Saturday, June 15, 2019
Bulletin: Danny Lee Hill; Ohio: Contested bite-mark evidence: Sentenced to death for the 1985 rape, torture and slaying of a 12-year-old boy, the Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear his appeal which contested the reliability of the bite-mark evidence used against him - The Associated Press reports. (San Francisco Chronicle.)..."The Ohio Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a man sentenced to death for the 1985 rape, torture and slaying of a 12-year-old boy. Attorneys for 52-year-old Danny Lee Hill have unsuccessfully argued bite-mark evidence used against him was unreliable and that he should get a new trial."
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Bite-mark comparisons are one of the forensic techniques which have sent innocent people to prison over the years. As crime/justice reporter John Schuppe reported on NBC NEWS on January 23, 2019: “When Paul Aaron Ross returns to court for a new trial in the 2004 murder of a 26-year-old woman, prosecutors will rely on bite marks to prove that he did it — even though the technique has been discredited by dozens of scientists and multiple studies. Judges have said bite-mark evidence is fine to present, and in American courtrooms, that is what matters ─ not the mounting body of research questioning bite marks’ reliability, or the list of people convicted on such evidence only to be exonerated later. Across the country, forensic techniques found tenuous by independent researchers representing a variety of specialties — including linking indentations found on a victim’s body to a suspect’s teeth — are still being used as evidence to convict people. And that, critics say, can lead to wrongful convictions.”
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/crime/article/Ohio-high-court-won-t-hear-challenge-over-13999970.php
Read previous post of this Blog at the link below: "Sentenced to death for torturing, raping and murdering a Warren Boy Scout more than 30 years ago, his request for a new trial on the basis that more modern forensic methods are available to analyze bite marks found on the victim's body that were not in existence during the original trial, has been denied"..."Prosecutors, lobbied against a new trial, arguing that even if a defense expert would testify that human bite marks were not found on Raymond Fife's body, there is other evidence that Hill or his convicted accomplice Timothy Combs raped the little boy." WFMJ.
https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2016/10/danny-lee-hill-ohio-bulletin-bite-mark.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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;