STORY: "Video challenged in Jodi Parrack perjury case: Law professor raises doubts over bartender's Carlisle park murder conviction," by reporter Ken Kolker, published by WOOD TV on June 29, 2017.
GIST: "Citing iffy evidence and shady
interrogation practices, attorneys from two university innocence clinics
are working to clear the name of Constantine man who spent nearly two
years in a state prison for allegedly lying to police as they
investigated the murder of an 11-year-old girl. The attorneys from University of Michigan’s Michigan Innocence Clinic
and Northwestern University’s Center for Wrongful Convictions took up
Raymond McCann’s case in response to a Target 8 investigation last year. Thursday, they filed a motion to have his conviction overturned. McCann was long considered the lead suspect in the 2007 rape and
murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, whose body was found in a
Constantine cemetery. He pleaded no contest in 2015 to perjury and
served 20 months in jail and prison. Target 8 revealed last year that his plea followed months of interrogations by detectives who lied repeatedly to him — a tactic that is legal in the U.S. Among the lies: that police had evidence that he had touched Jodi’s body. McCann was a reserve police officer in Constantine who helped look
for Jodi. Police targeted him in their investigation because of what
they called holes in his stories before Jodi disappeared, during his
search for her and after her body was found. During video-recorded interrogations obtained by Target 8, McCann denied any involvement in Jodi’s death 86 times. Thursday, law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern
University filed a 119-page document in St. Joseph County court. They
are asking a judge to overturn the conviction and order a new trial. The attorneys include David Moran of the Michigan Innocence Clinic and Steven A. Drizin, who played a key role in the popular Netflix “Making a Murderer” series. McCann’s new attorneys are focusing on grainy video that they say
exposes another lie told by police. During McCann’s search for Jodi, he
told another officer to meet him at a path leading to a dam in
Constantine. At his preliminary hearing in 2014, the prosecutor said
surveillance video showed the entrance to the path and that McCann
wasn’t there, proving he lied. McCann and his new attorneys hadn’t seen the video until Target 8 showed it to them last year. His new attorneys said they recently discovered that the surveillance
camera “did not capture” the entrance to the path, according to the
motion filed Thursday. Instead, it was aimed at a nearby street. The attorneys accused a detective and the prosecution of using “false
and misleading testimony” about the video to get McCann to plead no
contest. They say his defense attorney at the time failed McCann by not challenging the video. Two years ago, Daniel Furlong,
a man never considered a suspect in Jodi’s murder, was arrested in
nearby White Pigeon after luring a young girl into his garage. DNA
linked Furlong to Jodi’s murder. Police continued calling McCann a suspect even after Furlong said he had worked alone. Furlong is now serving 30 to 60 years in prison."
The entire story can be found at:
http://woodtv.com/2017/06/29/law-schools-seek-to-erase-conviction-in-probe-of-dead-girl/
The entire story can be found at:
http://woodtv.com/2017/06/29/law-schools-seek-to-erase-conviction-in-probe-of-dead-girl/
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/c
