PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Henning and Birch have steadfastly maintained their innocence in the 1985 murder of Carr, claiming their conviction was the result of false testimony by Lee regarding the so-called bloody towel. Carr was murdered in 1985 in what appeared to be a home burglary. At the time, Henning and Birch, 17 and 18 years old, respectively, were troubled youths living in a stolen car and burglarizing homes in the New Milford area. The two teens were taken in as suspects. While they confessed to stealing the car and to committing four other area burglaries, they steadfastly insisted they were not involved with the Carr murder. The victim, clad only in an undershirt and underwear, was lying in a pool of blood. Blood spatter and smears covered the walls around him, almost to the ceiling. An autopsy later revealed the victim had sustained about 27 stab wounds, a severed jugular vein and blunt force trauma to the head. While none of the victim’s blood was found on either Birch or Henning, or in the car they drove, the prosecutor argued the men cleaned up after the murder based on Lee’s testimony. According to the court ruling, although the towels had not been tested for the presence of blood, Lee testified that they had, in fact, been so tested, stating that a “[s]mear of blood was found on[one of] the towel[s]” and that this smear was “[a]na-lyzed and shows” blood. Lee said Monday, “I did many tests.” The men were tried separately and convicted of Carr’s murder in 1989. Henning was sentenced to 50 years in prison, and Birch, 55 years. “The state proffered two theories, one of which the respondent now concedes was predicated on Lee’s incorrect testimony,” the Supreme Court ruling states."
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STORY: "Famous forensic scientist Henry Lee: No false testimony in murder case, by reporter Mark Zaretsky, published by The New Haven Register on June 17, 2019.
GIST: "Henry C. Lee, the renowned criminologist who formerly led the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory,
said Monday that the suggestion that he provided false testimony in a
murder case that saw two convictions overturned by the state Supreme
Court is totally untrue. Lee, founder of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at University of New Haven,
said that in a career that has spanned a half-century, “Never, ever was
I accused of intentionally ... trying to cover up” or provide false
testimony in a case. He also took issue with the suggestion that he failed to
perform forensic tests on a key piece of evidence, saying he did perform
tests but the results of those presumptive, or field, tests were
preliminary. Lee’s comments followed the state Supreme Court’s decision that ordered a new trial for two men who have served more than 30 years in prison for a New Milford murder they claim they didn’t commit. In the decision released Friday afternoon, the court
ordered new trials for Sean Henning and Ralph Birch. In 1989, the two
men were convicted separately in trials related to the murder of Everett
Carr, 65. In both cases, the convictions were based in part on
Lee’s testimony that a towel found in a bathroom in Carr’s home had a
spot on it that tests indicated was “consistent with blood.” Subsequent
DNA testing found that there was no blood on the towel. Lee, one of the world’s leading criminologists, worked on
such high-profile cases as the O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey and Laci
Peterson murder cases, as well as the “woodchipper murder” trial of Richard Crafts, involving the death of his wife, Helle Crafts. The groundbreaking Crafts case was the first murder
conviction ever in Connecticut without the presence of the victim’s
body. Richard Crafts was convicted on Nov. 21, 1989. Lee also was involved in the post-9/11 forensic
investigation and the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings, among many
other cases. Lee, who was commissioner of public safety for the state
from 1998 to 2000, said that throughout his long career, “This is the
first case I’ve felt I had to give an important press conference” in
order to protect his reputation. The conference room he spoke in was packed with state
media — as well as forensic science texts that Lee literally “wrote the
book” on. Lee was joined for the press conference by prominent
defense attorney Hugh Keefe. Asked later why he was there, Keefe — a
friend of Lee’s for close to 50 years — responded, “Everybody should
have a lawyer when they talk to either the FBI or the press.” But “today I was there mainly as a friend showing support,” Keefe said. Lee said that while he did conduct presumptive, or field,
tests on the evidence, including towels found at the crime scene, which
are important to make preliminary conclusions, the results are by no
means definitive. After those presumptive tests, the evidence was part of
the state’s case. It was in the custody of police and prosecutors and
Lee had no way of knowing what additional tests they did or didn’t
perform, he said. “I do not own the crime scene,” Lee said. “It’s the
police. ... I can only testify what I did. I can’t testify what others
did. ... I don’t know what’s the result. They never talk to me.” But Lee made it clear that “to say that I never did any tests, that’s totally wrong.” Asked what would likely happen now, Lee responded that it “has nothing to do with me ... I’m 82, happily retired.” He called the press conference because “I just want to protect my reputation,” he said. A key part the Supreme Court decision is what the court determined to be Lee’s “false testimony” in the case. Henning and Birch have steadfastly maintained their innocence in the 1985 murder of Carr, claiming their conviction was the result of false testimony by Lee regarding the so-called bloody towel. Carr was murdered in 1985 in what appeared to be a home burglary. At the time, Henning and Birch, 17 and 18 years old,
respectively, were troubled youths living in a stolen car and
burglarizing homes in the New Milford area. The two teens were taken in as suspects. While they
confessed to stealing the car and to committing four other area
burglaries, they steadfastly insisted they were not involved with the
Carr murder. The victim, clad only in an undershirt and underwear, was
lying in a pool of blood. Blood spatter and smears covered the walls
around him, almost to the ceiling. An autopsy later revealed the victim had sustained about
27 stab wounds, a severed jugular vein and blunt force trauma to the
head. While none of the victim’s blood was found on either
Birch or Henning, or in the car they drove, the prosecutor argued the
men cleaned up after the murder based on Lee’s testimony. According to the court ruling, although the towels had
not been tested for the presence of blood, Lee testified that they had,
in fact, been so tested, stating that a “[s]mear of blood was found
on[one of] the towel[s]” and that this smear was “[a]na-lyzed and shows”
blood. Lee said Monday, “I did many tests.” The men were tried separately and convicted of Carr’s
murder in 1989. Henning was sentenced to 50 years in prison, and Birch,
55 years. “The state proffered two theories, one of which the
respondent now concedes was predicated on Lee’s incorrect testimony,”
the Supreme Court ruling states. “If the jury had known that Lee’s testimony about finding
blood on the bathroom towel was incorrect, that knowledge might well
have caused it to question the reliability of his other testimony,” the
ruling says. “If that had occurred, the state’s entire case against the
petitioner could very well have collapsed.”
The entire story ca be read at:
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/
