Clifford Hubbard: Honolulu: Seeking DNA testing not available in the '80's - imprisoned almost 40 years... (Hawaii Innocence Project case); Discredited hair analysis..."Advocates for a former U.S. soldier convicted of the attempted rape and murder of an Army officer's son 37 years ago are asking a federal judge to order DNA testing to discredit what they say is weak evidence presented at a court-martial that sent him to prison for life. The Hawaii Innocence Project filed a motion Friday seeking DNA testing of a bite mark and a hair that the military said tied Clifford Hubbard, who was originally from Texas, to the 1982 attempted sodomy and bare-handed suffocation of 14-year-old Derek Kusumoto at Schofield Barracks, a Hawaii base." Associated Press Reporter Jennifer Sinco Kelleher.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In their motion seeking DNA testing
that was not available in the 1980s, lawyers say there's no direct
evidence linking Hubbard to the death of Lt. Col. Howard Kusumoto's
adopted son, whose bruised and partially nude body was found in a bunker
at the base outside Honolulu. "There's no doubt there was a rush
to judgment because it was a high ranking officer's child that was
killed," Lawson said. "We don't know who did it. The only thing we know
is who didn't do it.------------------------------------------------------- PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Hubbard's conviction didn't only rely on
weak physical evidence, said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii
Innocence Project. The military's key witness in the case also changed
his statement six times, and then went AWOL before the trial started and
was later found dead in an Ohio prison. The military judge allowed the
statements to be read at trial even though the soldier, Joseph Courtney,
wasn't around to testify." --------------------------------------------------------- PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "A
solider (sic) named Thomas Spindle found Derek's body. Spindle was also
convicted of the same crimes as Hubbard at a separate court-martial. An
innocence project in New York is taking up Spindle's case, Lawson said,
because it would be a conflict of interest for the Hawaii group to
represent both men. Hubbard and Spindle were not friends and no
one could testify they even knew each other, the motion said. The only
evidence linking the two was the hair found in Hubbard's basket, the
motion said, but the microscopic hair analysis has since been
discredited and the analyst lost his job as a forensic serologist after
it was reported he falsified numerous test results. "The
government argued this hair demonstrating that Hubbard and Spindle
socialized together, and thus, could have committed this crime
together," the motion said. Testing the hair would show it doesn't
belong to Hubbard and would further undermine how it was used against
Hubbard, Lawson said: "The whole hair analysis is just junk science." ----------------------------------------------------STORY: "Ex-soldier serving life for teen's '82 murder seeks DNA test court martial," by Associated Press Reporter Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, assisted by AP Investigative Researcher Randy Herschaft, published on September 9, 2019. PHOTO CAPTION: "The former U.S.
soldier has been imprisoned for nearly 40 years for the attempted rape
and murder of an Army officer's teenage son, who was found dead in a
bunker at a Hawaii base. The Hawaii Innocence Project filed a motion
Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, seeking DNA testing of a bite mark and a hair
that the military said tied Hubbard to the 1982 attempted sodomy and
bare-handed suffocation of 14-year-old Derek Kusumoto at Schofield
Barracks, a Hawaii base. "GIST: "Advocates for a former U.S. soldier convicted of the
attempted rape and murder of an Army officer's son 37 years ago are
asking a federal judge to order DNA testing to discredit what they say
is weak evidence presented at a court-martial that sent him to prison
for life. The Hawaii Innocence Project filed a motion Friday
seeking DNA testing of a bite mark and a hair that the military said
tied Clifford Hubbard, who was originally from Texas, to the 1982
attempted sodomy and bare-handed suffocation of 14-year-old Derek
Kusumoto at Schofield Barracks, a Hawaii base. Investigators
collected various pieces of physical evidence from the crime scene,
including the boy's socks and a shirt cut from his body, that could be
tested, the motion said. Hubbard's conviction didn't only rely on
weak physical evidence, said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii
Innocence Project. The military's key witness in the case also changed
his statement six times, and then went AWOL before the trial started and
was later found dead in an Ohio prison. The military judge allowed the
statements to be read at trial even though the soldier, Joseph Courtney,
wasn't around to testify. In their motion seeking DNA testing
that was not available in the 1980s, lawyers say there's no direct
evidence linking Hubbard to the death of Lt. Col. Howard Kusumoto's
adopted son, whose bruised and partially nude body was found in a bunker
at the base outside Honolulu. "There's no doubt there was a rush
to judgment because it was a high ranking officer's child that was
killed," Lawson said. "We don't know who did it. The only thing we know
is who didn't do it." A spokeswoman for U.S. Army Hawaii referred
The Associated Press to the Army Criminal Investigation Command in
Virginia to comment on the motion. A spokesman didn't immediately
respond to messages left Friday, when it was already after-hours in
Virginia. Hubbard exhausted appeals all the way to the U.S.
Supreme Court, losing mostly on technical issues, not the merits of his
case, Lawson said. The project claims in the court filing that a judge
may order DNA testing "if it may produce new material evidence that the
applicant did not commit the offense." For years, Hubbard has implored the Innocence Project from his Florida prison cell. Since
he can't afford writing paper, his letters are hand-written on brown
bags, scraps of magazine pages and even toilet paper. In one of his
brown-bag letters from 2017, Hubbard wrote about trading a cookie and a
meat patty for five stamps. The Innocence Project is also asking
for a hearing to determine what evidence the military has preserved in
the case, and to move Hubbard to a federal detention center in Honolulu
so the lawyers and students at Hawaii's only law school can communicate
with him more easily. Derek Kusumoto and his twin brother went to a
bowling alley on the base on Feb. 5, 1982, according to the filing.
Derek had left the bowling alley to get fresh air because his asthma,
his brother told investigators at the time, according to court filing.
The twins agreed to meet at home before their 9 p.m. curfew, but Derek
never returned. His body was found the following evening. A
medical examiner determined a bare hand suffocated the teen and even
though there was no trauma or injury typically found on rape victims,
the doctor didn't rule out sexual assault, the motion said. A
solider named Thomas Spindle found Derek's body. Spindle was also
convicted of the same crimes as Hubbard at a separate court-martial. An
innocence project in New York is taking up Spindle's case, Lawson said,
because it would be a conflict of interest for the Hawaii group to
represent both men.
Hubbard and Spindle were not friends and no
one could testify they even knew each other, the motion said. The only
evidence linking the two was the hair found in Hubbard's basket, the
motion said, but the microscopic hair analysis has since been
discredited and the analyst lost his job as a forensic serologist after
it was reported he falsified numerous test results. "The
government argued this hair demonstrating that Hubbard and Spindle
socialized together, and thus, could have committed this crime
together," the motion said. Testing the hair would show it doesn't
belong to Hubbard and would further undermine how it was used against
Hubbard, Lawson said: "The whole hair analysis is just junk science." Courtney,
the soldier who went AWOL, first spoke to investigators after Spindle
said he was an alibi. Courtney gave inconsistent statements, initially
saying he saw Spindle and Hubbard go into the bunker with flashlights
and then heard screams from someone who sounded of "puberty age," the
motion said. In another statement, Courtney said he saw a small person
playing on the grass with Spindle and Hubbard and that they pulled each
other's pants down. His story later changed to include that he, Hubbard
and Spindle met Derek outside the Schofield Enlisted Men's Club and
invited the teen to smoke marijuana with them. Another statement
included details about seeing Spindle put his hands over Derek's mouth
while Hubbard raped him, the motion said. He later said he didn't
remember his prior statement and denied knowing whether Spindle or
Hubbard entered the bunker, the motion said. Courtney's sister, Jennifer Brazil, said she was a child when military officials came to their Ohio home looking for him. "They came to the house a couple of times looking for him," said Brazil, now 49. "When my dad found him, they talked about it." She never learned what it was that father and son discussed. But whatever it was, the conversation upset their dad. "My dad almost beat him to death and we never talked about it," she said. Her
father died a few years after that and she lost touch with her brother,
she said, and only found out later he died while incarcerated in 1992.
He was imprisoned for drug charges, Lawson said.
Derek's family
couldn't be reached for this story. Lawson said the innocence project
contacted his twin about eight years ago but he didn't want to discuss
the case.
Hubbard's parents are dead and his brothers have turned
their backs on him, Lawson said. Hubbard's relatives couldn't be reached
for comment. "That's not uncommon in cases like this when people
are locked up for a long, long time. It's not uncommon for families to
pretend the person is just gone," Lawson said. "Some families believe
the person did it in order to adjust to them being in prison.""
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;