Note to Readers: You finally get a rest! I have to take a brief break to complete a writing challenge. Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Dear Readers.  I will be taking a break of several weeks to allow me to focus on a writing challenge. In the meantime,  please draw any cases, issues, or 'whatevers' that you think may be of interest of the Blog to my attention at hlevy15@gmail.com. On my return to action I will "catch up' with developments that I may have missed.

One matter to bring to your attention: Rodricus Crawford is scheduled to appear in court in Louisiana  on February 22, to learn if  prosecutor will force him into a new trial. To precede would be a would be a travesty. Young Roderius died of sepsis related to pneumonia.  There was no murder. This is an innocent 28-year-old grieving father who was on death row for three years  prior to his release by The Louisiana Supreme Court. The case is being  closely followed by reporter Domonique Benn of KSLA News. Please follow developments at the link below.
http://www.ksla.com/http://www.ksla.com/

Developments can also be followed on Domonique Benn's KSLA Facebook page:
 https://www.facebook.com/dbennKSLA/

Also keep an  eye out for the verdict in  the Pedro Hernandez retrial in the alleged murder of Etan Patz in 1979 - a case which has haunted New York for decades.  (The jury began deliberating on Wednesday. The alleged confession under strenuous attack by the defence has played a dominant role in the prosecution case.  The first trial ended on a mistrial. (The New York Times has provided extensive coverage);

Back soon.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

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;

Nagee Green; New York State; Bulletin: False confession case: Defence alleges police played 'mind games' with murder suspect to obtain confession. "They tell Green he’s going to “come across as a liar” and that he will “look like a monster” in the eyes of the public if he doesn’t confess. The investigators ask Green if he’s willing to admit that he’s having nightmares. One investigator tells him, “All of this comes back. Your eyes are popping because of the blow. You’re still replaying that in your head. I can see it in your eyes. … It’s called PTSD. Everybody gets it. You have it, I know you have it." Reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs; The Cornell Sun. February 2, 2017.

STORY: "Police Played ‘Mind Games’ With Cornell Murder Suspect, Lawyers Say," by reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, published by The Cornell Sun on February 2, 2-17."

GIST: "Three days after the double-stabbing on Cornell’s campus in August that left one Ithaca College student dead and another injured, police interviewed Nagee Green during his shift at Subway in Collegetown. When police arrested Green, 23, about 10 weeks later on Nov. 7, investigators grilled him for hours about his alleged involvement in the death of Anthony Nazaire and the stab wounds suffered by Rahiem Williams, both of Brooklyn. Green ultimately said he remembered stabbing both men, according to a transcript produced by his lawyers, but his attorneys claim in a motion to suppress Green’s statements that investigators “engaged in psychological mind games” during the interrogation and that the confession came “after more than three hours of outright lies, exaggerations, false statements and persistent pseudo-logical argumentations engaged in by their trained and experienced interrogators.”.........In the motion filed by defense attorney Michael Perehinec Jr. in Tompkins County Court on Jan. 20, he requested a hearing to determine the admissibility of Green’s confession, alleging that police lied to Green, that his statements were taken without the presence of an attorney and that Green was not adequately advised of his Miranda rights......... The defense motion also included a 73-page transcript of the police interrogation of Green at the New York State Police Barracks in Freeville, transcribed by a paralegal working in the office of Joseph Joch, one of Green’s lawyers. During the interrogation, Investigator Kevin McKenna of the Ithaca Police Department and Senior Investigator Richard Haas of New York State Police described their version of events based on, they said, video evidence and witness testimony.........Over the course of several hours, the investigators prod Green to admit that he stabbed the two Ithaca College students. They told Green there was a rumor his grandmother knew he killed somebody. They refer to Nazaire as “bleeding like a stuck pig,” and tell Green that his version of events is “lame. It’s worse than lame.” They tell Green he’s going to “come across as a liar” and that he will “look like a monster” in the eyes of the public if he doesn’t confess. The investigators ask Green if he’s willing to admit that he’s having nightmares. One investigator tells him, “All of this comes back. Your eyes are popping because of the blow. You’re still replaying that in your head. I can see it in your eyes. … It’s called PTSD. Everybody gets it. You have it, I know you have it.” Multiple times, the investigators tell Green they have video of portions of the fight and that Green will be able to see the clip as soon as it gets to the barracks. Then, at one point, when the investigators are discussing the murder weapon — a large black folding knife, according to police — one tells Green, “it was on the ground, with your DNA.” Perehinec said in his motion that “No video whatsoever exists of Nagee Green stabbing anyone nor was Mr. Green’s DNA found on any knife located and collected at the scene, both facts being contrary to statements made by interrogators.” Around the three-hour mark of the interrogation, Green tells investigators he remembers stabbing both Nazaire and Williams as he was trying to get up from under them. An investigator asked, “Do you feel better getting this off your chest?” “Yes,” Green replies. “Do you have any questions for us?” “Um, only if I could call my mom.”
http://cornellsun.com/2017/02/02/police-played-mind-games-with-cornell-murder-suspect-lawyers-say/

Pedro Hernandez: New York; False confessions case..."Hernandez's description and demonstration on tape of how he choked the boy are chillingly aligned with testimony from a pathologist who explained how a choking person would lose consciousness. "I was afraid of what I did," Hernandez said in the videotaped confession. "So I figure if he be alive, he will put me away." Defense attorneys say the confession is the product of a vulnerable, mentally ill man who was manipulated by law enforcement." Bulletin: ABC News reports the Jury has begun deliberations in 1979 Etan Patz murder case..."

"Jurors began deliberating the fate of the suspect in one of the most infamous missing children cases in American history Wednesday.........Hernandez gave a surprise confession in 2012, after the case made national news again when federal agents dug up a New York City basement looking for Etan's remains. He was tried once before, but the case ended in a hung jury after all but one juror voted to convict after 18 days of deliberations. The probe had long focused on another suspect, convicted pedophile Jose Ramos. Hernandez's attorney Harvey Fishbein said during his closing argument Monday that Ramos was the real killer. Ramos has said he didn't kill the boy. Over the years, Hernandez told a friend, his ex-wife and a church group that he had killed a young person in New York by choking and dumping the body, though the details varied, according to trial testimony. He never mentioned Etan by name, but his brother-in-law called police with the tip that led law enforcement to him. Those statements to others, the fact that he was a 19-year-old stock boy nearby when Etan vanished and his believable confession are enough to convict, Illuzzi said. Hernandez's description and demonstration on tape of how he choked the boy are chillingly aligned with testimony from a pathologist who explained how a choking person would lose consciousness. "I was afraid of what I did," Hernandez said in the videotaped confession. "So I figure if he be alive, he will put me away." Defense attorneys say the confession is the product of a vulnerable, mentally ill man who was manipulated by law enforcement."
http://abc7ny.com/news/jury-to-begin-deliberations-in-1979-etan-patz-murder-case-/1727726/

Lamarr Monson: Detroit; Awarded a new trial after a bloody thumb print on the murder weapon was found to belong to someone else...".The judge said the thumb print on the toilet tank lid used to bludgeon Brown in the Jan. 20, 1996, killing in a west-side apartment — which sat for years in a Detroit police evidence storage room, and was not presented during Monson’s trial — prompted her decision.",,,"David Moran, head of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, which took up the case and discovered the bloody print, said he was “elated” at the judge’s decision. “We’ve been on this case for 5 years, and it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” said Moran, who claims police and prosecutors suppressed the toilet tank evidence, a charge prosecutors have denied.......... Bill Proctor, a former television news reporter whose agency Proving Innocence also worked on the case, said the crucial evidence should have been presented during the trial. “This is a great day for justice,” he said. “This is a family that’s had an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table for more than 20 years. This wrongful conviction should have never happened, since police and prosecutors have had this evidence from day one. They sat on it.” Hours after Brown’s body was found lying in a pool of blood on her apartment’s bathroom floor, Monson told police he didn’t do it, although the next day, he signed a confession stating he was the killer. The Innocence Clinic has argued Monson didn’t know what he was signing."

STORY: "Man gets new trial after bloody print doesn’t match," by reporter George Hunter, published by The Detroit News on January 30, 2017.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Delores Monson cries as she reacts to a judge’s decision to grant her son, Lamarr Monson, a new trial after more than 20 years in prison. His attorneys insist he didn’t do it."

GIST: "A 44-year-old Detroit man who has spent more than 20 years in prison for a 1996 killing was granted a new trial Monday by a Wayne County judge after a bloody thumb print on the murder weapon was found to belong to someone else..........The judge said the thumb print on the toilet tank lid used to bludgeon Brown in the Jan. 20, 1996, killing in a west-side apartment — which sat for years in a Detroit police evidence storage room, and was not presented during Monson’s trial — prompted her decision..........“After carefully reviewing the evidence ... from the toilet tank lid ... this evidence, in the court’s opinion, meets the threshold for a new trial,” the judge said. Monson’s case involves drug dealing, allegations of prosecutors withholding evidence and police coercing a false confession, and a woman claiming she’d been kidnapped and held for months by a different man she believes is the killer......... Monson told police he didn’t do it, although the next day, he signed a confession stating he was the killer. David Moran, head of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic, which took up the case and discovered the bloody print, said he was “elated” at the judge’s decision. “We’ve been on this case for 5 years, and it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” said Moran, who claims police and prosecutors suppressed the toilet tank evidence, a charge prosecutors have denied.......... Bill Proctor, a former television news reporter whose agency Proving Innocence also worked on the case, said the crucial evidence should have been presented during the trial. “This is a great day for justice,” he said. “This is a family that’s had an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table for more than 20 years. This wrongful conviction should have never happened, since police and prosecutors have had this evidence from day one. They sat on it.” Hours after Brown’s body was found lying in a pool of blood on her apartment’s bathroom floor, Monson told police he didn’t do it, although the next day, he signed a confession stating he was the killer. The Innocence Clinic has argued Monson didn’t know what he was signing."........ Monson, who was 23 at the time of the murder and claims Brown told him she was 17, sought a new trial after it was discovered the fingerprints on the toilet lid belonged to Robert Lewis, who lived in the apartment building where the killing happened, after they were matched by Michigan State Police. Lewis’ prints were discovered in 2015, after his ex-girlfriend, Shellena Bentley, walked into a police precinct three years earlier and claimed he was Brown’s killer. Lewis has not been charged with the crime, and prosecutors through the years insisted Monson’s conviction is solid. After Bentley’s claim, Innocence Clinic attorneys had the toilet lid re-examined. During earlier hearings, a fingerprint expert testified the bloody thumbprint did not belong to Monson."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/01/30/lamarr-monson-new-trial-detroit/97248444/

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;

Jeffrey MacDonald: North Carolina: People Magzine: The former Green Beret surgeon Says there’s evidence he didn’t kill his family: ‘I Am Innocent’..." The new evidence includes: DNA testing of unidentified hairs found beneath Colette’s body, under Kristen’s fingernail and on her bedspread on the bed where she was murdered that do not match MacDonald; numerous confessions by police informant Helena Stoeckley and boyfriend Greg Mitchell, who are now deceased; and statements from now-deceased federal marshal Jimmy Britt, who says he heard then-prosecutor Jim Blackburn threaten to arrest Stoeckley if she testified at MacDonald’s trial that she was at the scene of the killings. (Blackburn has denied Britt’s allegation.) Other evidence his attorneys say was withheld from the defense at trial that points to intruders includes: wax drippings of three different types of candles found at the home that did not belong to any candles the MacDonald’s owned; long, blonde synthetic wig hairs found in a hairbrush next to the phone in their apartment; black wool fibers found on the mouth and bicep area of Colette and one of the murder weapons that were not matched to any fabric in the home; numerous unidentified fingerprints, palm prints and footprints at the crime scene that did not match MacDonald or his family, as well as other evidence MacDonald’s defense says was lost or destroyed due to what they say was the government’s “inept handling” of the crime scene."

STORY: "Former Green Beret Surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald Says There’s Evidence He Didn’t Kill His Family: ‘I Am Innocent,’ by Nicole Weisensee Egan, published by People Magazine, on January 18, 2017.

GIST: "For the past 47 years, Jeffrey MacDonald’s account of what happened the night his entire family was murdered has stayed the same. So has the case against him, built largely on blood-type testing — he, his wife and two children all had different blood types — that seems archaic by today’s standards. But since his 1979 conviction, MacDonald has painstakingly gathered a body of evidence — some of which was suppressed by prosecutors — via Freedom of Information Act requests that he believes prove him right. “I am innocent,” he says in an exclusive jailhouse interview in this week’s issue of PEOPLE magazine. “I did not murder my family. I have always told the truth about what happened that night. On Feb. 17, 1970, MacDonald’s pregnant wife, Colette, and their two daughters, Kristen, 2, and Kimberley, 5, were slaughtered in their bedrooms. While the Army cleared him of the crimes in 1970 after a six-week long Article 32 hearing, MacDonald, now 73, was convicted by a federal jury in 1979 and sentenced to three life terms in prison.  On January 26, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on his “actual innocence” claim, a legal term that makes it exceedingly difficult to undo a conviction. The new evidence includes: DNA testing of unidentified hairs found beneath Colette’s body, under Kristen’s fingernail and on her bedspread on the bed where she was murdered that do not match MacDonald; numerous confessions by police informant Helena Stoeckley and boyfriend Greg Mitchell, who are now deceased; and statements from now-deceased federal marshal Jimmy Britt, who says he heard then-prosecutor Jim Blackburn threaten to arrest Stoeckley if she testified at MacDonald’s trial that she was at the scene of the killings. (Blackburn has denied Britt’s allegation.) Other evidence his attorneys say was withheld from the defense at trial that points to intruders includes: wax drippings of three different types of candles found at the home that did not belong to any candles the MacDonald’s owned; long, blonde synthetic wig hairs found in a hairbrush next to the phone in their apartment; black wool fibers found on the mouth and bicep area of Colette and one of the murder weapons that were not matched to any fabric in the home; numerous unidentified fingerprints, palm prints and footprints at the crime scene that did not match MacDonald or his family, as well as other evidence MacDonald’s defense says was lost or destroyed due to what they say was the government’s “inept handling” of the crime scene. Through the years, MacDonald has amassed some high-profile supporters, including some of the top forensic experts in the world. “I believe that the story that Jeffrey MacDonald related that evening and ever since is correct,” says world-famous forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who has studied all the autopsy reports, physical evidence and trial testimony. “The multiple and extensive injuries inflicted on Mrs. MacDonald and the two children and all the other things that were done at the house…depicts the involvement of two or more people,” Wecht says.........Other prominent supporters include Barry Scheck, co-founder of The Innocence Project, the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, and C. Ronald Huff, a high-profile criminologist at the University of California, Irvine, who has been studying wrongful convictions for the past 30 years. “I believe that Dr. MacDonald did not murder his family and that this will ultimately be regarded as one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice in the modern era,” says Huff. "

See the entire story at:

http://people.com/crime/former-green-beret-surgeon-jeffrey-macdonald-says-theres-evidence-he-didnt-kill-his-family-i-am-innocent/

See  also related Wrongful Conviction Blog pos - Jeffrey MacDonald actual innocence appeal -   at the link below: "Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, the former Green Beret surgeon who was first cleared in the murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters and then convicted in 1970, will have what may be his final chance at overturning his conviction after spending the past 36 years in prison for a crime that many experts now believe he did not commit.  Oral arguments before a federal appeals court will commence on January 26.  The crime took place prior to the use of DNA analysis and new DNA evidence and a lot of other evidence, including evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, flawed forensic testimony, and botched crime scene analysis, provides powerful support for his story that intruders killed his family in what was in some ways similar to the “Manson family” murders in that same era.  People Magazine investigative reports will culminate in its major cover story, available on newsstands on Friday, January 20.  Here is a link to the People Magazine digital story today that precedes the cover story."
 https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2017/01/18/jeffrey-macdonald-actual-innocence-appeal/

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;