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"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009;
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STORY: "Steven Avery lawyer Kathleen Zellner scores victory," by reporter Shane Nyman, published by The USA Today Network on May 19, 2017.
GIST: "Kathleen Zellner scored a win this week, just not the one Steven Avery supporters were hoping for. Zellner, the Chicago lawyer leading Avery's fight for freedom, helped a man named Clyde Ray Spencer catch a $9 million jury award for his wrongful sexual abuse conviction in 1985. A former Vancouver, Washington, police officer, Spencer spent nearly 20 years in prison. His sentence was commuted in 2004, thanks to evidence found to be fabricated. There's a lot more to the story, of course, and the Columbian can fill you in. But it could be seen as another reason for Avery backers to feel good about Zellner being in the mix. Zellner, who vowed to prove Avery's innocence in the 2005 death of Teresa Halbach, sent out a tweet Thursday telling "fabricators of evidence" to "beware." As "Making a Murderer" viewers will recall, accusations of evidence-planting have, and were, a major part of the arguments from the pro-Avery camp. For Zellner's 17 months as Avery's lawyer, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin investigative reporter John Ferak took a look last week at the bold claims she's made since jumping into the fray and what — at least from what we can see from the outside — has actually materialized."
http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/steven-avery/2017/05/19/steven-avery-lawyer-kathleen-zellner-scores-victory/101870656/
The Columbian story can be found at the link below: "Clyde Ray Spencer was awarded $9 million Monday by a federal jury that unanimously agreed a detective from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office violated Spencer’s constitutional right to due process by fabricating the evidence that put him behind bars for two decades for sexually abusing his two children and a stepson. The $9 million award is the highest in Washington in a civil rights case, said Kathleen Zellner, Spencer’s attorney. “Justice was served — even though it took 30 years,” Zellner said. “We were able to prove they framed him. We’ve proven the evidence was fabricated. And, after 30 years, that’s remarkable. Justice is alive and well in Washington.”.........Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik, who took office in January 2011, called the verdict “extremely troubling” on Monday.“We need to look specifically at the facts of this, and the findings that the jury made,” Golik said. He said prosecutors will be researching other cases investigated by Sharon Krause. If they find cases similar to Spencer’s, they have a duty to notify defendants’ attorneys of the Spencer verdict.Krause’s supervisor, Sgt. Mike Davidson, was also found liable by the jury. Krause and Davidson are both retired, but the county paid for their legal counsel.........The county could appeal the verdict or argue it shouldn’t have to pay the award because Krause, by fabricating evidence, was acting outside the scope of her duties, Wilsdon said. They’ll also discuss asking Spencer to consider a smaller settlement in exchange for not appealing the verdict.........The jury heard testimony from 25 witnesses over 13 days in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, including Spencer’s son and daughter, Matt Spencer and Katie Spencer Tetz.
They each spent a grueling day and a half on the witness stand refuting the graphic sexual abuse allegations that Krause fabricated as part of investigative reports that sent Spencer to prison.
They also endured Guy Bogdanovich and Jeffrey Freimund, attorneys for Krause and Davidson, respectively, trying to blame them for Spencer’s wrongful conviction. “That has to be the toughest part for me,” Tetz said. “To get up there on the witness stand and re-live it. To listen to (the defense) bash your family. And to have them keep putting the blame on me, trying to paint me as this sexualized, manipulative 5-year-old child,” the latter a result, Krause tried to suggest, of abuse by her father......... Jurors also heard from Matt Hansen, who maintains that he was abused by his stepfather, and jurors learned about evidence that went missing. That included medical exams that showed Spencer’s daughter and stepson had not been physically abused. There also was a video of former deputy prosecutor James Peters interviewing Tetz that disappeared almost as soon as it was made. It turned up in Krause’s garage in 2009. She testified that she didn’t remember the video being taped, or how it ended up in her garage. That video would have hurt the state’s case, Spencer’s attorneys argued.On the witness stand, Krause was unable to explain why there were two separate evidence indexes created in the case — one that included the medical exams and one that didn’t. She testified that she didn’t recall preparing the indexes, but she didn’t dispute that it was her work. Jurors also heard that Davidson had an affair with Spencer’s wife, a relationship Davidson maintained didn’t begin until after Spencer went to prison and the couple divorced. Krause testified that she became interested in police work during her seven years as a hotel clerk after getting to know Portland police officers who came to the hotel bar. She worked as a records clerk and a dispatcher for the Vancouver Police Department before joining the Clark County Sheriff’s Department in 1975. After three years as a patrol deputy, she became a detective and was soon investigating child sex abuse — a job there was no training for at the time, she testified. Krause spent the duration of her career investigating sex abuse cases and retired in 1995. She lives in Arizona, while Davidson lives in central Oregon. The four-man, four-woman jury deliberated approximately 13 hours over three days before answering five questions. Question No. 1: “Was plaintiff’s Constitutional right to due process of law violated by being subjected to criminal charges on false evidence deliberately fabricated by defendant Krause when she knew or should have known plaintiff was innocent of the crimes he was ultimately charged with?” Answer: Yes. Other questions dealt with Davidson’s liability, whether or not Davidson and Krause conspired to deprive Spencer of his rights (that answer was “no”) and if Krause’s fabricated reports were the “moving force” behind Spencer going to prison. Because the answer to that question was “yes,” the final question was how much money Spencer should receive. Spencer’s attorney suggested last week during closing arguments that $1 million a year would be fair, but jurors, without explanation on the verdict form, settled on $9 million......... Spencer and his family will ask the state Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue a criminal corruption investigation now that they have proven the evidence was fabricated. Going forward, Tetz hopes to start a foundation to support wrongfully convicted adults and their children. “I think this happens far more often than people realize,” Tetz said. “It just destroys families.”
http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/feb/03/jury-awards-9-million-spencer/
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/
