PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Hasan was convicted of murdering George Tyler in his Darien home on July 2, 1985 based partly on evidence found on a pair of Puma sneakers found in his closet. Rachel Tyler, George’s wife, survived the attack but was severely injured. At Hasan’s trial, Lee testified that a substance found on the bottom of the sneaker was blood. He went on to say that the blood type matched both of the Tylers. But when the sneakers were retested in July 2014 by the state police forensic laboratory, the stains that Lee testified were blood “were negative for the presence of blood,” according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday asking the verdict be set aside. The lab also used new techniques that weren’t available in 1986 to test the stains for DNA. Those tests showed that no DNA from either victim was on the sneakers, the lawsuit says. Hasan was convicted in May 1986 and sentenced to 80 years in prison. The lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks not only to have the verdict set aside but also to have him released from prison while he waits for a new trial, if there is one. “Had the forensic scientific evidence described been presented at petitioner’s criminal trial, there is a reasonable likelihood that there would have been a different outcome,” his attorney, Patrick White, said. Lee could not be reached for comment. The case marks the third time in 18 months in which convicted murderers have alleged that Lee’s testimony put them in prison for lengthy sentences for crimes they didn’t commit."
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The third man who was released from prison based on evidence that Lee had falsely testified was David Weinberg, who was convicted in the 1984 murder of Joyce Stochmal. In that case, the defense argued that Lee testified “trace material on hair and on the knife was blood when he knew or should have known that the material was either animal blood or not blood at all.” Lee also testified that three hairs found in the trunk of Weinberg’s car were consistent with Stochmal’s hair but subsequent testing by the laboratory revealed that two of three hairs did not come from Stochmal and that the third could not be definitively linked to her. The state agreed to release Weinberg on time served rather than retry the case."
STORY: "Forensic scientist Henry Lee challenged in another murder case as Darien man seeks new trial claiming inaccurate testimony led to wrongful conviction," by reporter Dave Altimari, published by The Hartford Courant on July 10, 2019. " Dave Altimari is a reporter on the Courant’s investigative desk. He has reported on stories that have been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a George Polk Award as part of a team that exposed corruption in the administration of former Gov. John G. Rowland and a National Headliner Award for coverage of the Hartford Distributors shooting."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Henry Lee Press Conference - Henry Lee takes
questions from reporters at a press conference at the University of New
Haven to defend his work in forensic science after the Supreme Court
ordered new trials for Sean Henning and Ralph Birch who were convicted
in the 1989 murder of Everett Carr."
GIST: "Just
weeks after the state Supreme Court issued a blistering indictment of
famed forensic scientist Henry Lee, another defendant filed court papers
Tuesday asking to be released on the grounds that Lee’s inaccurate
testimony about critical blood evidence at a murder trial led to a
wrongful conviction. The
claims by Wendall Hasan, in prison since 1986 for the murder of a
Darien man, are eerily similar to the case of two New Milford men who
recently had their murder convictions overturned when the state Supreme
Court ruled that Lee’s inaccurate testimony about blood evidence led to
them being falsely convicted. Hasan
was convicted of murdering George Tyler in his Darien home on July 2,
1985 based partly on evidence found on a pair of Puma sneakers found in
his closet. Rachel Tyler, George’s wife, survived the attack but was
severely injured. At
Hasan’s trial, Lee testified that a substance found on the bottom of
the sneaker was blood. He went on to say that the blood type matched
both of the Tylers. But
when the sneakers were retested in July 2014 by the state police
forensic laboratory, the stains that Lee testified were blood “were
negative for the presence of blood,” according to a lawsuit filed
Tuesday asking the verdict be set aside. The
lab also used new techniques that weren’t available in 1986 to test the
stains for DNA. Those tests showed that no DNA from either victim was
on the sneakers, the lawsuit says. Hasan
was convicted in May 1986 and sentenced to 80 years in prison. The
lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks not only to have the verdict set aside but
also to have him released from prison while he waits for a new trial, if
there is one. “Had
the forensic scientific evidence described been presented at
petitioner’s criminal trial, there is a reasonable likelihood that there
would have been a different outcome,” his attorney, Patrick White,
said. Lee could not be reached for comment. The
case marks the third time in 18 months in which convicted murderers
have alleged that Lee’s testimony put them in prison for lengthy
sentences for crimes they didn’t commit. Lee, former head of the state
police crime lab, is one of the nation’s foremost forensic scientists.
In addition to his work in Connecticut, he has consulted on a number of
high profile cases, including the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los
Angeles. The
state Supreme Court recently overturned the murder convictions of Shawn
Henning and Ralph Birch based partly on the false testimony of Lee at
their trials that a brown spot found on a towel was human blood. Years
later, the forensic lab revealed the towel had never been tested and
when they did test it the substance was found not to be blood. The two
men had been convicted of the brutal murder of Everett Carr in his New
Milford home in 1985. Birch and Henning are both free on promises to
appear in court. The
third man who was released from prison based on evidence that Lee had
falsely testified was David Weinberg, who was convicted in the 1984
murder of Joyce Stochmal. In that case, the defense argued that Lee
testified “trace material on hair and on the knife was blood when he
knew or should have known that the material was either animal blood or
not blood at all.” Lee
also testified that three hairs found in the trunk of Weinberg’s car
were consistent with Stochmal’s hair but subsequent testing by the
laboratory revealed that two of three hairs did not come from Stochmal
and that the third could not be definitively linked to her. The state agreed to release Weinberg on time served rather than retry the case. The murder scene: The
Tylers were attacked in their Darien home on July 2, 1985 in what
police believed was a burglary gone bad. George Tyler’s body was found
in the kitchen, stabbed multiple times. Investigators found a bloody shoeprint near the Tylers’ kitchen that was made by a Puma-brand sneaker. Three
days later the landlord of a South Norwalk apartment complex called a
plumber to clear a clogged toilet. When he did so, he found two credit
cards belonging to George Tyler in the drain, records show. The
apartment was where the Hasan family lived. When police searched the
house, they found a pair of Puma sneakers in a closet that belonged to
Hasan. He was arrested for the murder. In
addition to the stains, Lee also tested glass and linoleum shards found
in the sneakers to see if they could be matched to the Tylers’ house
but no match could be made. At trial Lee testified that a stain on the
bottom of the sneaker was human blood and that it had a phosphate
glucose mutate (PGM) factor of 1, which was the same as both of the
Tylers. He testified that about 40 percent of the population have a PGM
factor of 1. When
the reddish stain on the left sneaker and a brownish stain on the right
sneaker were retested 28 years later, none of them showed the presence
of blood. DNA found in some of the brownish spots revealed no DNA
matching either of the Tylers'. In
seeking a new trial the lawsuit acknowledged DNA testing was not
available in 1986 and that if it had, Hassan would have been found
innocent. Hasan
also has a habeas petition pending in Rockville Superior Court that has
been put on hold. Over the years Hasan has filed two previous habeas
petitions — one for ineffective counsel and the other for an illegal
search of his apartment — that were denied. The
state Supreme Court also denied Hasan’s request for a new trial in
1990. His attorneys had questioned a judge allowing a local podiatrist
to testify as an expert. The
podiatrist, Robert Rinaldi, testified that by measuring Hasan’s feet he
was able to determine that Hasan — to the exclusion of every other
person — had definitely worn the sneakers from the murder scene. Rinaldi
has never testified as an expert since that trial. Angry denial: The
lawsuit was filed Tuesday and the state has yet to respond to it. The
lawsuit names Stamford/Norwalk State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo
because the case originated in that district. It
comes less than two months after the Connecticut Supreme Court
overturned the murder convictions of Henning and Birch in the New
Milford homicide case — with the court making clear the reasoning behind
its decision. "It
is inarguable that Lee, as the representative of the state police
forensic laboratory, should have known that the bathroom towel had not
been tested for blood. He, like any such witness, had an affirmative
obligation to review any relevant test reports before testifying so as
to reasonably ensure that his testimony would accurately reflect the
findings of those tests,'' Justice Richard Palmer wrote in a 23-page
decision. "To
conclude otherwise would permit the state to gain a conviction on the
basis of false or misleading testimony even though the error readily
could have been avoided if the witness merely had exercised due
diligence,'' Palmer wrote. After
the decision, Lee held a press conference at the institute that bears
his name on the campus of the University of New Haven and defended
himself. “In
my 57-year career I have investigated over 8,000 cases and never, ever
was accused of any wrongdoing or for testifying intentionally wrong,”
Lee said. "This is the first case that I have to defend myself.” At
the press conference Lee went on to criticize the lab he had built
saying that the woman that had done the retests in the New Milford case
wasn’t even alive when he was investigating that case and called her
report that the towel had never been tested “inaccurate.” After
the murder occurred on Dec. 1, 1985, Lee said he spent two days at the
scene collecting evidence. He said that is where he did the field test
on the towel, although there is no record of that at the laboratory. The
towel with the spot on it had been a key component of then-Assistant
State’s Attorney David Shepack’s final argument to the jury in Henning’s
case, where he cited the blood on the towel as evidence the men used it
to clean their car to make sure no blood was found in it. Shepack is now the Litchfield State’s Attorney but hasn’t decided whether to retry the two men."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-henry-lee-false-testimony-20190710-gmetqshtrzb2vl3heo5tn2dwke-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/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;
