cook wanted the most, was the first, claiming that he is “actually innocent.” The state didn’t address that claim but agreed the court should grant the writ based on ground number five, that “Mr. Cook’s due process rights were violated by the presentation of false testimony from James Mayfield.” From 1977 to 1992, Mayfield—the boyfriend of Edwards, whom Cook was convicted of killing, had claimed that he and Edwards last had sex three weeks before her murder, and the prosecution used this to back up their assertion that the couple were just friends in that time; thus he had no motive to kill her. But in an April interview, Mayfield admitted that, in fact, the couple had had sex on June 8, the day before she was murdered. Mayfield also testified that he was not with Edwards in her apartment on the night of her murder—but a 1991 police report uncovered by Cook’s lawyers Gary Udashen and Bruce Anton found that Edwards’s roommate had told prosecutors that in fact she had seen Mayfield in the room with Edwards not long before she was murdered. This police report was not turned over to Cook’s lawyers before his trials in 1992 or 1994."

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/kerry-max-cook-exonerated/

Charles Smith; 'What kind of man series'. Part Ten of ten; Publisher's View: Lessons learned;

PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (Editorial): In the most recent post (Part Nine) I referred to the late Peter Kormos' observation that Justice Stephen Goudge would not let Charles Smith get away with his defence that  his failings were "never intentional."  This reminded me of another one of Smith's many defences - that it was  unfair to pick on him because he acted no differently than any other pathologist would have acted within the prevailing knowledge of pathology at the time.   The flaw in this defence was, of course, that other pathologists in the province hopefully did not lie under oath, hide or destroy evidence  that might show that their  opinion was wrong, see themselves as members of the prosecution team,  falsely pretend that they had superior knowledge to bring  to the forensic issues in the case, or  unfairly disparage the opinions of  truly knowledgeable experts who testified for the defence. One of the biggest lessons I learned from reporting on Smith  for more than a decade was the danger of creating a false impression that innocent people were only being wrongfully charged and convicted because of one  notorious, arrogant, narcissistic, manipulative, opportunistic  pathologist named Charles Smith. While we must always be on guard for forensic frauds such as Manock and Smith, what about all the other parents and caregivers who may have been put through the horror of being wrongfully investigated, charged and convicted based on the evidence of pathologists  or  medical practitioners who, unlike Smith, were well-meaning,  sincere, fair, unbiased and neutral - but reached incorrect conclusions of child sexual abuse because the prevailing, accepted pathology being  taught in the medical schools and practiced in the field at the time was wrong. I learned this lesson around the time of the Goudge Inquiry when I was contacted by a retired physician  who told me that when he began practicing  medicine in the 1950's it was widely taught and believed that the mere existence of an enlarged hymen in a child was an indication that she had been sexually abused. This doctor told me that he and many other doctors of his vintage now, in the light of research and newly acquired knowledge, had suffered restless nights because they had inadvertently helped perpetuate miscarriages of justice because  they had reiterated  the flawed,  prevailing medical orthodoxy  of the time. I thought about my conversation  - and the lessons I have learned - when I read  an article entitled "Medical Considerations in the diagnosis of child sexual abuse," by Felicity Goodyear-Smith, published by the IPT Journal in Volume Six, 1994. The abstract reads: "There are no medical signs in the vast majority of sexual abuse cases.  Many findings promoted as physical indicators of abuse have been shown to be present in nonabused children.  In particular hymenal openings said to measure more than 4 mm, genital rashes and redness, and anal reflex dilatation have been demonstrated to be unreliable medical indicators.  Children can be harmed both by unnecessary invasive investigation (including general anesthesia) and by subsequent interventions if the allegations are false.  Doctors must insure that they have an empirical basis for the interpretation of their findings, and that they do not allow someone else's belief that a child has been abused to color their clinical judgment.  Describing normal findings as "consistent with abuse" is decried.  This practice is likely to mislead a court to erroneously believe that there is physical evidence supportive of abuse."  Goodyear Smith's conclusion is very wise, worthy of framing, particularly relevant to contemporary issues as to whether short falls can kill and shaken baby syndrome  - and will hold a hallowed place on this Blog: "There are no physical signs of abuse to be found in the vast majority of sexual abuse cases.  Medical findings supporting or proving abuse are not as clear cut as may be expected.  Many of the medical indicators advocated are frequently found in non-abused children.  The ubiquitous practice of describing completely normal examination findings as being "consistent with abuse" is likely to be misunderstood in a courtroom as evidence supporting an allegation.  Lay people serving as jurors are particularly apt to be misled by medical experts giving such testimony. Physicians examining a child for possible sexual abuse are likely to have been briefed by other workers who have already decided that the child has been sexually abused.  Many social workers and psychologists believe that false allegations are extremely rare and that "children never lie about abuse," and see their role as a "validator" that the abuse has occurred.  Once a belief that sexual abuse has taken place has become entrenched, very little can be done to sway the believers otherwise.  To even suggest the possibility of a false allegation is often to invite an emotional outburst and accusations of condoning or even colluding with abuse.  Actions and decisions may subsequently be made without scientific substantiation of the allegations. Doctors called upon to perform forensic sexual abuse examinations should have up-to-date information on the range of normal for nonabused children.  They should be very cautious on how they interpret their findings, and insure that they have an empirical basis for their claims.  Children can be seriously harmed both by invasive investigative practices and by subsequent interventions when the allegations are unfounded.  Physicians must always have in mind the Hippocratic vow, primum non nocere: first do no harm."

The entire article can be found at:
http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume6/j6_2_1.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;

Leo Ackley; Anthony Ball: Michigan; Bulletin: Shaken baby syndrome; Their lawyers are challenging the scientific evidence in two infant homicide cases..."On Monday a judge ruled in favor of the attorneys, who are hoping to prove that the prosecutor’s scientific experts can’t show that Ackley and Ball shook infants to death. Prosecutors testified that they’ve already proven that the babies suffered head injuries, injuries which ultimately killed them. “They don’t want us to look too closely behind the curtain,” said Ackley’s attorney Andrew Rodenhouse, “they don’t want us to look at the science.” Rodenhouse says Ackley’s case is setting a new standard for infant death cases across the nation and that more and more defense attorneys are challenging the evidence presented by the state. “We’re hoping to shake the science,” said Balls’ attorney Kymberly Schroeder. “We’re hoping to be able to prove that the underlying basis that this must be abuse, it’s always abuse is false. There’s no evidence, there’s no science behind it.”" WWMT;

 "Leo Ackley and Anthony Ball are both behind bars for infant homicide. While Ackley has been granted a new trial by the Michigan Supreme Court, Ball is headed to trial for the first time, but both are working to show that science can’t prove they are killers. It’s a detailed and complicated topic. Attorneys for both men are turning to science to prove or disprove what killed two babies in Calhoun County. “Just because we always do it one way doesn’t make it right,” said Calhoun County Judge John Hallacy. On Monday a judge ruled in favor of the attorneys, who are hoping to prove that the prosecutor’s scientific experts can’t show that Ackley and Ball shook infants to death. Prosecutors testified that they’ve already proven that the babies suffered head injuries, injuries which ultimately killed them. “They don’t want us to look too closely behind the curtain,” said Ackley’s attorney Andrew Rodenhouse, “they don’t want us to look at the science.” Rodenhouse says Ackley’s case is setting a new standard for infant death cases across the nation and that more and more defense attorneys are challenging the evidence presented by the state. “We’re hoping to shake the science,” said Balls’ attorney Kymberly Schroeder. “We’re hoping to be able to prove that the underlying basis that this must be abuse, it’s always abuse is false. There’s no evidence, there’s no science behind it.”"
http://wwmt.com/news/local/attorneys-challenge-scientific-evidence-in-two-infant-deaths

Scott Watson; New Zealand; Bulletin; Arthur Allan Thomas, the man wrongfully jailed for two murders in the 1970s, is lending his support to Watson, calling for a new trial for the convicted killer. "Although he had never spoken to Watson before, Thomas said his own experiences with the justice system meant he knew juries and the police could make mistakes. "I had great faith in the police, it wasn't until I went to the court that I realised what they had done by manufacturing the evidence against me. "I know things can go wrong, that juries can make the wrong verdict. I know that in my case because I'm an innocent man, but the police thought I'd done it so they moulded all the evidence against me." The fact that crown witness and water taxi driver Guy Wallace later recounted his identification of Watson as the person he dropped off with Hope and Smart warranted a new trial, Thomas said."...Stuff.co.nz

"Arthur Allan Thomas, the man wrongfully jailed for two murders in the 1970s, is lending his support to Scott Watson, calling for a new trial for the convicted killer. Watson has been in jail since 1999 when he was given a life sentence for the murders of Ben Smart, 21, and Olivia Hope, 17, in the Marlborough Sounds, but has always protested his innocence.........(Thomas) The 78-year-old was twice convicted of the murders of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe who were shot dead in their Waikato farmhouse in June 1970, before being dumped in the Waikato River. He served nine years in prison before being granted a Royal Pardon in 1979, and a scathing Royal Commission of Inquiry found detectives had planted a rifle cartridge linking him to the scene. Thomas, together with his daughter Bridgette and wife Jennifer, will attend a vigil for Watson in Christchurch next month. Although he had never spoken to Watson before, Thomas said his own experiences with the justice system meant he knew juries and the police could make mistakes. "I had great faith in the police, it wasn't until I went to the court that I realised what they had done by manufacturing the evidence against me.

"I know things can go wrong, that juries can make the wrong verdict. I know that in my case because I'm an innocent man, but the police thought I'd done it so they moulded all the evidence against me." The fact that crown witness and water taxi driver Guy Wallace later recounted his identification of Watson as the person he dropped off with Hope and Smart warranted a new trial, Thomas said. He said he had always supported Watson and suspected there was something wrong with the case against him. "He'd be bloody shattered, I know how he feels, that's why I'd like to do something about it and try to help him, because I know what it's like to be in Scott Watson's shoes. "I went through a bloody hard time, don't you worry. One part of my time I refused visitors because I lost faith in everything."
Thomas, who lives on a farm near Taupiri in the Waikato, previously lent his support to David Bain, whose convictions for the murder of his family were quashed by the Privy Council in 2007. New Zealand Public Interest Project trustee Nigel Hampton, QC, said cases like those of Bain and Watson showed there was a need for an independent body to be set up to review potential miscarriages of justice in New Zealand. A Criminal Cases Review Commission, similar to those set up in other countries, could examine cases to determine whether there were grounds for them to be ​looked at again, Hampton said. The constant debate surrounding the guilt or innocence of people like Watson and Bain was bad for the reputation of the justice system, which was something an independent body could help remedy, he said. "If you have constant headlines about people like Watson, October, Ellis and Bain, it undermines and gnaws away at public confidence in the system." "Why not set up a body that can study and objectively review the whole case and then come back with an authoritative answer."
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/82379097/arthur-allan-thomas-calls-for-retrial-for-convicted-murderer-scott-watson

See a backgrounder on the controversial Scott Watson case at the link below: "Watson still maintains his innocence, and says he never met Smart and Hope.  "I don't know where Ben and Olivia are," he recently told North and South. "I've never met them, never seen them." "They definitely never came on my boat and I definitely didn't murder them. And they've basically dumped me in jail for half my lifetime, it must be coming up, for something I haven't done.""
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/74123354/Explainer-the-controversial-case-of-Scott-Watson
 

Oral Nicholas Hillary: New York State; New York Times sets up a DNA hearing set to begin Monday 26, July, is described as "shaping up as an important legal test of a cutting-edge method of teasing DNA evidence out of microscopic amounts of biological matter..." "The case involves the killing of the boy, Garrett Phillips, here in October 2011, a crime for which a former local college soccer coach, Oral Nicholas Hillary, has been charged, despite a seeming paucity of physical evidence. In recent months, however, the prosecution has suggested that it may use low-template DNA analysis to tie Mr. Hillary to Garrett’s murder, utilizing sophisticated algorithms to determine statistical probabilities by analyzing genetic data that older methods could not interpret. In particular, the prosecution is attempting to use software developed by a New Zealand company — STRmix — on a minute sample that was scraped from one of Garrett’s fingernails and came from an unknown individual, possibly during a struggle. But the defense team — led by a prominent civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel, and a criminal defense lawyer, Earl S. Ward — has challenged the methodology as unreliable, citing past problems with STRmix’s computer programs, as well as the minuscule amount of material used for analysis. And this month, the judge in the case, Felix J. Catena, agreed to a so-called Frye hearing on the admissibility of the STRmix program, citing the extremely small amount of biological material. The hearing is scheduled to begin on Monday in nearby Canton."

STORY: "Potsdam Boys murder case: Potsdam Boy’s Murder Case May Hinge on Minuscule DNA Sample From Fingernail," by reporter Jesse McKinley, published by the New York Times on July 25, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION:  "Oral Nicholas Hillary, who was a former boyfriend of Garrett Phillips’s mother, was charged in 2014 for the boy’s 2011 murder; he has maintained his innocence and has suggested the prosecution may be driven in part by race."

GIST: "A long-simmering murder case in northern New York connected to the strangulation of a 12-year-old boy is shaping up as an important legal test of a cutting-edge method of teasing DNA evidence out of microscopic amounts of biological matter.  "The case involves the killing of the boy, Garrett Phillips, here in October 2011, a crime for which a former local college soccer coach, Oral Nicholas Hillary, has been charged, despite a seeming paucity of physical evidence. In recent months, however, the prosecution has suggested that it may use low-template DNA analysis to tie Mr. Hillary to Garrett’s murder, utilizing sophisticated algorithms to determine statistical probabilities by analyzing genetic data that older methods could not interpret. In particular, the prosecution is attempting to use software developed by a New Zealand company — STRmix — on a minute sample that was scraped from one of Garrett’s fingernails and came from an unknown individual, possibly during a struggle. But the defense team — led by a prominent civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel, and a criminal defense lawyer, Earl S. Ward — has challenged the methodology as unreliable, citing past problems with STRmix’s computer programs, as well as the minuscule amount of material used for analysis. And this month, the judge in the case, Felix J. Catena, agreed to a so-called Frye hearing on the admissibility of the STRmix program, citing the extremely small amount of biological material. The hearing is scheduled to begin on Monday in nearby Canton; its outcome may be felt in Potsdam — a riverfront village that has been shaken and divided by Garrett’s murder — as well as further afield, as prosecutors seek more methods to convict those charged and defense lawyers seek more ways to exonerate them. New computer programs have allowed analysis of many samples — often with mixed and multiple individuals’ DNA — that were previously considered inconclusive. Still, there is scientific debate about the use of such low-template DNA (which refers to how much DNA is recovered, sometimes as little a few cells) and low-copy-number DNA analysis (the process of using extra amplification of very small samples).........The most immediate effect of the hearing may be on Mr. Hillary, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, suggesting that the prosecution may be driven in part by his race: Mr. Hillary, 42, is black, while the vast majority of St. Lawrence County is white, as was Garrett. The St. Lawrence County district attorney, Mary Rain, has denied that Mr. Hillary’s race is a motivating factor. But his assertion of an unjustified prosecution has been bolstered by the lack of hard evidence: The police have said in earlier testimony that no fingerprints, no witnesses and no hair or tissue samples link him to the crime. Mr. Hillary, who still lives in Potsdam with his girlfriend and their five children, has also been backed by a public campaign to press his innocence.At the same time, Ms. Rain’s competence has been questioned after a series of professional missteps that led to a no-confidence vote by county legislators in April. The Frye hearing is the latest legal chapter in a case that stretches back almost five years to Garrett’s murder, which occurred on a rainy afternoon in a run-down apartment building along one of this village’s main thoroughfares. Mr. Hillary, the coach of the men’s soccer team at Clarkson University here when Garrett was killed, was a former boyfriend of the boy’s mother, and a suspect from the beginning. He was not charged until 2014, after Ms. Rain, a Republican who had promised to bring new scrutiny to the crime, was elected. (Her predecessor, Nicole Duve, a Democrat, had declined to bring charges, citing a lack of evidence.) The first indictment against Mr. Hillary was thrown out for prosecutorial misconduct, and though a second indictment was later secured, the judge in the case asked to be recused earlier this year after filing an ethics complaint against Ms. Rain. Ms. Rain has enlisted William Fitzpatrick, a well-regarded district attorney from the Syracuse area, to assist in the prosecution.........Last year, a coding error in the STRmix program was reported to have affected probabilities in dozens of cases in Queensland, Australia. Dr. John Buckleton, a creator of STRmix, is expected to testify during the hearing in Canton. Mr. Hillary is also expected to attend." The entire story can be found at:  

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/nyregion/potsdam-boys-murder-case-may-hinge-on-statistical-analysis.html

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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;