In the years since I started publishing this Blog I have become
increasingly disturbed by the 'white elephant' in the room: Sheer,
unadulterated, willful misconduct in the criminal justice system -
much of it involving forensic evidence - committed by lab technicians,
pathologists, police officers, prosecutors and others. Think Annie
Dookhan; Think Sonia Farak; Think David Kofoed; Think Charles Smith;
Think Ken Anderson; Think Gene Morrison. Think Louis Scarcella; I have therefore decided to run this image of a
white elephant at the top of every applicable post henceforth, to draw
our reader's attention to what I see as a major problem in all too
many criminal justice system's - my own included. Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be
independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is
a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing
these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful
convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved
deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009;
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"A judge has ordered additional DNA evidence in a 1981 Lansing murder
case to be tested and set a hearing for next year which could lead
to Michael Harris being granted a new trial. Harris, 53, was convicted in 1983 for the murder of 77-year-old Ula Curdy in her Lansing home. Recently tested DNA evidence from the crime scene was connected to someone else. Harris
is a convicted serial killer, serving life sentences not just for
killing Curdy, but for murdering three other women in 1981 and 1982 in
Lansing, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. He has long claimed he is innocent of
all four crimes.In his motion for a new trial, Edwar Zeineh, Harris' attorney,
suggested that a former Michigan State Police crime lab specialist planted palm print
evidence used to convict Harris. The lab specialist, who retired in
1987, denied the allegation in a telephone interview with the Detroit
Free Press Thursday.
A hearing had been set for
Friday morning but prosecutors asked for an adjournment so additional
evidence could be tested. Ingham County CircuIt Court Judge Rosemarie
Aquilina granted the adjournment and set a Jan. 23 hearing date."
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/10/21/man-convicted-81-murder-elderly-lansing-woman-could-get-new-trial/92509350/
