Diana Morales: Texas; Austin police DNA lab supervisor: ('Oh, no. Here we go again' department...More grist for our mill as we head into 2017... HL); Her performance reported by The Austin American-Statesman to have "triggered alarm" in a sex assault case..." At one point, minutes before she was set to testify in the May trial, she also had to call another analyst to help her with calculations, prosecutors said. Grunewald and Smith documented their worries, and the district attorney’s office made those memos part of a file of potential witnesses whom they consider unreliable. Yet Morales, whose qualifications to analyze DNA had been questioned by a colleague as far back as 2010, continued working for the Austin Police Department. Only last week, after the American-Statesman revealed how Morales handled the broken freezer and state experts informed the department that they no longer wanted to help retrain her, did officials reassign her from the lab to the department’s records division. The latest revelations come as the scope of the problems inside the troubled lab continue to come into focus, rippling throughout the Travis County criminal justice system."

STORY: "Austin DNA lab leader’s work triggered alarm in sex assault case," by reporters Tony Plohetski and Andrea Ball, published by The Austin American-Statesman on December 15, 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS: "Prosecutors at the Travis County DA’s office questioned DNA lab leader Diana Morales’ reliability as a witness. State auditors raised a red flag because it seemed the lab hadn’t followed its own protocols in the case."

GIST: "Two months after an Austin police lab supervisor stayed mum about a broken freezer housing hundreds of DNA samples this year, Travis County prosecutors in an ongoing sexual assault trial got panicky about her analysis and questioned her about her conclusions in that case. Her answers alarmed them even more, according to memos written by the prosecutors. Prosecutors Brandon Grunewald and Robert Smith believed DNA technical leader Diana Morales contradicted herself during two separate conversations, according to their memo. At one point, minutes before she was set to testify in the May trial, she also had to call another analyst to help her with calculations, prosecutors said. Grunewald and Smith documented their worries, and the district attorney’s office made those memos part of a file of potential witnesses whom they consider unreliable. Yet Morales, whose qualifications to analyze DNA had been questioned by a colleague as far back as 2010, continued working for the Austin Police Department. Only last week, after the American-Statesman revealed how Morales handled the broken freezer and state experts informed the department that they no longer wanted to help retrain her, did officials reassign her from the lab to the department’s records division. The latest revelations come as the scope of the problems inside the troubled lab continue to come into focus, rippling throughout the Travis County criminal justice system. This week, the Statesman reported that the state would no longer work to retrain four of the lab’s six DNA analysts, including Morales, after losing confidence in their abilities. And officials have said it might cost up to $14 million to review results of testing from the lab in 6,000 cases over a 12-year period. Interim Police Chief Brian Manley said he learned of concerns about Morales’ work in the sexual assault case against 26-year-old William McGee in June, when the Texas Forensic Science Commission also cited her performance in that case as troublesome. Officials responded to the commission’s numerous concerns by closing the lab.........The two incidents aren’t the first time Morales’ work has come under scrutiny. In 2010, a former crime lab employee wrote a 25-page memo complaining about personnel and professional problems at the crime lab. Among her complaints: Morales wasn’t qualified to do her job and had cheated on a test to decide whether she was competent to analyze DNA. In her allegation, the former employee accused a supervisor of helping Morales make DNA calculations, but an internal investigation determined that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Morales or her supervisor."

The entire story can be found at:
 

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/crime--law/austin-dna-lab-leader-work-triggered-alarm-sex-assault-case/7Rwn2cGy1781kJesXdcCVJ/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Tyrone Noling; Ohio Supreme Court rules that the death row Inmate can appeal denial of DNA testing of evidence in 1990 murder..."The gist of the ruling at hand is this: In non-capital cases, post-conviction requests for DNA testing that have been denied can automatically be appealed. In capital cases, however, that wasn't the case. Noling previously had won the right to have a cigarette butt from the scene of the crime — the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig — tested for DNA. It didn't match that of Noling. The shell casings and ring boxes, meanwhile, hadn't been tested for DNA despite the fact that two labs in Ohio conduct such tests. In today's decision, the state supreme court ruled the part of a state law allowing automatic appeals for non-capital cases but not for capital cases unconstitutional."

 

STORY: "Ohio Supreme  Ohio Supreme Court Rules Death Row Inmate Tyrone Noling Can Appeal Denial of DNA Testing of Evidence in 1990 Murder," by reporter Vince Grzegorek, published by Scene and Herald on 21 December, 2016.

GIST: "The Ohio Supreme Court ruled today in a 4-3 vote that Tyrone Noling can appeal the denial of his request to have shell casings from the scene of a 1990 murder he's spent 20 years on death row for tested for DNA evidence. Noling has maintained his innocence fervently over two decades and many law enforcement officials and the Ohio Innocence Project believe him." The gist of the ruling at hand is this: In non-capital cases, post-conviction requests for DNA testing that have been denied can automatically be appealed. In capital cases, however, that wasn't the case. Noling previously had won the right to have a cigarette butt from the scene of the crime — the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig — tested for DNA. It didn't match that of Noling. The shell casings and ring boxes, meanwhile, hadn't been tested for DNA despite the fact that two labs in Ohio conduct such tests. In today's decision, the state supreme court ruled the part of a state law allowing automatic appeals for non-capital cases but not for capital cases unconstitutional. Noling now has 45 days to file a brief arguing why the casings and ring boxes should be tested. Scene's feature back in 2003, which you should read, lays out the many problems in the state's case, from no physical evidence tying Noling to the crime to recantations from state witnesses."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/12/21/ohio-supreme-court-rules-death-row-inmate-tyrone-noling-can-appeal-for-dna-testing-of-evidence-in-1990-murder

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Former detective Louis Scarcella: Brooklyn, New York; White elephant case: Shawn Williams, a Brooklyn man imprisoned for more than 20 years in a fatal shooting, asked a judge on Thursday to grant him a new trial, saying that the sole eyewitness against him now says she was pressured to identify him by Scarcella, the former detective who has been accused of falsifying evidence in several other cases..."While there was no forensic evidence or motive introduced at Mr. Williams’s trial, the jury heard from Margaret Smith, a college administrator who lived across the street. Ms. Smith testified that she had seen Mr. Williams at the scene with a gun at his waist the night of the killing, even though it was dark out and she was standing 100 feet away, looking down from her sixth-story window. But in an affidavit filed along with Mr. Williams’s request for a new trial, Ms. Smith recanted that account. She said she had not seen Mr. Williams that night, but had been coerced into naming him as the killer by the former detective, Louis Scarcella. Though Mr. Scarcella was once a renowned homicide investigator, his reputation has been tainted in recent years as numerous defendants he helped send to prison have accused him of misconduct. Scores of killings that Mr. Scarcella and his onetime partner Stephen Chmil worked on are being re-examined by a special team created by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office to identify wrongful convictions, the Conviction Review Unit. Mr. Williams’s case is among those under scrutiny."

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.  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; http://www.t-mlaw.com/blog/post/the-elephant-in-the-crime-lab/

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 QUOTE OF THE DAY:“Mr. Williams has waited over 20 years for justice. ” said his  “We filed this suit today because Mr. Williams should not be forced to wait a moment longer.”

 Lawyer, Victor Hou.

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STORY: "Inmate Seeks New Trial in 1993 Killing, Saying Ex-Detective Pressured Witness," bu reporter Alan Feuerdec, published by The New York Times on December 29, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Louis Scarcella, a former police detective, has been accused of multiple instances of misconduct. The sole eyewitness against Shawn Williams in a 1993 killing says Mr. Scarcella coerced her to say she saw Mr. Williams with a gun at the murder scene."
 

GIST: "Lawyers for a Brooklyn man imprisoned for more than 20 years in a fatal shooting asked a judge on Thursday to grant him a new trial, saying that the sole eyewitness against him now says she was pressured to identify him by a former detective who has been accused of falsifying evidence in several other cases. The imprisoned man, Shawn Williams, was convicted of murder in August 1994 in the shooting of a neighbor in the lobby of a building in the Crown Heights neighborhood. In her affidavit, Ms. Smith said she had originally identified Mr. Williams not because he was there, but because she “felt pressured to do what I believed the detectives wanted me to do.”.........Although Mr. Williams’s lawyers have had Ms. Smith’s new statement for more than two years, they delayed filing their motion for a new trial in favor of working initially with the Conviction Review Unit, hoping that its prosecutors would support their effort to reverse Mr. Williams’s conviction. So far, the prosecutors have not taken action, court papers say, despite the private investigation’s having turned up further indications of misconduct in the case. Among other things, the papers say, there are suggestions that Mr. Scarcella only cursorily considered evidence that Mr. Williams might have been in Pennsylvania when Mr. Mason was killed. Joel Cohen, one of Mr. Scarcella’s lawyers, said in a statement on Thursday that Mr. Williams’s motion for a new trial relied “principally on press reports that are factually inaccurate.” The district attorney’s office said in a statement that its review of Mr. Williams’s conviction was continuing. “Mr. Williams has waited over 20 years for justice,” said his lawyer, Victor Hou. “We filed this suit today because Mr. Williams should not be forced to wait a moment longer.”"

The entire story can be found at: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/nyregion/shawn-williams-1993-killing-new-trial-sought.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Kamalkant Shah: New Jersey: White elephant case? Spill-over in the courts from his alleged falsified lab results included in New Jersey Law Journal's list of "'Court fights to watch in 2017." ..."In one of the contested cases, the Office of the Public Defender has filed an application requesting the court to conduct a hearing pursuant to Frye v. United States, to determine whether due process compels chemically testing marijuana for the presence of THC through the use of a gas chromatography analytical device. The Office of the Public Defender says that method would be more specific, repeatable and subject to verification than the current testing procedures, according to the Jerejian report."

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.  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; http://www.t-mlaw.com/blog/post/the-elephant-in-the-crime-lab/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"In Bergen County Superior Court, the new year will mean sorting through at least 323 adjudicated criminal cases that have been reopened in light of the alleged misconduct of a state police lab technician. That’s out of some 7,800 closed cases that were called into question in light of a discovery in December 2015 that Kamalkant Shah falsified results of samples of suspected marijuana at the State Police laboratory in Little Falls. The 323 cases represent the number filed as of Dec. 22, with additional filings expected, according to a report by Superior Court Judge Edward Jerejian.
The reopened cases are centralized for case management under Jerejian, who was assigned by the Supreme Court in June 2016 to hear petitions for relief related to tests of drug samples by Shah in the 10 years he worked at the lab. Most of those cases are pending re-testing of narcotics samples at the State Police lab or are still under review by the Attorney General’s Office. The state has indicated that 250 of the samples were recently re-tested, and Jerejian is awaiting the state’s position as to those results. Of those re-tested, all have re-tested positive for the drug initially identified, according to Jerejian’s report. The state has provided its position for 12 of the cases in which re-testing is complete, according to Jerejian’s report. Of those, five applications were withdrawn after the sample re-tested positive, and three cases are pending orders for dismissal because the sample was no longer available for re-testing. Four others are being contested further on various grounds, and hearings have been scheduled in those cases. In one of the contested cases, the Office of the Public Defender has filed an application requesting the court to conduct a hearing pursuant to Frye v. United States, to determine whether due process compels chemically testing marijuana for the presence of THC through the use of a gas chromatography analytical device. The Office of the Public Defender says that method would be more specific, repeatable and subject to verification than the current testing procedures, according to the Jerejian report."
 http://www.njlawjournal.com/home/id=1202775761076/NJ-Court-Fights-to-Watch-in-2017?mcode=1202617074826&curindex=0

Predictive policing: Oakland, California police department bucks the national (US) trend and turns down predictive policing. Emily Thomas explains why in Motherboard. (VICE)..."That’s when Figueroa put the note on his wall. “Maybe we could reduce crime more by using predictive policing, but the unintended consequences [are] even more damaging… and it’s just not worth it,” Birch said. He said it could lead to even more disproportionate stops of African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities. The Oakland police’s decision runs counter to a broader nationwide trend. Departments in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago are turning to predictive policing software like PredPol as a way to reduce crime by deploying officers and resources more effectively. A 2013 PredPol pilot in Atlanta was one of the first key tests of the software. According to a 2014 national survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank made up of police executives, 70 percent of police department representatives surveyed said they expected to implement the technology in the next two to five years."

STORY: "Why Oakland Police Turned Down Predictive Policing," by Emily Thomas, published by Motherboard on December 28, 2016.

GIST: "Tim Birch was six months into his new job as head of research and planning for the Oakland Police Department when he walked into his office and found a piece of easel pad paper tacked onto his wall. Scribbled across the page were the words, “I told you so!” Paul Figueroa, then the assistant chief of Oakland Police, who sat next door to Birch, was the culprit. A few months before, in the fall of 2014, Birch had attended a national conference for police chiefs where he was introduced to PredPol, a predictive policing software that several major cities across the US have started to use. It can forecast when and where crimes may occur based on prior crime reports, but the results of its impact on crime reduction have been mixed. Birch, a former police officer in Daly City, thought it could help Oakland’s understaffed and underfunded police force. During the January 2015 budgeting planning process he convinced Mayor Libby Schaaf to earmark $150,000 in the city’s budget to fund the software over two years. But Figueroa was skeptical of the technology. An Oakland native and 25-year veteran of the force, he worried the technology could have unintended consequences—such as disproportionately scrutinizing certain neighborhoods—and erode community trust. Figueroa and Birch had spirited discussions after the January budget proposal about why it wouldn’t work in a city with a sordid history of police and community relations, including several misconduct scandals. Birch finally came around to Figueroa’s thinking in April 2015 after further research and a newfound understanding of Oakland. He realized the city didn’t need to give its people another reason to be suspicious. It was too easy for the public to interpret predictive policing as another form of racial profiling. He decided to rescind his funding request from Schaaf, telling her the OPD would not be using the software. That’s when Figueroa put the note on his wall. “Maybe we could reduce crime more by using predictive policing, but the unintended consequences [are] even more damaging… and it’s just not worth it,” Birch said. He said it could lead to even more disproportionate stops of African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities. The Oakland police’s decision runs counter to a broader nationwide trend. Departments in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago are turning to predictive policing software like PredPol as a way to reduce crime by deploying officers and resources more effectively. A 2013 PredPol pilot in Atlanta was one of the first key tests of the software. According to a 2014 national survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank made up of police executives, 70 percent of police department representatives surveyed said they expected to implement the technology in the next two to five years. Thirty-eight percent said they were already using it at the time. But Bay Area departments are raising questions about the effectiveness and dangers of relying on data to prevent crime. San Francisco currently has no plans to use predictive policing technology. Berkeley does not either. Just north of Oakland, the Richmond Police Department canceled its contract with Predpol earlier this year and to the south, the Milpitas Police Department cut its ties with the software maker back in 2014. These authorities say the software may be able to predict crime, but may not actually help prevent crime because knowing when a crime may occur doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of stopping it. Critics of the software also argue it perpetuates racial bias inherent in crime data and the justice system, which could lead to more disproportionate stops of people of color. But police departments who support using PredPol say police presence in these predicted crime zones can potentially deter crime..."

The entire story can be found at:

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/minority-retort-why-oakland-police-turned-down-predictive-policing

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Flawed bite-mark evidence: Bulletin: Radley Balko lays out developments related to this much maligned - and rightly so - forensic discipline, for lack of a better word, in his Washington Post account of the "most-read posts, series, favorite posts and reactions to headlines from the world of criminal justice and civil liberties in 2016, in his worthy column "The Watch."

POST: "It’s the last week of the year. So in keeping with Internet tradition, here’s a look back at 2016 here at The Watch, including most-read posts, series, favorite posts and reactions to headlines from the world of criminal justice and civil liberties..."Lots of news from the world of bite marks: Disgraced bite-mark expert Michael West lost his mind during a deposition for a death penalty case (and afterward, Mississippi officials not only defended West, they also bizarrely attacked the defendant’s attorneys). The Texas Forensic Science Commission recommended a moratorium on bite mark evidence. Manhattan prosecutor (and defender of bite mark matching) Melissa Mourges conceded defeat (sort of). Meanwhile, there were more exonerations and, somehow, still more cases in which bite mark evidence was upheld by the court."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/12/28/the-watch-year-in-review/?utm_term=.f0af9492b150

Steven Avery: 'Making a Murderer.' Wisconsin; False Confessions (5); Avery says "science" will save him - and Brendan Dassey - as he wishes supporters Merry Christmas..."Dassey's lawyer has landed a procedural victory in federal court which opens the way for a slew of new evidence to be introduced, according to the Mail Online. If they get what they want, the state's attempt at a retrial would lack its central plank - the confession. The lawyers reportedly believe this would lead to the case being abandoned before the trial and that even if it went ahead, they'd secure a guilty verdict. They want to introduce evidence from experts, including Wicklander-Zulawski and Associates, a company that trains federal agencies and law enforcement officers to carry out interviews and interrogations. That refers to Dassey's taped confession which saw two officers interview him at school without a lawyer present. There was also suggestion in the documentary that they had led him in his answers. The experts have apparently been using the footage as an example of what not to do during an interrogation. Mail Online say that in the amicus brief (legal documents) filed to the appeal court the firm states: "Due in large part to notoriety garnered by the Making a Murder documentary on Netflix, Brendan's interrogation has been under much public scrutiny. "Certified interrogation specialists have used the video footage of Brendan's interrogation as the proverbial 'what not to do' in training courses and pointed to the officers' practices to demonstrate the impropriety of Brendan's interrogation. "Experts point to key errors in the handling of the interrogation: (1) a failure to adequately account for Brendan's juvenile status and intellectual disability; (2) the use of coercion in the form of promises of leniency and threats of harm; (3) the use of false evidence ploys; and 4) the divulging of investigative information through leading questions or other tactics." The Juvenile Law Center (JLC), which specialises in youth crime and wrongful convictions is also expected to submit an amicus brief."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (1); The battle-lines are being drawn  for the defence attack on the taped confession in which Avery is seen interviewed by two officers at school without a lawyer present.  As the Mirror story points out, experts have pointed out key errors in the handling of the investigation: "(1) a failure to adequately account for Brendan's juvenile status and intellectual disability; (2) the use of coercion in the form of promises of leniency and threats of harm; (3) the use of false evidence ploys; and 4) the divulging of investigative information through leading questions or other tactics." The timing is helpful to Avery and Dassey. As multiple posts on this Blog have shown, the mounting number of DNA-backed exonerations in circumstances where the defendant has confessed to the crime has drawn judicial and public attention to the prevalence of false confessions - and to  the questionable means of conducting interrogations still used by police in jurisdictions throughout the world. The timing is also helpful to both men, because of  the increasing amount of scientific  research  into the causes of false confessions in recent years - much of it directed towards juveniles. These developments are particularly noteworthy in cases  - such as the one captured so ably by 'Making a Murderer' - in which the alleged confession lies at the core of the prosecution's case. At the moment, The Charles Smith is covering other high profile false confession case such as Chris Tapp in Idaho, and Pedro  Hernandez in New York, and many other cases which have a much lower profile.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: " "To all my Followers: Merry Christmas!!! Thank you for believing in me. Science will save me and Brendan in 2017."

Steven Avery; In a Christmas card sent to his followers;

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STORY: "Making A Murderer's Steven Avery says science will "save" him and Brendan Dassey as he wishes supporters Merry Christmas," by reporter Vicki Newman, published by The Mirroe on December 28, 2016.

GIST: "Steven Avery has wished his followers a Merry Christmas from his prison cell and said that science will "save" him and his nephew Brendan Dassey in 2017. The man at the centre of Netflix's Making A Murderer documentary series sent a Christmas card to his "followers" thanking them for their support. Inside a wreath, Avery, 54, wrote: "To all my Followers: Merry Christmas!!! Thank you for Believing in me. Science will save me and Brendan in 2017." Meanwhile, Dassey, 27, asked people to make a donation to a charity which buys Christmas presents for the children of prisoners. And after the first anniversary of the hit documentary passed on December 18, the duo could be looking forward to their freedom with their legal teams hopeful that the men will be released within the next six months. Dassey's lawyer has landed a procedural victory in federal court which opens the way for a slew of new evidence to be introduced, according to the Mail Online. If they get what they want, the state's attempt at a retrial would lack its central plank - the confession. The lawyers reportedly believe this would lead to the case being abandoned before the trial and that even if it went ahead, they'd secure a guilty verdict. They want to introduce evidence from experts, including Wicklander-Zulawski and  Associates, a company that trains federal agencies and law enforcement officers to carry out interviews and interrogations. That refers to Dassey's taped confession which saw two officers interview him at school without a lawyer present. There was also suggestion in the documentary that they had led him in his answers.  The experts have apparently been using the footage as an example of what not to do during an interrogation. Mail Online say that in the amicus brief (legal documents) filed to the appeal court the firm states: "Due in large part to notoriety garnered by the Making a Murder documentary on Netflix, Brendan's interrogation has been under much public scrutiny. "Certified interrogation specialists have used the video footage of Brendan's interrogation as the proverbial 'what not to do' in training courses and pointed to the officers' practices to demonstrate the impropriety of Brendan's interrogation. "Experts point to key errors in the handling of the interrogation: (1) a failure to adequately account for Brendan's juvenile status and intellectual disability; (2) the use of coercion in the form of promises of leniency and threats of harm; (3) the use of false evidence ploys; and 4) the divulging of investigative information through leading questions or other tactics." The Juvenile Law Center (JLC), which specialises in youth crime and wrongful convictions is also expected to submit an amicus brief."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/making-murderers-steven-avery-says-9526334

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  (2): I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Tonia Miller: Michigan Shaken Baby Syndrome: Release; Bulletin; Medill Justice project and Life of the Law releases "revelatory information" (several accidents and medical episodes experts say could have played a role in the death of a Michigan woman's infant daughter). Miller was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 and is serving a 20 to 30 year prison sentence) - and maintains her innocence. Her story is co-published by The Medill Justice Project and "Life and the law." An expert calls Miller's case a "poster child" for "false conviction for shaken baby." Link provided to the stories and video."

RELEASE: "A Medill Justice Project investigation has discovered several accidents and medical episodes experts say could have played a role in the death of a Michigan woman's infant daughter. Accused of shaking her child to death, Tonia Miller was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 and is serving a 20 to 30 year prison sentence. After a nine-month examination, MJP co-publishes with Life of the Law its multi-part investigation of Miller's case, which includes a podcast available in English and French that delves into the infant's short life; two in-depth articles that explore experts' opinions on alternative explanations for her death and examine the use of demeanor to assess if someone is culpable of a crime; and a video that reveals the impact on Miller's family and friends in the wake of the tragedy. The stories can be accessed via Life of the Law's website at www.lifeofthelaw.org or via MJP's website at www.medilljusticeproject.org. Since 2012, MJP has been probing shaken-baby syndrome, creating the world's largest publicly available database of cases, uncovering evidence that played a role in a federal judge's decision to free from prison a Chicago-area woman and partnering with The Washington Post on a two-part series published on page one of the newspaper. Its reporting on the subject has been honored with an IRE Award, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and a Sigma Delta Chi Award, among others.  The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth. Life of the Law is a national podcast produced by award-winning investigative reporters, editors, producers, researchers and legal scholars. We ask questions, find answers and publish what we discover about the law in our sound-rich, bi-weekly podcast."

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/34097968/medill-justice-project-discovers-revelatory-information-in-shaken-baby-syndrome-case-where-convicted-mother-maintains-her-innocence

Chris Tapp: Idaho: False confessions (4): Commentary: Retired scientist spells out three "terrible" reasons why his county's legal system will not face the reality that it has convicted and locked up for years an innocent man...."Much has been written about the Christopher Tapp case where he was sentenced to a very long prison term for murder based entirely on what many people consider to be a manipulated confession. To this day there has been no evidence that Chris committed this offense other that this confession. People nationwide have taken up his cause accusing our legal system of false imprisonment. Yet years later, he remains behind bars. Why has our legal system circled the wagons around this conviction? I can think of three reasons."..."The second issue is the effort to protect the legacy of the officers who manipulated this confession under threats of “Admit to the crime or face the death penalty.” Since one of these officers went on to become the mayor of Idaho Falls, they may feel an enhanced need to protect this legacy. Again I disagree. The need for the public to have absolute confidence in our legal system must overshadow any need to protect anybody. Let the chips fall where they may!"

COMMENTARY: "Three terrible reasons" by retired scientist Jim Delmore, published by The Post Register on December 27, 2016.

GIST: "I can think of three reasons why our county doesn’t want to reapproach Chris Tapp’s conviction for the murder of Angie Dodge, writes Jim Delmore. Much has been written about the Christopher Tapp case where he was sentenced to a very long prison term for murder based entirely on what many people consider to be a manipulated confession. To this day there has been no evidence that Chris committed this offense other that this confession. People nationwide have taken up his cause accusing our legal system of false imprisonment. Yet years later, he remains behind bars. Why has our legal system circled the wagons around this conviction? I can think of three reasons. First is the issue of having to admit that all those years ago a grave injustice was inflicted on an innocent man by our legal system. Even though many of the people active in the legal system today were not a part of it back then, they still feel the need to protect those who came before them. That raises the question, “What will undermine confidence in our legal system the most: Admitting that something was very wrong years ago, or refusing to own up to this injustice?” It is my opinion that refusing to own up to this injustice is far more damaging to public confidence to the legal system than admitting that this was indeed an injustice. The second issue is the effort to protect the legacy of the officers who manipulated this confession under threats of “Admit to the crime or face the death penalty.” Since one of these officers went on to become the mayor of Idaho Falls, they may feel an enhanced need to protect this legacy. Again I disagree. The need for the public to have absolute confidence in our legal system must overshadow any need to protect anybody. Let the chips fall where they may! The third issue is money. If the conviction were vacated there would almost certainly be a very large lawsuit that would be a drain on our tax dollars. When (not if) Tapp is released, he will be turned out on the street with no money and no job skills. A number of lawyers will be waiting at the prison gates to greet him. This may be the strongest reason for not releasing him. We all know how reluctant our community would be to pay more taxes to fund a settlement. Is protecting tax dollars more important that justice?"

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.postregister.com/articles/opinions/2016/12/27/local-column-three-terrible-reasons#

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Hannah Overton: Texas: Innocent mother turned by police into cold-blooded salt-poisoner of her stepson; Writer Kate Storey takes to 'Good Housekeeping' to give an illuminating account of this innocent woman who spent 7 years in prison after being convicted of salt-poisoning her 4-year-old foster son, and explains why, "What unfolded afterward still haunts those involved with the case."..."Hannah's new legal team realized a few holes in the case which could be key to getting her an appeal. For starters, Dr. Edgar Cortes, who'd observed Andrew before his death, never took the stand because, Orr says, the state made him unavailable to the defense. He could've provided an important perspective, since Andrew was described during the trial as a normal, healthy child. Cortes, however, knew of Andrew's behavioral issues. Second, Andrew's vomit hadn't been tested, according to the documentary, because the state had lied to the defense, saying it wasn't available, when, in fact, it was. (Eastwood, the prosecutor who tried the case against Hannah, did not respond to requests for comment from GoodHousekeeping.com.) When the vomit was tested, it showed low sodium — proving that the lethal portion of salt must have been ingested earlier in the day. Hannah explained to her lawyers that she recalled Andrew earlier in the day sneaking into a kitchen cabinet but didn't recall what he had in his hand when she found him. Finally, the testimony from Dr. Michael Moritz, an expert on salt poisoning, wasn't shown during trial because the defense was told his video-recorded interview was of such poor quality that it wasn't worth showing to the jury. But when Orr and her team reviewed it, they discovered it contained valuable facts about Andrew's condition, like the fact that it takes at least an hour for a child to exhibit symptoms — thus proving that the Overtons reacted in a timely manner. Thanks to the new evidence, Hannah finally got a new trial Dec. 16, 2014. They were successful. After seven years locked away from her family, Hannah was released on bail just in time for Christmas."

STORY:  "I Served 7 Years in Prison for Murdering My Son — but I Didn't Do It," by Kate Storey, published by 'Good Housekeeping'  on December 01, 2016.

SUB-HEADING:  "In 2007, Hannah Overton was accused of salt poisoning of her 4-year-old foster son. What unfolded afterward still haunts those involved with the case."

GIST: "So, on Oct. 2, 2006, when Hannah made lunch for Andrew — a chili-like dish of bean soup with Creole seasoning — she wasn't surprised when he insisted on a second bowl. After that helping, he begged for another. Worried that so much food would make him sick, Hannah says she sprinkled some of the seasoning into water in Andrew's sippy cup, hoping the broth would give him the taste of the soup without filling him up too much. It was after that lunch when Andrew began vomiting and complaining of feeling ill. His symptoms — vomiting and chills — seemed in line with a stomach bug. When driving him to the urgent care facility, Hannah never considered that what she'd fed Andrew could be the cause of his illness. But he was diagnosed with hypernatremia, also known as salt poisoning. They didn't know it at the time but, because of the hypernatremia, Andrew's body was also covered in bruises when he arrived at the hospital, which led the authorities to believe the boy had been abused. Down at the police station, Hannah, who describes herself as "totally naïve about the criminal justice system at that point," having never gotten into any legal trouble, didn't think to demand a lawyer before she was questioned by detectives. The interrogation tapes, obtained by Investigation Discovery as they were working on a documentary about the case, show her hunched over, rushing through questions, while repeatedly asking when she could return to the hospital to see Andrew. Detective Michael Hess showed particular interest in Hannah giving the boy seasoning in his water. "Have you ever done anything like this to any of your other children ... water with chili in it?" Hess asked in the tapes. "No, I was just trying to ... you know," Hannah explained, "get him happy, get him to calm down." "With chili?" he asked, to which she replied, "Because he wanted more of that chili." After spending hours with Hannah, Hess moved on to her husband, Larry. "When he began questioning me," Larry says in the documentary, "I knew that he had his mind made up, that my wife had done something to Andrew."........Because of the investigation, the other four Overton children were taken away by Child Protective Services to live with two separate foster families. After one night, Hannah's mother was able to secure temporary custody. And when Hannah was out on bail, awaiting trial, she gave birth to her youngest daughter, Emma, in January 2007. She was allowed to spend three days with her in the hospital and then CPS took Emma away too. "Her birth was a bright spot in all of this. We gave her the middle name 'Blessing,' because she really is such a blessing," Hannah says. She was convinced that once the police looked further into it, they'd realize she had nothing to do with Andrew's death and that her family would be able to grieve the loss of Andrew together. Weeks later, Hannah and Larry noticed red and blue cop car lights flashing behind them. When they pulled over, they were approached by officers with their guns drawn and who ordered the couple to the ground to handcuff them. A row of TV reporters were there with their cameras to capture the entire thing. At that moment, Hannah realized for the first time how dire the situation was — and she was terrified. The Overtons were charged with capital murder, for which the only punishments in Texas are the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The media attention surrounding the case was crushing. Hannah was portrayed as a cold, calculating, abusive mother. Pamela Colloff, the Texas Monthly reporter covering the Overtons' story, noted online commenters were ruthless in their criticism, one writing, "You can just tell by looking at her how evil she is." Prosecutor Sandra Eastwood painted a picture of a desperate, overwhelmed woman who held down her foster son by the throat and forced him to drink a fatal concoction. "Andrew had an enraged mother who didn't, I don't think loved him the way that she loved her own biological children," Eastwood said at trial, according to an ABC News report. "The case boils down to a woman who basically tortured a child … becoming so enraged she forced him to have 23 teaspoons of hot pepper, and then watched him die in agony." (The number 23 comes from an estimate from a doctor who testified that it was the amount — equivalent to 6 teaspoons of salt — that would be fatal to a 4-year-old.) "Hearing those things at the trial was just sickening," Hannah says, her voice cracking. "Even thinking about it today, my stomach is in knots right now." To make matters worse for Hannah, at the trial's close, the jury was told they could charge her with capital murder by omission, meaning they could find her guilty if she had negligently failed to save Andrew's life by not getting him to the hospital in time — an extremely rare standard for murder. In September 2007, after a three-week trial and 11 hours of deliberation, the jury came back with a guilty verdict. When polled afterward, all 12 jurors said they didn't think Hannah intentionally poisoned her son but that she hadn't done enough to help him fast enough.........Hannah's lawyers couldn't let her case go either: "I had some friends who are great criminal defense lawyers down in Corpus Christi — they're tough guys. One day, they called me together on a conference call and they were crying," says Cynthia Orr, a San Antonio, Texas, attorney specializing in wrongful convictions. "They said they had just tried Hannah's case and that she was nursing her baby, and her baby was taken from her arms and she was sent to serve life in prison without parole. Would I please come help, because she's innocent?" Orr took the case. Hannah's new legal team realized a few holes in the case which could be key to getting her an appeal. For starters, Dr. Edgar Cortes, who'd observed Andrew before his death, never took the stand because, Orr says, the state made him unavailable to the defense. He could've provided an important perspective, since Andrew was described during the trial as a normal, healthy child. Cortes, however, knew of Andrew's behavioral issues. Second, Andrew's vomit hadn't been tested, according to the documentary, because the state had lied to the defense, saying it wasn't available, when, in fact, it was. (Eastwood, the prosecutor who tried the case against Hannah, did not respond to requests for comment from GoodHousekeeping.com.) When the vomit was tested, it showed low sodium — proving that the lethal portion of salt must have been ingested earlier in the day. Hannah explained to her lawyers that she recalled Andrew earlier in the day sneaking into a kitchen cabinet but didn't recall what he had in his hand when she found him. Finally, the testimony from Dr. Michael Moritz, an expert on salt poisoning, wasn't shown during trial because the defense was told his video-recorded interview was of such poor quality that it wasn't worth showing to the jury. But when Orr and her team reviewed it, they discovered it contained valuable facts about Andrew's condition, like the fact that it takes at least an hour for a child to exhibit symptoms — thus proving that the Overtons reacted in a timely manner. Thanks to the new evidence, Hannah finally got a new trial Dec. 16, 2014. They were successful. After seven years locked away from her family, Hannah was released on bail just in time for Christmas. And her family was there to embrace her as she walked out of prison. Her husband and older two children threw their arms around her first, then, tears streaming down her face, she made her way to the younger two, who'd spent the majority of their lives interacting with their mom during prison visitation hours. Now, nearly as tall as their mom, they broke into shy smiles as they embraced her......... Hannah is also the subject of the documentary Until Proven Innocent: The Hannah Overton Story, airing Dec. 1 at 9 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. It traces the mystery of her son's death, the agonizing investigation that tore her family apart and landed her behind bars, and her eventual release seven years later."

The entire article can be found at:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a41631/hannah-overton-salt-poisoning-wrongful-conviction/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Homer and Harold: An article by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ken Armstrong about a principled prosecutor of another era who serves for the ultimate model as to how prosecutors are supposed to act. Publisher's note: "Well, Mr. Armstrong, I really enjoyed your opus, and I'm sure my readers will as well. After publishing so many posts on prosecutors who see the criminal justice system as a game which they must win at any costs," it is so refreshing to come across a prosecutor who fiercely holds practices and articulates, the highest ideals of the office, without regard to the wrath of the police who laid the charge, the angry media, the malicious masses, and the righteous politicians. A copy of this story should be posted on every prosecutors door, and required reading for every law school criminal justice course." HL;

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Once in a while I come across a piece of writing that is so tightly structured that it defies  synopsising -  the usual practice of this Blog. 'Homer and Harold' (no relation) a collaboration  of the Marshall Project, Smithsonian Magazine, and WBUR radio’s All Things Considered, is a case in point. In a note introducing the piece,  author Ken Armstrong  explains: (Ken Armstrong is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who previously worked at The Seattle Times and Chicago Tribune, where his work helped prompt the Illinois governor to suspend executions and later empty death row. He has been the McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.) "Dear Marshallers: Years ago—17 years ago, to be painfully exact—I co-wrote a five-part series on prosecutorial misconduct at the Chicago Tribune. I had spent months researching homicide cases nationwide, finding 381 where prosecutors had secured convictions by concealing evidence suggesting the accused was innocent or by presenting evidence they knew to be false. As a counterpoint to this corrosive misconduct, I brought up a case from 1924 in which a prosecutor, Homer Cummings, had done the opposite: Handed a surefire conviction by police, Cummings had investigated on his own and blown up the police’s evidence, showing how each element collapsed under scrutiny. Dramatic as that case was, I only gave it two sentences. But ever since that series was published in 1999, I’ve been carrying that small anecdote around, wondering if there could be a larger story. And earlier this year I found that there was. In January, in an archive at the University of Virginia, I discovered a second act to the dramatic courtroom scene from the 1920s. Two decades after Homer Cummings saved Harold Israel from almost certain execution, the two men forged one of history’s more unlikely friendships, one that lasted the final ten years of Cummings’s life. This is a story about public service and character. And I have to admit, I may have gotten carried away with it. My initial draft turned those two sentences from 1999 into an opus eclipsing 11,000 words. Bill Keller, our editor-in-chief, informed me that much as he enjoyed the story, he would have enjoyed it much more at half its length. So here you have it: A 5,300-word telling of Homer and Harold, reported in partnership with Smithsonian magazine and WBUR radio’s All Things Considered. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and do let me know your thoughts."  Well,  Mr.  Armstrong, I  really enjoyed your opus and I'm sure my readers will as well. After publishing so many posts on prosecutors who see the criminal justice system as a game which they must win at any costs," it is so  refreshing to come across a prosecutor who fiercely  holds practices and articulates, the highest ideals of the office, without regard to the wrath of the police who laid the charge, the angry media, the malicious masses, and the righteous politicians. A copy of this  important, deeply researched, beautifully written story should be posted on every prosecutor's door, and  required reading for every law school criminal justice course."

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

PS: I consider myself a 'Marshaller.' Some of the finest critical  writing and investigative work on the U.S. criminal justice system is to be found on the Marshall Project site. The site is an indispensable research tool, and offers a daily diet of great reads. The Project describes itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We achieve this through award-winning journalism, partnerships with other news outlets and public forums. In all of our work we strive to educate and enlarge the audience of people who care about the state of criminal justice." It carries out that challenger extremely well.

The entire piece - with some memorable photographs - can be found at the link below;

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/12/20/homer-and-harold?ref=hp-2-122#.2qDmYFdqZ

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.

Chris Tapp: Idaho; Bulletin; False confessions; (Part 3); His challenges for post-conviction relief will be heard in April: "A key development is that Judge Alan Stephens will treat videos of Tapp’s polygraph sessions as new evidence. Tapp’s attorneys and a team of false confession experts claim that the polygraphs were used to coerce a false confession. Tapp has been in prison for 20 years. He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to 30 years to life. His appeals have so far failed. But in 2014, a set of outside experts — including a false confession expert, two former FBI supervisory special agents, a polygraph expert and a retired judge — produced a set of lengthy reports concluding that Tapp had been wrongfully convicted based on a false confession, the result of police coercion. Then-Prosecutor Bruce Pickett decided to hire an outside investigator to review the case shortly before departing to become a judge. Last week, Prosecutor Danny Clark concluded that review. He said there isn’t new evidence that proves to a very high probability that Tapp is innocent, though he acknowledged that Tapp’s confession is almost entirely uncorroborated."... Tapp’s second petition argues that a set of polygraph videos demonstrate that he falsely confessed under police coercion. Boise State University polygraph expert Charles Honts’ report argues that the examinations were performed in a “bizarre” and “grotesquely improper” fashion, not to assess whether Tapp was lying but instead as a “psychological rubber hose.” Reporter Bryan Clark; Post Register; December 14, 2016.

"Chris Tapp’s two petitions for post-conviction relief will be heard in April, when two extensive evidentiary hearings will be held. So April may be Tapp’s last, best chance to argue that he is innocent of the 1996 murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. A key development is that Judge Alan Stephens will treat videos of Tapp’s polygraph sessions as new evidence. Tapp’s attorneys and a team of false confession experts claim that the polygraphs were used to coerce a false confession. Tapp has been in prison for 20 years. He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to 30 years to life. His appeals have so far failed. But in 2014, a set of outside experts — including a false confession expert, two former FBI supervisory special agents, a polygraph expert and a retired judge — produced a set of lengthy reports concluding that Tapp had been wrongfully convicted based on a false confession, the result of police coercion. Then-Prosecutor Bruce Pickett decided to hire an outside investigator to review the case shortly before departing to become a judge. Last week, Prosecutor Danny Clark concluded that review. He said there isn’t new evidence that proves to a very high probability that Tapp is innocent, though he acknowledged that Tapp’s confession is almost entirely uncorroborated. Tapp has two petitions for post-conviction relief before Stephens. One is based on DNA testing, the other on a set of polygraphs to which Tapp was subjected. Tapp’s DNA has never been found at the crime scene. All the DNA found so far matches one unknown man or others Dodge knew who have been cleared. Public Defender John Thomas sought additional testing of several items from the crime scene, including a teddy bear which Tapp confessed to holding over Dodge’s mouth to muffle her screams. Prosecutors didn’t oppose further testing. The new tests also failed to turn up Tapp’s DNA. Prosecutors indicated Tuesday they will perform more tests, which Thomas didn’t oppose.......... Tapp’s second petition argues that a set of polygraph videos demonstrate that he falsely confessed under police coercion. Boise State University polygraph expert Charles Honts’ report argues that the examinations were performed in a “bizarre” and “grotesquely improper” fashion, not to assess whether Tapp was lying but instead as a “psychological rubber hose.”  “Even a cursory review … reveals that the conduct of the alleged polygraph tests was so sub-standard and so far from acceptable practice that the only reasonable conclusion would be that (the polygraph was) never intended to be used as an assessment of credibility,” Honts wrote. A prosecution-hired investigator noted that Sgt. Jared Fuhriman testified extensively to the jury that Tapp hadn’t been provided details of the crime by police. But the investigator found that extensive information about the crime had been fed to Tapp, including during the polygraphs. The only detail of the confession which the investigator found hadn’t been fed to Tapp by police is that Dodge was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. Stephens’ most important finding so far is that videos of Tapp’s polygraph sessions will be treated as new evidence. “I would look at all of that evidence from a standpoint of whether or not the polygraph examinations were actually interrogations as opposed to true polygraph tests,” Stephens said.........Tapp has been in jail or prison for 7,256 days."
http://www.postregister.com/articles/chris-tapp-coverage-news-daily-email-todays-headlines/2016/12/14/tapp-challenges-be-heard

'Making a murderer effect'; False confessions; (Part 1); Prof. Steve Drizin takes to the Huffington Post to lay out 2016 'The year in false confessions' - a year dominated by (you guessed it) 'Making a Murderer.' (MAM)..."MAM jumpstarted a national conversation on police interrogation tactics and their relationship to false and coerced confessions and whether the tactics police used to pressure Brendan to confess should ever be permitted when police interrogate young and disabled suspects. Although, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, there were far more exonerations based on false confessions in 2015 (27), than 2016 (10), far more attention was paid to the subject of false confessions in 2016, largely due to what has been dubbed “The Making a Murderer Effect.” Although MAM generated most of the interest in false confessions, there was plenty of other false confession news in 2016, the highlights of which are covered below."profile 2016: Making A Murderer Dominates The Year in False Confession News

POST: "2016: Making A Murderer Dominates The Year in False Confession News," by Steve Drizin, Clinical law professor at the  Northwestern University School of Law published by The Huffington Post, on December 25, 2016.

GIST: "On December 18, 2015, NETFLIX released Making a Murderer (“MAM”), a 10-part docuseries written and directed by first-time filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi. The series, which chronicled the cases of two convicted murderers — Steven Avery and his 16 year-old learning disabled nephew Brendan Dassey — became an Emmy-award winning, international phenomenon. Within the first 35 days of its release, over 19 million people had watched the series in the United States alone. MAM jumpstarted a national conversation on police interrogation tactics and their relationship to false and coerced confessions and whether the tactics police used to pressure Brendan to confess should ever be permitted when police interrogate young and disabled suspects. Although, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, there were far more exonerations based on false confessions in 2015 (27), than 2016 (10), far more attention was paid to the subject of false confessions in 2016, largely due to what has been dubbed “The Making a Murderer Effect.”

Although MAM generated most of the interest in false confessions, there was plenty of other false confession news in 2016, the highlights of which are covered below.

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January:  January’s MAM news contained two of my favorite exchanges of the year. First, Dr. Phil schooled Nancy Grace, who saw nothing wrong with the way the police interrogated Dassey. Dr. Phil’s “I could have gotten Brendan Dassey to confess to the Irish Potato famine“ temporarily silenced Ms. Grace. Second, Harvey Levin of TMZ cut former Dassey lawyer Len Kachinsky to the quick when he asked Kachinsky why he allowed the police to “grill Brendan Dassey like a cheeseburger.” For more than two decades, Tyra Patterson has insisted that she was coerced into falsely confessing to participating in a murder. Her story was featured in a stunning three-part series by The Guardian. Tyra’s attorney, David Singleton, also launched the “I am Tyra Patterson“ campaign to bring attention to her plight. MAM inspires a TN. legislator to propose a bill requiring that juveniles be interrogated in presence of lawyer, guardian or parent. Newsweek recountsthe bittersweet story of the Fairbanks Four (“FB4”), four Native young men who were released in December 2015 after having served more than 20 years for a murder they insist they did not commit. Freedom for the FB4 came at a price - they were required to give up their right to sue authorities. Like Brendan Dassey’s case, an unreliable confession from a teenager — 17-year old Eugene Vent — was at the center of the FB4 case. David Thompson, an interviewer at the training firm of Wicklander & Zulawski - one of the chief competitors of Chicago’s John E. Reid & Associates - questions many of the techniques used by police during Brendan’s interrogation. MAM was the reference point for another possible false confession from a teenager — Bradley Albon of Brantford, Canada;

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February: Journalism prof Douglas Starr references MAM in calling for changes in interrogation techniques to prevent false confessions.

Dateline NBC’s “The Interrogation” tells the story of Robert Davis’s false confession and the work which led to his release and conditional pardon. Here’s footage of Robert coming home to his mother.

Inspired by MAM, NY state senator proposes legislation requiring simplified Miranda warnings for juveniles.

Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson and his Conviction Review Unit agree to vacate Vanessa Gathers‘ manslaughter conviction. Gathers, who falsely confessed and spent a decade in prison, is exonerated.

Scientists find that sleep deprivation significantly increases the risk of false confessions.

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March: The power of confession evidence often blinds prosecutors to the truth, even when DNA points them to the true perpetrator. Just ask Philadelphia prosecutors who insisted on retrying Anthony Wright even though DNA evidence almost certainly identified a neighborhood crack addict as the man who murdered and raped Louis Talley in 1991.

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April: Max Soffar who claimed that his confession to killing several people during a robbery in Houston in 1981 was false, dies of cancer after 35 years on death row before he could be exonerated or executed.

The wrongfully convicted deserve closure too. Tom Sawyer lived for 30 years under a cloud of suspicion because he had falsely confessed to the 1986 murder of Janet Staschak. Sawyer raised his fist in the air in a Florida courtroom in quiet celebration when Stephen Lamont —linked to Staschak’s murder by DNA, — entered a plea of guilty.

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law hosts a two-hour standing room only program “Brendan Dassey: A True Story of a False Confession.” which is filmed and later released on YOUTUBE.

Illinois proposes a new law requiring counsel for children under the age of 15 charged with homicides and sex crimes. In August, Gov. Bruce Rauner signs the bill into law.

DNA evidence excluded Billy Wayne Cope and linked James Sanders to the rape and murder of Cope’s 12-year old daughter in 2001. Sanders, a total stranger to Cope, was also a crack-addicted, serial sexual predator who during a six week period was broke-into occupied homes and robbed, beat, and sexually assaulted numerous women in Rock Hill, S.C. The jury never heard this evidence and convicted Cope as a co-conspirator of Sanders. In 2016, Cope is still fighting for his freedom, filing a motion for a new trial.

Innocence Project releases PSA featuring three of the Central Park Five in effort to get NY legislators to require recording of interrogations. Spoil alert! It doesn’t work.

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May: Jim Trainum, former DC homicide cop, releases the book of the year when it comes to false confessions, explaining how tunnelvision, coercion, and fact-feeding cause police to “generate“ false confessions. It receives a rave review in the Washington Post.

Bob Kolker’s article in Wired goes inside the LAPD and charts a new course for interrogations in America pioneered by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group. The new program emphasizes rapport-building and rejects the Reid-Technique and other more confrontational approaches.

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June: A Texas prosecutor tells how a bogus murder confession changed his views on family violence cases.

The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, the Michigan Innocence Clinic and others succeed in efforts to vacate Davontae Sanford‘s conviction. Sanford, who was only 14 when he falsely confessed to and later pled guilty to a quadruple murder that was actually committed by serial contract hit man named Vincent Smothers, is freed after serving more than 9 years in prison.

Melissa Calusinski, represented by Steven Avery’s new lawyer Kathleen Zellner, wins a new evidentiary hearing after new medical evidence suggests that the child who died at the day care center where she worked did not fracture her skull.

On the 50th anniversary of Miranda v. Arizona, Colorado enacts a new law requiring that interrogations of suspects be electronically recorded.

Teina Pora, New Zealand’s most famous juvenile false confessor, is awarded more than 2.5 million dollars for the more than two decades he served in prison. But he gets something worth even more to him — an Apology.

Tracy Tullis writes “The Proven Way to Keep More Innocent Teens from Confessing to Murder (And Why the Police Wont Adopt It )”

Gabriel Solache and Arturo DeLeon Reyes are granted a new hearing to determine if their confessions were coerced by retired and now-disgraced Chicago detective Reynaldo Guevara.

Worcester, MA. agrees to pay former teenager Nga Truong $2.1 million after coercive tactics by police led Truong to confess to smothering her infant son.

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July: Was fourteen-year old Lorenzo Montoya convicted of a murder he did not commit? Once again, brutal police interrogation tactics - captured on a recording — raise questions about the reliability of Montoya’s confession.

Did threats of the death penalty lead James Edward Long, Michael Dewayne Shelton and James Wayne Pitts Jr. to confess falsely and testify that they and Richard Bryan Kissmaul raped 17 year-old Leslie Murphy before Kissmaul killed her and her 14 year-old friend? DNA evidence now proves that none of the men - dubbed the Waco Four — raped Murphy.

Exceptions sometimes swallow the rule in states which require police to record interrogations.

Beatrice Six defendants win $28.1 million dollars in settlement in case involving five proven false confessions.

After serving 20 years in prison for a double-murder, Chicagoans Charles Johnson and Larod Styles are given a new trial when fingerprint evidence links another man to the crime and undermines the reliability of their confessions.

Joel Alcox, whose conviction was reversed by a panel of federal appellate judges in May, reflects on his fight to reclaim his freedom.

False confessors Carl Dukes and Lavell Jones are freed after 20 years after Jeffrey Conrad’s true confession clears them of a 1997 murder.

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August: Robert Perske, long-time advocate for Richard Lapointe and others with developmental disabilities who had falsely confessed, dies at the age of 88.

California passes SB 1052 requiring counsel for kids before they are given Miranda warnings during police interrogations. Governor Jerry Brown later vetoes the law.

A couple who falsely confessed to murdering daughters in arson are acquitted by Japanese court and freed after two decades.

A federal magistrate overturns Brendan Dassey’s confession, finding that Dassey’s confession was the product of coercive police tactics and extensive fact-feeding.

It took a Philadelphia jury only 90 minutes to acquit Anthony Wright of a 1991 rape and murder. The jury forewoman issued a stern rebuke to the prosecutors for re-trying Wright even though DNA evidence linked another to the crime.

Five years after DNA evidence had exonerated the “Dixmoor Five”
of the 1991 murder and rape of Cateresa Matthews, a new investigation results in the arrest Willie Randolph who had been linked to the crime in 2011.

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September: Terry Olson, of Minnesota, is released from prison after the man who implicated him admits that he gave a false confession to the police. Olson’s freedom come at a price; the State agrees to let him out with time-served — ten years — if he drops his legal challenges but does not agree to vacate his conviction.

“No sane human being could find then guilty.” That’s what federal judge John Gibney, Jr. wrote when vacating the convictions of two of the Norfolk Four false confessors, Danial Williams and Joseph Dick.

Mark Maxson is released after new DNA evidence proves that his confession was false and exonerates him of the 1992 brutal murder of a young boy.

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October:

A federal judge vacates the conviction of John Floyd, a New Orleans man who falsely confessed to stabbing and killing two gay men in New Orleans in 1980.

Joseph Buffey, a West Virginia man who falsely confessed to raping an 83-year-old West Virginia woman in 2001, is freed after he enters an Alford guilty plea to robbery and burglary charges.

John Horton, of Rockford, IL, who at age 17 in 1993, falsely confessed to a murder, is granted a new trial by an Illinois appellate court.

Kenneth Thompson, the visionary King’s County District Attorney whose Conviction Review Unit exonerated numerous false confessors, dies of cancer. Thompson’s CRU exonerated Willie Stuckey and David McCallum, two teens who falsely confessed and McCallum delivered a eulogy at his funeral.

A new trial is granted to Jose Maysonet, another man who claims that he falsely confessed to a double murder after being interrogated by former Chicago detective Reynaldo Guevara.

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November: Scandal rocks the the Springfield, MA police department after a video is released of a detective threatening a teenage suspect.

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December: Holly Lai, the sister of murder victim Michelle Lai, publicly supports Tyra Patterson’s clemency and provides powerful new evidence of Patterson’s innocence.

Forensic Developmental Psychologist Lindsay Malloy explains why juvenile suspects falsely confess in this TedXTalk.

David McCallum and Jeff Deskovic, two teenagers who spent decades in prison for murders they did not commit, explain why they falsely confessed, in this podcast.

Who better than Amanda Knox to opine about why women may be more likely to falsely confess when pressured by police.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe grants an absolute pardon to Robert Davis based on actual innocence.

Lamarr Monson, who claims to have falsely confessed to a 1996 murder and now has fingerprint evidence and other evidence to prove it, fights for a new trial.

Even though new DNA testing excluded Christopher Tapp as the source of DNA found on Angie Dodge’s body and clothing and even though his own expert raised serious questions about the reliability of Tapp’s confession to Dodge’s 1996 murder, Bonneville County, Idaho Prosecutor Danny Clark refuses to grant a new trial to Tapp. All is not lost, however, as Tapp is granted an evidentiary hearing in 2017 to explore the significance of withheld evidence.

New arson science calls into question the reliability of William Amor’s confession to setting a fire that killed his mother-in-law."

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The MAM Effect shows no sign of subsiding. With new MAM episodes coming out in 2017 and a bevy of new shows on false confessions and wrongful convictions, 2017 promises to be yet another year in which the general public will get a free master class on the subject of false confessions. But will a more educated and informed public lead to justice for Brendan Dassey? Will it give new life to the claims of innocents who falsely confessed but who remain locked up? Will it lead police officers to change their interrogation tactics, prosecutors to be less reflexive in charging defendants who confess, juries to be more skeptical of confession evidence, and judges to more carefully scrutinize confession evidence? Only time will tell, but I plan on doing everything in my power to make sure that the answer to these questions is a resounding “Yes.”"

The entire post can be found at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-drizin/2016-making-a-murderer-do_b_13805462.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.