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"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009;
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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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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Rosario’s suit alleges the detectives used “outright lies, coercion, threats, mistreatment, and sleep deprivation” to force Mr. Rosario into signing a false confession written in English, even though Mr. Rosario wasn’t literate in that language. Detectives withheld exculpatory physical and other evidence showing that the fire was almost certainly accidental, rather than arson, and that an alleged witness failed to identify Rosario in a photo array and gave a very different physical description of a possible suspect. Both the Massachusetts State Crime Lab and the FBI confirmed that there was no physical evidence of arson as alleged by the police, and explicitly told them that. Other exculpatory evidence withheld from Rosario’s defense team included other possible suspects identified by the police for the alleged arson, such as a death threat that someone made against one of the fire victims. In addition, Lowell investigators later wrote a book about their arson investigations that revealed that they had a financial incentive from insurers to conclude that arson was the cause of fires, but they did not disclose that fact to Mr. Rosario’s defense."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "According to the suit, “To bolster their fabricated theory about the use of Molotov cocktails, Defendants staged the basement [of Rosario’s apartment building] to look like there were Miller beer bottles with the gas can and paint can (tipped over) and took photographs of that staged scene. In fact, when [the landlord] took police to the basement, he did not see a beer bottle near his gas can and paint, nor did [he] see the scene that was photographed to make it look like it could have been used to make Molotov cocktails.” Besides withholding evidence, detectives took the additional step of manufacturing fake evidence, producing an alleged witness statement written in English, even though the “witness” neither wrote nor spoke the language."
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RELEASE: released by Loevy and Loevy, a self-described civil rights law firm: It's by Andy Thayer, published on March 21, 2019, bearing the sub-heading,
GIST: "Victor Rosario, a man who spent 32 years, more
than half of his life in prison for crimes he didn’t commit, today filed
state and federal lawsuits against Lowell, MA police and firemen who he
said framed him for the arson deaths of eight people in a March 1982 house. Rosario’s suit alleges the detectives used “outright
lies, coercion, threats, mistreatment, and sleep deprivation” to force
Mr. Rosario into signing a false confession written in English, even
though Mr. Rosario wasn’t literate in that language. Detectives withheld exculpatory physical and other evidence showing
that the fire was almost certainly accidental, rather than arson, and
that an alleged witness failed to identify Rosario in a photo array and
gave a very different physical description of a possible suspect. Both
the Massachusetts State Crime Lab and the FBI confirmed that there was
no physical evidence of arson as alleged by the police, and explicitly
told them that. Other exculpatory evidence withheld from Rosario’s defense team
included other possible suspects identified by the police for the
alleged arson, such as a death threat that someone made against one of
the fire victims. In addition, Lowell investigators later wrote a book
about their arson investigations that revealed that they had a
financial incentive from insurers to conclude that arson was the cause
of fires, but they did not disclose that fact to Mr. Rosario’s defense. According to the suit, “To bolster their fabricated theory about the
use of Molotov cocktails, Defendants staged the basement [of Rosario’s
apartment building] to look like there were Miller beer bottles with the
gas can and paint can (tipped over) and took photographs of that staged
scene. In fact, when [the landlord] took police to the basement, he did
not see a beer bottle near his gas can and paint, nor did [he] see the
scene that was photographed to make it look like it could have been used
to make Molotov cocktails.” Besides withholding evidence, detectives took the additional step of
manufacturing fake evidence, producing an alleged witness statement
written in English, even though the “witness” neither wrote nor spoke
the language. Taken into custody on March 7, 1982 and eventually sentenced to nine
concurrent life sentences and imprisoned 32 years, in July 2014 a
Superior Court judge vacated Rosario’s convictions, granted him a new
trial, and ordered him freed on bond. Prosecutors appealed, but on May
11, 2017, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld an order
granting Rosario a new trial. On September 8, 2017 the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts finally dropped all charges against Rosario. At every
stage of his imprisonment and in his testimony at his trial, Mr. Rosario
insisted on his innocence. Besides being forcibly separated from his wife, Beverly, for 26
years, Mr. Rosario missed the entire young adulthoods of his four
children, and almost their entire childhoods, as they were ages 2, 5, 6
and 8 at the time of his arrest. He missed the companionship of friends
and other family, especially that of his elderly mother and father, the
latter with whom he had an especially close relationship, but who died
shortly after Mr. Rosario’s release from prison. Key players in Mr. Rosario’s fight for his freedom included the New England Innocence Project, Lisa Kavanaugh, Director of the Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence Program, Dr. Judith Edersheim of the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital, and John Lentini
and Craig Beyler, preeminent experts in the field of arson
investigations who assisted Mr. Rosario pro bono because they believed
in his innocence. Mr. Rosario is represented by Arthur Loevy, Debra Loevy, Jon Loevy, Mark Loevy-Reyes, Gayle Horn, Tara Thompson and Steve Art of the civil rights firm Loevy and Loevy Attorneys at Law. Loevy and Loevy
is one of the nation’s largest civil rights law firms and has won more
multi-million-dollar jury verdicts than any other civil rights law firm
in the country. Copies of the state and federal suits can be found here and here."
The entire release can be read at:
The entire release can be read at:
https://loevy.com/blog/man-wrongly-imprisoned-for-3-decades-sues-cops-firemen-who-framed-him/
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/
