PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The trial is temporarily on hold on while these developments are being sorted out.'
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In the wake of the retrial, retired Seminole County Judge O.H. Eaton—the judge who originally sentenced Aguirre-Jarquin to death—has since come forward and voiced his opposition to the retrial, citing the new evidence that has surfaced since the original conviction. “The evidence I heard during the trial [in 2006] substantiated the verdict,” Eaton told Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell. “The evidence I’ve heard now does not.” Added Eaton: “If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have ordered the jury’s verdict overturned.” Eaton said he “struggles to understand why the state is going after this case again.” He doesn’t believe there is sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction—and especially one that would result in a death sentence."
RELEASE: "Judge Who Once Sentenced Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin to Death Speaks Out Against His Retrial," by Innocence Project staff, published on October 17, 2018.
GIST: "On Monday morning, jury selection began
in the double murder retrial of Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin, who was
sentenced to death in 2006 for the murder of his two neighbors. After he
was sent to death row, Aguirre-Jarquin’s new lawyers, with assistance
from the Innocence Project, secured DNA evidence revealing that the
daughter of one of the victims committed the crime. Her blood was found
in multiple locations at the crime scene, and she explicitly confessed
to the crime to independent witnesses on several occasions. In the wake of the retrial, retired Seminole County Judge O.H.
Eaton—the judge who originally sentenced Aguirre-Jarquin to death—has
since come forward and voiced his opposition to the retrial, citing the
new evidence that has surfaced since the original conviction. “The evidence I heard during the trial [in 2006] substantiated the verdict,” Eaton told Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell. “The evidence I’ve heard now does not.” Added Eaton: “If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have ordered the jury’s verdict overturned.” Eaton said he “struggles to understand why the state is going after
this case again.” He doesn’t believe there is sufficient evidence to
obtain a conviction—and especially one that would result in a death
sentence. Eaton went so far as to describe Aguirre-Jarquin’s case as the “poster child for why the death penalty is flawed,” said Maxwell. When State Attorney Phil Archer was asked about why he was proceeding
with the retrial, he said he has “sufficient evidence” to do so, noting
one victim’s blood being on Aguirre-Jarquin’s clothing (which
Aguirre-Jarquin explained came from rolling her over to check for a
pulse) and Aguirre-Jarquin, who feared deportation, initially failing to
tell police that he found the bodies on the night of the murders. In response to the multiple confessions to the murders made by the
daughter of one of the victims, Archer said they lack credibility due to
her “significant mental health issues.” Maxwell points out the inconsistency in Archer’s statement: “Her
confessions shouldn’t be believed now…even though her testimony helped
put him on death row before. That seems like flawed logic to me.” Even the Florida Supreme Court recognized this inconsistency. After
reviewing the new evidence in the case, the Florida Supreme Court
overturned Aguirre-Jarquin’s conviction in 2016, saying new evidence
raised substantial doubts about Aguirre-Jarquin’s role in the crimes and
would likely lead a jury to acquit him. But, despite this ruling by the Supreme Court, Eaton’s opposition and
the new evidence that overwhelmingly shows that Aguirre-Jarquin did not
commit the crime, the state is trying to, once again, convince a jury
that Aguirre-Jarquin committed the murders and that he deserves to be
put to death."
The entire release can be read at:
https://www.innocenceproject.org/tag/clemente-aguirre/
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Read also the subsequent story at the link below:
The entire release can be read at:
https://www.innocenceproject.org/tag/clemente-aguirre/
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Read also the subsequent story at the link below:
GIST: "After Samantha Williams’ mother and grandmother were stabbed to death in their Altamonte Springs
trailer in 2004, Williams’ then-boyfriend vouched for her alibi, saying
he and Williams were both fast asleep at his home the night of the
killings. The story by Williams’ boyfriend, Mark Van Sandt, was
partially why authorities never considered her a suspect in the case.
Her next-door neighbor, an immigrant prep cook named Clemente
Aguirre-Jarquin, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to die for the
murders of Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis. In 2016,
Aguirre-Jarquin’s conviction and sentence were overturned by the Florida
Supreme Court after new evidence emerged, raising doubt to his role in
the crime — including repeated confessions made by Williams and DNA
evidence indicating her blood was at the scene. And on Monday — in
the midst of jury selection for Aguirre-Jarquin’s new trial — his
lawyers provided a statement from Van Sandt’s current wife claiming Van
Sandt had told her Williams left his home at some point during the night
of the slayings Van Sandt’s wife, Nicole Bouzigard, said in a sworn
statement Van Sandt had told her Samantha Williams woke him up the night
of the murders, saying she “had a bad feeling about her mother,”
according to the affidavit. Van Sandt recalled offering Williams a
ride, but she insisted on taking a taxi and told Van Sandt to wake up
early the next morning to pick up a load of laundry from Williams’ home,
he told Bouzigard, according to her statement. “Mark saw Samantha
leave through the window of the bedroom where she and Mark had been
sleeping that night,” Bouzigard said in the affidavit. Aguirre-Jarquin’s
lawyers have long accused Williams of being the true killer. She has
not been charged with a crime in connection to the slayings. Van Sandt
discovered the bodies the next morning. “When [Bouzigard] told us, ‘Yeah, Mark saw Samantha crawl
through his window on the night of the murder,’ I’d like to be able to
tell the court we were shocked, but it’s only confirmed what we thought
all along,” said Josh Dubin, one of Aguirre-Jarquin’s lawyers, after
presenting the affidavit Monday. Despite Bouzigard’s statement,
Todd Brown, a spokesman for State Attorney Phil Archer, said the
prosecution of Aguirre-Jarquin “will continue.” He declined to comment
further during the trial. “Doing so may adversely impact the victims we represent, or the defendant's right to a fair trial,” Brown said. Bouzigard
said Van Sandt told her about the killings in October 2016, one month
after the couple had met and around the same time Aguirre-Jarquin’s
conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court. A couple of months
after the first conversation about the killings, Bouzigard said she
asked Van Sandt to show her the Vagabond Way trailer where they took
place. In front of that trailer, Bouzigard said Van Sandt
told her that Williams had confessed to killing her mother and
grandmother, the affidavit said. Initially, Van Sandt told
Bouzigard that Samantha Williams had also been killed, she said. She
would later find out that Williams was alive. “My memory of my
conversations with Mark on these topics is clear,” Bouzigard said in the
affidavit. “And it is especially clear about Samantha’s leaving through
the bedroom window of his parents’ house during the night of June
16-17, 2004, because Mark said that to me repeatedly and consistently.” Aguirre-Jarquin’s
lawyers found Bouzigard after reviewing more than 1,000 recorded phone
calls Van Sandt made as an inmate at the Seminole County Jail. “He
… alluded to something when he was talking with his wife that led us to
believe he had told her something about Samantha Williams on the night
of this crime that he wasn't going to talk about over the phone,” Dubin
said in court Monday. Aguirre-Jarquin’s lawyers presented the
affidavit to the State Attorney’s Office and Circuit Judge John Galluzzo
late Monday afternoon. Assistant State Attorney Stewart Stone
asked that he be able to speak with Bouzigard. She’s expected to appear
for questioning Wednesday. Van Sandt had been in the Lake County
jail on a drug charge, but was transferred to the Seminole County jail
in preparation for Aguirre-Jarquin’s trial. He’s also expected to be
questioned Wednesday. “This is a search for the truth — it always
is.” Galluzzo said in court after reading the affidavit Monday. “And the
obligation for both sides is to find that truth. And it may very well
be that after this is over and done with, you all discover a different
truth than what you’ve been following.”"
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-clemente-aguirre-jarquin-samantha-williams-alibi-20181030-story.html
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/
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-clemente-aguirre-jarquin-samantha-williams-alibi-20181030-story.html
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/
