PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I was utterly fascinated by New York Times Op-Ed writer Nicholas Kristof's recent post entitled "My worse columns in 1917 " - 'worse' from the point of view that they were all important stories which, for one reason or the other largely went unread. To my surprise, the very first column on his list on his list is one which I have been following on this Blog for years - Kevin Cooper, Death Row, California; As Kristof succinctly puts it: "Kevin Cooper is on death row in California, but even a federal judge argues that he is probably innocent and was framed by police. He’s black; if he were white, this travesty would be much less likely. Governor Jerry Brown should review the case. So here is some news for Mr. Kristof. I read the column of which he writes and have decided to bring to the attention of my readers, who will hopefully pass it on to their friends and associates. It truly deserves to be read - and acted on by Governor Brown. The under-read column, published on June 17, 2017, is headed, "On death row, but is he innocent?" It reads as follows:
GIST: "One
June day in 1983, a California professor drove over to a neighbor’s
house to pick up his 11-year-old son from a sleepover. Nobody answered
the door, so the professor peered through a window — and saw a ghastly
panorama of blood. The
professor found his son stabbed to death, along with the bodies of
Peggy and Doug Ryen, the homeowners. The Ryens’ 10-year-old daughter was
also dead, with 46 wounds, but their 8-year-old son was still
breathing. This
quadruple murder began a travesty that is still unfolding and
underscores just how broken the American justice system is. A man named
Kevin Cooper is on San Quentin’s death row awaiting execution for the
murders, even though a federal judge says he probably is innocent. “He
is on death row because the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department framed
him,” the judge, William A. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals, declared in a searing 2013 critique delivered in a distinguished lecture series. Fletcher was in the minority in 2009 when his court refused to rehear the case. His dissent,
over 100 pages long, points to Cooper’s possible innocence and to
systematic police misconduct. It’s a modern equivalent of Émile Zola’s
“J’accuse.” At
least 10 other federal judges have also expressed concerns about
Cooper’s conviction. Many other eminent legal experts, including the
then-president of the American Bar Association, have also called on Gov.
Jerry Brown to intervene. The
evidence of police tampering is overwhelming. When lawyers working on
Cooper’s appeal asked for DNA testing on a T-shirt believed to belong to
the killer, the lab found Cooper’s blood on the shirt — but also
something astonishing: The blood had test tube preservative in it! In
other words, it appeared to have come from the supply of Cooper’s blood
drawn by the police and kept in a test tube. When
the test tube was later examined, it had the DNA of at least two people
in it. It appeared that someone had removed some of Cooper’s blood and
then topped off the test tube with the blood of one or more other people
to hide the deception. What’s
extraordinary about the case is that not only is it likely that Cooper
is innocent, but that we also have a good idea who committed the
murders. The
10-year-old victim, Jessica Ryen, died with a clump of light hair in
her hands, and the 8-year-old survivor, her brother, Joshua, repeatedly
told investigators that the attackers had been three or four white men.
Mr. Cooper is black. Meanwhile,
a woman told the police (and her statements were later backed up by her
sister) that a housemate, a convicted murderer, had shown up with
others late on the night of the murders in blood-spattered overalls and
driving a station wagon resembling one stolen from the Ryens’ home. The
women said the housemate was no longer wearing the T-shirt he had on
earlier in the evening — the same kind as found near the murders. A
hatchet like one of the murder weapons was missing from the man’s tool
chest, and a friend of his confessed to a fellow prisoner that he had
participated in the killings. The women gave the bloody overalls to the
police — who threw them out, apparently because they didn’t fit their
narrative that Cooper was the killer. There was no reliable evidence
against Cooper. But he had escaped from a minimum-security prison (he
walked away) where he was serving a burglary sentence and had holed up
in an empty house near the Ryens’ home. A court suggested that he had
killed the Ryens to steal their station wagon — although it is thought
to have been parked in front of the house with the keys in it. And when
the car was found, it appeared that three people with bloody clothing
had sat in it. One
fundamental factor in this case is Cooper’s race, and this case is a
microcosm of racial injustice in the United States. The police seemed
predisposed to believe the worst of a black man; Cooper was subjected to
racist taunts as his case unfolded; and Democratic and Republican
politicians alike have shown themselves inclined to avert their eyes,
even if this leaves an innocent man on death row. As
governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to act. Kamala Harris, who was
state attorney general and is now a U.S. senator, was unhelpful.
Governor Brown is reviewing the case, but previously as attorney general
exhibited little interest. Cooper
and his lawyers are not asking for a pardon right now, or even for a
commutation to life imprisonment. They’re simply asking Governor Brown
to order a review of the case with new DNA testing (critical testing has
never been done) to indicate whether Cooper is likely guilty or
innocent. They will even pay for the testing, because they believe it
will both exonerate Cooper and implicate the real killers. “We’re
not saying let Kevin out of jail now, we’re not saying pardon him,”
noted one of his pro bono lawyers, Norman Hile. “We’re saying, let’s
find out if he’s innocent.” This
case is a national embarrassment. It appears that an innocent man was
railroaded, in part because he is black, and the government won’t even
allow crucial DNA testing. Governor Brown, will you act?"
This column can be read at the following link:
This column can be read at the following link:
Nicholas Kristof's column lamenting the lack of readership to his plea to Governor Brown can be found at the link below;
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/opinion/nicholas-kristof-worst-columns.html?_r=0\
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BONUS: ANOTHER YEAR ENDER: The Crime Report (one of my favourite criminal justice publiations) has listed several criminal justice books that may change minds in 2018. All the items on the list are worth a browse: one should be of particular interest to our readers."The Perils of Big Data." Trying to make sense of your computer glitches? So is the criminal justice system. As police, prosecutors and courts increasingly rely on computer analytics, so-called “big data” that captures and collates enormous amounts of information are being used in many cities to identify potential lawbreakers. But this form of predictive policing has also been criticized for its lack of transparency and potential for racial bias. In his new book, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, argues that the criticisms are valid, and should generate a conversation about the use of new technologies before this form of policing becomes institutionalized. Ferguson explained his perspective in a recent Q&A with Julia Pagnamenta of The Crime Report. "
https://thecrimereport.org/2017/12/28/justice-books-that-may-change-minds-in-2018/
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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
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/opinion/nicholas-kristof-worst-columns.html?_r=0\
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BONUS: ANOTHER YEAR ENDER: The Crime Report (one of my favourite criminal justice publiations) has listed several criminal justice books that may change minds in 2018. All the items on the list are worth a browse: one should be of particular interest to our readers."The Perils of Big Data." Trying to make sense of your computer glitches? So is the criminal justice system. As police, prosecutors and courts increasingly rely on computer analytics, so-called “big data” that captures and collates enormous amounts of information are being used in many cities to identify potential lawbreakers. But this form of predictive policing has also been criticized for its lack of transparency and potential for racial bias. In his new book, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, argues that the criticisms are valid, and should generate a conversation about the use of new technologies before this form of policing becomes institutionalized. Ferguson explained his perspective in a recent Q&A with Julia Pagnamenta of The Crime Report. "
https://thecrimereport.org/2017/12/28/justice-books-that-may-change-minds-in-2018/
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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
