Rodney Lincoln; Missouri; Andrew Cohen's disturbing account of a recanting star witness and a criminal justice system which says Lincoln is 'out of luck' even though the evidence against him has evaporated..."Now the police ratcheted up their questioning of M.D., while at the same time giving her candy and spending time with her, buying her dinners and ice cream. They were, she said three decades later under oath, “like dads.” Around this time, one of these “dads,” a detective, told her: “We got a magic door downtown… and we have to go look through this magic door and see if you can find the bad man. If we get the wrong man, we let the bad man go.” Then the detective, to whom M.D. had grown close, showed her two photos. One photograph was of a man M.D. had known as a member of her older sister’s extended family. The other photograph was a mugshot of Rodney Lincoln. The detective told her “that the man who had murdered my mother was in the pictures and I had to pick out the bad man or he would go free. I picked the photograph of Rodney Lincoln,” M.D. would say in her testimony decades later, adding that she did so to please the “dads” who had spent so much time with her following the attack."...The Marshall Project:
STORY: "When the Star Witness Recants," by Andrew Cohen, published by The Marshall Project as a 'case in point' on November 15, 2016. (Case in Point: Andrew Cohen examines a single case or character that sheds light on the criminal justice system.);
SUB-HEADING: "The evidence against Rodney Lincoln has evaporated, but the courts say he’s out of luck."
Two Blogs Now: The Charles Smith Blog; The Selfless Warriors Blog: I created the Charles Smith Blog in 2007 after I retired from The Toronto Star to permit me to keep digging into the story of the flawed pathologist and the harm he had done to so many innocent parents and caregivers, and to Ontario’s criminal justice system. Since then it has taken new directions, including examinations of other flawed pathologists, flawed pathology, and flawed science and technology which has marred the quality of justice in courtrooms around the world. On International Wrongful Conviction Day in 2024, I was thrilled to have the Blog recognized by Innocence Canada, when I was presented with the, "Rubin Hurricane Carter Champion of Justice Award." The heart of the Blog is my approach to following cases which raise issues in all of these areas - especially those involving the death penalty. I have dedicated 'The Selfless Warrior Blog’ (soon to appear) to those exceptional individuals who have been ripped out of their ordinary lives by their inability to stand by in the face of a glaring miscarriage of justice. They are my ’Selfless Warriors.’ Enjoy!