PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTES: Kudos to Andrew Cohen, of the Marshall Project - an extremely informative and influential criminal justice publication - for his insightful writing on the case since 1915.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Marshall Project.
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Last month, The Marshall Project chronicled anew the dubious case against him in our Case in Point series. It’s a case that got worse over time. Williams, 16 years old when arrested, was convicted of murdering a pizza delivery man and then sentenced to death even though all of the physical evidence in the case pointed to different and more compelling suspects. Police interrogated the teenager through a long night, and gained a “confession” from him, even though they knew about his profound intellectual disability. The prosecutor in his case was Hugo Holland, known for his zeal in capital cases involving black defendants. One of the reasons state attorneys endorsed a plea deal now might be because Williams’ lawyers recently discovered (in addition to all of the other flaws in the case) that trial prosecutors had faked “summaries” of witness statements to incriminate Williams and draw attention away from other suspects. A Supreme Court decision focusing on those summaries and the way prosecutors manipulated them might have more than embarrassing for Caddo Parish prosecutors. It also might have jeopardized other cases where similar summaries were used."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY (2): "The deal was approved Monday by Caddo Parish District Judge Katherine Dorroh, who then vacated Williams’ first-degree murder conviction. Her involvement, too, is ironic. She had ruled against Williams once before in the case and perhaps is best known as the trial judge who denied compensation for Glenn Ford, another man who spent decades in a Louisiana prison for a wrongful conviction before dying shortly after his release."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY (3): "Police interrogated the teenager through a long night, and gained a “confession” from him, even though they knew about his profound intellectual disability. The prosecutor in his case was Hugo Holland, known for his zeal in capital cases involving black defendants."
STORY: "Corey Williams About to Walk Free," by Andrew Cohen, published by The Marshall Project on May 21, 2018.
SUB-HEADING: "A sudden plea deal ends a decades-long fight in a capital murder case.
GIST: "Corey Williams was ordered released from a Louisiana prison Monday after serving more than 20 years for a murder many believe he did not commit. His sudden freedom—he is expected to be released early Tuesday—is a surprising twist in a legal drama that began with an ill-fated pizza delivery at a house in Shreveport in January 1998 and ended with the intellectually disabled man’s case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams’ lawyers reached a deal with Caddo Parish attorneys in the past week or so—before the justices in Washington announced whether they would accept his case for review. After years of professing his innocence he agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter and obstruction of justice charges, which allowed prosecutors a face-saving way to credit him with time served and then endorse his immediate release. The deal was approved Monday by Caddo Parish District Judge Katherine Dorroh, who then vacated Williams’ first-degree murder conviction. Her involvement, too, is ironic. She had ruled against Williams once before in the case and perhaps is best known as the trial judge who denied compensation for Glenn Ford, another man who spent decades in a Louisiana prison for a wrongful conviction before dying shortly after his release. I’ve been following Williams’s cause since 2015. Last month, The Marshall Project chronicled anew the dubious case against him in our Case in Point series. It’s a case that got worse over time. Williams, 16 years old when arrested, was convicted of murdering a pizza delivery man and then sentenced to death even though all of the physical evidence in the case pointed to different and more compelling suspects. Police interrogated the teenager through a long night, and gained a “confession” from him, even though they knew about his profound intellectual disability. The prosecutor in his case was Hugo Holland, known for his zeal in capital cases involving black defendants. One of the reasons state attorneys endorsed a plea deal now might be because Williams’ lawyers recently discovered (in addition to all of the other flaws in the case) that trial prosecutors had faked “summaries” of witness statements to incriminate Williams and draw attention away from other suspects. A Supreme Court decision focusing on those summaries and the way prosecutors manipulated them might have more than embarrassing for Caddo Parish prosecutors. It also might have jeopardized other cases where similar summaries were used. State attorneys never responded to the petition Williams’ lawyers filed for a review of the case by the Supreme Court and now the justices will have no reason to hear the case or decide its merits. But the deal is harsh for Williams, too. By pleading guilty, by not waiting for the Supreme Court perhaps to rescue him, he forgoes the chance to seek compensation from the state and will have a conviction on his record as he begins—at the relatively young age of 36—to chart a post-prison life for himself. His lawyers may have felt that getting Williams quickly out of prison, where he reportedly has been bullied because of his disabilities, was more important than ensuring he might one day seek compensation from a state unlikely to grant it."
The entire post can be read at:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/05/21/corey-williams-about-to-walk-free-in-louisiana
Read this Blog's previous post on the Williams case - written a shortly before the plea deal was struck but not yet published - at the post below:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=120008354894645705#editor/target=post;postID=1552248320341066533;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=10;src=link
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Back to Louisiana. This story brought back memories of Louisiana's Rodricus Crawford case in several respects. First: The prosecution took place in Caddo Parish which, as reporter Michael Kunzelman notes is a jurisdiction where prosecutors have been widely criticized for their aggressive approach to seeking the death penalty. Secondly, notorious prosecutor Dale Cox, who prosecuted Rodricus, was representing the State in the Williams case. The very same Dale Cox. As per reporter Kunzelman: "Dale Cox, Caddo Parish's former acting district attorney, said in a 2015 court filing that Williams hasn't proved the recorded witness statements contained "exculpatory" evidence or that withholding them deprived him of a fair trial. "The State presented to the jury a confession that was wholly corroborated by eyewitness testimony," he wrote. Cox, who once told a reporter he believes the state needs to "kill more people," personally prosecuted one-third of the Louisiana cases that resulted in death sentences between 2010 and 2015, according to the Death Penalty Information Center." Kunzelman reports that in a 4-2 vote last October, the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to hold a hearing on Williams' claims. His attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision. We will be following developments closely.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Witnesses saw several older men steal money and pizza from Griffin and saw Williams running from the house alone with nothing in his hands after the shooting, according to his lawyers. One of the older men, Chris Moore, was the only witness who identified Williams as the shooter. Fingerprints found on the murder weapon belonged to one of the other older men, and the victim's blood was found on clothing worn by a third older man, according to Williams' lawyers. Police officers found Williams hiding under a sheet on a couch at his grandmother's house. He initially denied killing Griffin but changed his story after police questioned him through the night. "His confession was brief, devoid of corroborating details," his lawyers wrote in their March 2 petition to the Supreme Court. "Having just assumed responsibility for a homicide, Corey told the officers, 'I'm tired. I'm ready to go home and lay down.'" Williams' lawyers say his conviction was based primarily on that confession and the testimony of Moore. Only after Williams' trial did his attorneys obtain recordings of witness interviews pointing to his innocence. The withheld recordings showed police had suspected the older men were plotting to frame Williams for the killing, according to Williams' lawyers. Supreme Court justices expressed concern about the suppression of evidence in a different Louisiana case it decided in 2012. The court voted 8-1 to reverse a conviction in a case in which New Orleans prosecutors similarly withheld a witness statement from the night of a murder because they decided it wouldn't alter the trial's outcome."
"SECOND PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Dale Cox, Caddo Parish's former acting district attorney, said in a 2015 court filing that Williams hasn't proved the recorded witness statements contained "exculpatory" evidence or that withholding them deprived him of a fair trial. "The State presented to the jury a confession that was wholly corroborated by eyewitness testimony," he wrote. Cox, who once told a reporter he believes the state needs to "kill more people," personally prosecuted one-third of the Louisiana cases that resulted in death sentences between 2010 and 2015, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In a 4-2 vote last October, the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to hold a hearing on Williams' claims. His attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision."
STORY: "Lawyers: Prosecutors Withheld Evidence of Teen's Innocence," by reporter Michael Kunzelman, (Associated Press) published by Forensic Magazine on April 9, 2018. Thanks to Forensic Magazine for bringing this story to our attention."
PHOTO CAPTION: "These undated arrest photos made available by the Shreveport Police Department show Corey Williams under arrest. Defense attorneys are urging the nation's highest court to throw out a case in which they claim Louisiana prosecutors withheld evidence that an intellectually disabled 16-year-old boy falsely confessed to killing a pizza deliveryman in 1998."
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
