PUBLISHER'S NOTE: One of the most remarkable analyses of the David Eastman miscarriage of justice is journalist Jack Waterford's account, which appreared on November 30, 2018 in the Canberra Times. Waterford's central thesis is "The AFP (Australian Federal Police) made a mess of investigating the murder of Colin Winchester and other crimes, so why is it the only Australian police force to have avoided an external inquiry?" As this is a a major opus, I will highlight several paragraphs, and leave the rest to our readers at the link below:
COMMENTARY: "Reasonable Doubts," by Jack Waterford, published by Inside Story on November 30, 2018. (Jack Waterford is a former editor-in-chief of the Canberra Times and a columnist for the paper.)
GIST: "Much of the key scientific evidence at the first trial — not least the evidence linking gunshot residue found at the death scene with residue found in David Eastman’s car — was comprehensively discredited, as was the witness presenting it. That witness had massively overstated his qualifications, had displayed a marked tendency to play the advocate rather than the detached expert, had failed to follow scientific protocols, and simply could not have done some of the tests he had claimed. Nor had the jury been told that he had been dismissed from the Victoria Police Forensic Science Unit for misconduct."
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GIST: "Within an hour of the assassination, most of the old ACT detectives
had arrived on the scene. All were deeply upset by the loss of their
boss, a man who had long been their mate. No one was doing much
detecting or taking charge, and scene-of-crime officers, trying to clear
the area so as to preserve any evidence, were told rudely to piss off.
Outside lighting was ordered, but from the water police rather than the
scientific squad. Some of those present were drunk. A number opened the
car door and leaned over the dead body; the Victorian scientific expert
plonked his fingerprints on the roof beside the door. The two most
senior officers at the scene, commander Lloyd Worthy and superintendent
Ric Ninness, both Winchester protégés from the early 1970s, presided
over the grief and the emotion and drama from beside the car door and
near the body. Someone who was there told me that when, much later, he
saw the wake scene in the American TV series The Wire, it all came back to mind."
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"In the immediate aftermath of the death, it was widely assumed to be a hit by an organised crime organisation, and probably the ’Ndrangheta. But other theories were being discussed, including the possibility that it could have been the work of a cop, whether of the AFP or elsewhere. On the day of the funeral, I saw most of the AFP’s ACT detectives peel off and stand in a circle outside the side door of St Christopher’s Cathedral. I walked down there myself, as did the former detective with a grudge against his mates. Most were lost in thought, but one grunted at me and asked what I thought. If I were investigating, I said, I wouldn’t neglect to consider the possibility that it was one of the people in the ring in front of me. A couple of the detectives nodded, and they knew I was not referring to the black sheep. (I no longer believe the rogue cop theory.) Soon after, one of the most senior officers present was to become the subject of allegations on Four Corners. Though he was cleared, he was removed from the investigation. For me, the extraordinary thing about the program was not what was said about his personal behaviour — the nub of the report — but the disclosure that the detective had unwisely and unprofessionally removed Winchester’s keys from his suit in the immediate aftermath of the murder and travelled alone to police HQ to search Winchester’s office looking for possible clues. That was to be only one of many irregularities in the case. Few arose from malice or from any intention to frame an innocent suspect; a good many arose from ignorance and arrogance, and some from a bullying mentality and a pronounced aversion to any form of accountability. And others arose from tunnel vision or confirmation bias: the tendency to seize on any evidence which tends to support one’s theory, while ignoring or discounting anything that didn’t."
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"Thirty years ago, scientific evidence was in its infancy, and catching criminals depended much more on finding witnesses and manually checking information, along with patience and shoe leather. And, of course, some intuition and luck. The enormity of the Winchester murder and the resources made available to it suddenly saw a big jump in the amount of forensic evidence available. But most of the AFP detectives were hardly prepared for it. They had a scientific squad, of considerable competence if not size, but, as events were to show, little capacity to control a crime scene, to maintain continuity of possession of exhibits, or even to prevent cross-contamination of evidence. While it was the work of the Victorian “expert” that was eventually discredited, some of the assumptions of the AFP experts were also open to controversy. Some neat work, for example, was able to show that two empty shells found trodden into the lawn (after the detectives’ orgy) had been fired by a particular gun. The gun, never located, had been test-fired at a quarry near Canberra, and shells found there matched those at the Winchester house. But no one made any effort to establish that this was the gun containing the bullets that killed Winchester. Indeed, many who have looked at the evidence suspect that another gun, probably a pistol, was used. It, too, has never been found."
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"I had long agitated for a new trial. While I was doubtful that Eastman “did it,” I always allowed for the possibility that he might have. What disturbed me was that neither the inquest nor the first trial ever got to first base in proving his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Police intuition of guilt is not a substitute for compelling evidence. Nor does it ever justify misconduct, including harassment.
An inquest had committed Eastman for trial, having earlier concluded that there was no prima facie case against him. The new evidence, and the committal, came after the Victorian scientific expert claimed — falsely, we now know — that he could link gunshot residue from the death scene to residue in Eastman’s car. That was, we now know, simply not true. The police case also involved a degree of perverse argument. A Queanbeyan gun dealer who had sold what police claimed was the murder weapon insisted that the buyer had not been Eastman. He was interviewed again and again, but did not change his evidence. Later police decided that this man did not like police or the idea of dobbing anyone in. Ergo, he was lying, and therefore it had been Eastman who had bought the gun. This theory had been arrived at before the gun dealer died, and before police “discovered” a witness who had previously sworn that he had not seen Eastman when he had visited the dealer. During a police fishing club trip, though, this man, a friend of Col Winchester’s brother, volunteered to a detective that he had seen Eastman but had been afraid to say so, for fear that Eastman might harm him or his children."
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"The AFP is the only Australian police force to have avoided external inquiry over the past forty years. Its masters know how to play politics and how to avoid accountability. For nearly three decades, they have seen no need to look again at how they managed the Winchester investigation, and have no desire to do it now. It was for this reason that the second, failed, prosecution of Eastman involved no fresh evidence and no re-examination of materials based on the latest techniques rather than those of 1994. It failed, as it deserved to do, both because of its inadequacy and because of mismanagement, incompetence and misconduct. The AFP doesn’t do retrospection. Looking back and reviewing things is often confronting, and may involve admitting errors or facing up to an injustice. The AFP has trouble enough having an open mind at any time, but once a matter is concluded, eyes are certainly shut. Its reluctance to look back invites questions about how it faces the future."
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"In the immediate aftermath of the death, it was widely assumed to be a hit by an organised crime organisation, and probably the ’Ndrangheta. But other theories were being discussed, including the possibility that it could have been the work of a cop, whether of the AFP or elsewhere. On the day of the funeral, I saw most of the AFP’s ACT detectives peel off and stand in a circle outside the side door of St Christopher’s Cathedral. I walked down there myself, as did the former detective with a grudge against his mates. Most were lost in thought, but one grunted at me and asked what I thought. If I were investigating, I said, I wouldn’t neglect to consider the possibility that it was one of the people in the ring in front of me. A couple of the detectives nodded, and they knew I was not referring to the black sheep. (I no longer believe the rogue cop theory.) Soon after, one of the most senior officers present was to become the subject of allegations on Four Corners. Though he was cleared, he was removed from the investigation. For me, the extraordinary thing about the program was not what was said about his personal behaviour — the nub of the report — but the disclosure that the detective had unwisely and unprofessionally removed Winchester’s keys from his suit in the immediate aftermath of the murder and travelled alone to police HQ to search Winchester’s office looking for possible clues. That was to be only one of many irregularities in the case. Few arose from malice or from any intention to frame an innocent suspect; a good many arose from ignorance and arrogance, and some from a bullying mentality and a pronounced aversion to any form of accountability. And others arose from tunnel vision or confirmation bias: the tendency to seize on any evidence which tends to support one’s theory, while ignoring or discounting anything that didn’t."
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Thirty years ago, scientific evidence was in its infancy, and catching criminals depended much more on finding witnesses and manually checking information, along with patience and shoe leather. And, of course, some intuition and luck. The enormity of the Winchester murder and the resources made available to it suddenly saw a big jump in the amount of forensic evidence available. But most of the AFP detectives were hardly prepared for it. They had a scientific squad, of considerable competence if not size, but, as events were to show, little capacity to control a crime scene, to maintain continuity of possession of exhibits, or even to prevent cross-contamination of evidence. While it was the work of the Victorian “expert” that was eventually discredited, some of the assumptions of the AFP experts were also open to controversy. Some neat work, for example, was able to show that two empty shells found trodden into the lawn (after the detectives’ orgy) had been fired by a particular gun. The gun, never located, had been test-fired at a quarry near Canberra, and shells found there matched those at the Winchester house. But no one made any effort to establish that this was the gun containing the bullets that killed Winchester. Indeed, many who have looked at the evidence suspect that another gun, probably a pistol, was used. It, too, has never been found."
-------------------------------------------------------------
"I had long agitated for a new trial. While I was doubtful that Eastman “did it,” I always allowed for the possibility that he might have. What disturbed me was that neither the inquest nor the first trial ever got to first base in proving his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Police intuition of guilt is not a substitute for compelling evidence. Nor does it ever justify misconduct, including harassment.
An inquest had committed Eastman for trial, having earlier concluded that there was no prima facie case against him. The new evidence, and the committal, came after the Victorian scientific expert claimed — falsely, we now know — that he could link gunshot residue from the death scene to residue in Eastman’s car. That was, we now know, simply not true. The police case also involved a degree of perverse argument. A Queanbeyan gun dealer who had sold what police claimed was the murder weapon insisted that the buyer had not been Eastman. He was interviewed again and again, but did not change his evidence. Later police decided that this man did not like police or the idea of dobbing anyone in. Ergo, he was lying, and therefore it had been Eastman who had bought the gun. This theory had been arrived at before the gun dealer died, and before police “discovered” a witness who had previously sworn that he had not seen Eastman when he had visited the dealer. During a police fishing club trip, though, this man, a friend of Col Winchester’s brother, volunteered to a detective that he had seen Eastman but had been afraid to say so, for fear that Eastman might harm him or his children."
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"The AFP is the only Australian police force to have avoided external inquiry over the past forty years. Its masters know how to play politics and how to avoid accountability. For nearly three decades, they have seen no need to look again at how they managed the Winchester investigation, and have no desire to do it now. It was for this reason that the second, failed, prosecution of Eastman involved no fresh evidence and no re-examination of materials based on the latest techniques rather than those of 1994. It failed, as it deserved to do, both because of its inadequacy and because of mismanagement, incompetence and misconduct. The AFP doesn’t do retrospection. Looking back and reviewing things is often confronting, and may involve admitting errors or facing up to an injustice. The AFP has trouble enough having an open mind at any time, but once a matter is concluded, eyes are certainly shut. Its reluctance to look back invites questions about how it faces the future."
http://insidestory.org.au/reasonable-doubts/
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/
