PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "I have been following this case for years. Jeffrey Havard. On death row in Mississippi for the past 15 years. At the heart of the case, according to Circuit Court Judge Forrest "Al" Johnson, is the now widely discredited so-called shaken-baby syndrome. (Note the presence in the case of controversial former medical examiner Steven Hayne who has repudiated his initial opinion); Think of it, a man's life may be taken by the state of Mississippi because of a highly disputed theory on which experts are widely divided, which has been repudiated by the late British Dr. Norman Guthkelch, the pediatric neurosurgeon, who propagated it in the first place. The good news is that Judge Johnson clearly recognizes the importance of this decision - not just to Jeffrey Havard, whose life is in the balance. As Johnson is quoted: ""I don't anticipate sitting in this too long before I render a decision," Johnson said. "It's a pretty important case. It's a pretty big deal." I will continue to monitor developments in this case closely."
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Innocence Project later discovered that Hayne performed between 1,200 and 1,800 autopsies a year — six times the professional standard — and was earning more than a million dollars annually. Hayne would usually call on West to provide testimony at other trials. One of those was an eerily similar case to Brooks’ that also happened in Noxubee County in 1992. Hayne claimed the body of a 3-year-old girl, who was raped, murdered and thrown into a water-filled ditch just a few hundred feet from her home, had human bite marks on it. West testified that the marks could only have been made by the teeth of Kennedy Brewer, who was dating the girl’s mother. Brewer spent three years in jail before going to trial. Brewer was convicted of capital murder and sent to death row. He spent 13 years in Parchman. Just as Brooks had done, Brewer proclaimed his innocence throughout. In 2001, DNA tests proved Brooks was not the killer and his conviction was overturned. He remained in jail, however, because the prosecutors said they intended to retry him. Attorneys with the Innocence Project traced the DNA to Justin Albert Johnson, a neighbor of the girl Brewer supposedly murdered. Johnson was already in prison and confessed to killing both girls. He is serving a life sentence Kennedy and Brooks were set free in February 2008."
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Levon even had an alibi.” He worked at a nightclub in Macon and didn’t get off until 3 a.m. “Seemed like to me the police wanted somebody to pinpoint and get the case solved. They chose Levon.”
Levon Brooks longtime friend Mary Kay Jones.
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STORY: "Levon Brooks: An extraordinary man who wrongfully spent one third of his life in prison," by reporter Billy Watkins, published by The Clarion Ledger.
GIST:
"Brooks, 58, who grew up in
the Noxubee County town of Macon, died Jan. 24 after a long bout with
colon cancer. Those who knew him say he had a rare gentleness about him.
They
also say he never showed an ounce of bitterness, though he certainly
had every right. Brooks spent 18 years behind bars — 16 at the State
Penitentiary in Parchman — for a rape and murder he did not commit.
Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer of Noxubee County had the prime of their
lives taken from them. He
was locked away when he was 31 and gained his freedom in 2008 at 49.
The Innocence Project, which works to exonerate those who were
wrongfully convicted through DNA testing, saved him from dying alone in
prison.........“Levon
was an extraordinary man — and so charismatic,” says Tucker Carrington,
director of the George C. Cochran Innocence Project at the University of
Mississippi and one of the attorneys who helped Brooks gain his
freedom. “I’ll never forget taking my daughter to see Levon when she was
12. She had met him before. When we got there, Levon said, ‘My
goodness, you’ve grown. Tell me, how is your lizard?’ “She
had told him the first time they met about her pet lizard, and I’m
standing there going, ‘Who in the world would remember that she had a
lizard?’ That’s the kind of guy Levon was. His death broke my
heart.”.........Police wanted somebody: Brooks’
arrest and conviction were due to “government misconduct and
unvalidated or improper forensic science,” according to a report by the
Innocence Project. Brooks was accused of taking the
3-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend from her home on the night of
Sept. 15, 1990. Her body was found in a pond 80 yards from her house.
Pathologist
Steven Hayne performed an autopsy on the girl and claimed there were
human bite marks on her wrists. He brought in Michael West to testify.
West was a dentist who claimed to be a bite mark expert, even though
bite marks had never been scientifically validated. West said the marks
could only have been made by Brooks’ two front teeth. That was the prime
reason he was found guilty. “Levon
even had an alibi,” says his longtime friend Mary Kay Jones. “He worked
at a nightclub in Macon and didn’t get off until 3 a.m. “Seemed like to
me the police wanted somebody to pinpoint and get the case solved. They
chose Levon.” The
Innocence Project later discovered that Hayne performed between 1,200
and 1,800 autopsies a year — six times the professional standard — and
was earning more than a million dollars annually. Hayne
would usually call on West to provide testimony at other trials. One of
those was an eerily similar case to Brooks’ that also happened in
Noxubee County in 1992. Hayne claimed the body of a
3-year-old girl, who was raped, murdered and thrown into a water-filled
ditch just a few hundred feet from her home, had human bite marks on
it. West testified that the marks could only have been made by the teeth
of Kennedy Brewer, who was dating the girl’s mother. Brewer spent three
years in jail before going to trial. Brewer was convicted of capital
murder and sent to death row. He spent 13 years in Parchman. Just as
Brooks had done, Brewer proclaimed his innocence throughout. In
2001, DNA tests proved Brooks was not the killer and his conviction was
overturned. He remained in jail, however, because the prosecutors said
they intended to retry him. Attorneys with the
Innocence Project traced the DNA to Justin Albert Johnson, a neighbor of
the girl Brewer supposedly murdered. Johnson was already in prison and
confessed to killing both girls. He is serving a life sentence Kennedy
and Brooks were set free in February 2008. Kennedy became the first
person in Mississippi to be exonerated through post-conviction DNA
testing. “I knew all along my boy didn’t do it,”
says Brooks’ 85-year-old father, Rich. “Anybody will tell you he’s not
capable of doing something like that.” The pain of his son’s death is
visible in Rich Brooks’ eyes. “It’s
tough right now,” he says. “Every time I lay my head down, I see my
son. I don’t know when it will stop. I’m not sure it ever will."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/02/15/wrongfully-convicted-levon-brooks-extraordinary-man/336210002/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
