PUBLISHER'S: My condolences to the family, friends and associates of this extraordinary human being who dedicated her sadly curtailed life to exposing wrongful convictions. In the words of her client and friend Christine Bunch - subject of many posts on this Blog as were many more of Karen Daniel's clients - “She was a little woman with a huge spirit. There’s no way to calculate how many lives are affected by her loss,” Bunch said. “I would tell her that I’m forever grateful because she made my life better, and she made me see the world could be better.”
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "During her work at the center, Daniel represented more than 20 people in legal proceedings that led to their exoneration or release from prison, according to her biography at the center. She also taught hundreds of students, many who now help the wrongly convicted because of her, friends said.As word spread of her passing, many remarked of having just spoken to her. She sent people “Merry Christmas” texts to catch up. She was known for keeping in touch with former colleagues and clients, even after they got off her case list. They thought about how it was a strange coincidence that Daniel’s death came the day after the five-year anniversary of the passing of Jane Raley, who was one of Daniel’s closest friends and colleagues. She wrote a tribute to Raley on her Facebook page Wednesday morning with a photo of the two in 2002 with Raley’s first exoneree. “How I miss that brilliant smile!” Daniel wrote. The two were a force to be reckoned with, and their losses are notable in Chicago’s criminal justice community and the innocence community beyond. “It’s a wound. It’s a gaping hole in the efforts to continue to exposing wrongful convictions," said Jeff Urdangen, a defense attorney who knew Daniel for about 20 years and was director of the Northwestern’s Center for Criminal Defense. "It’s hard to describe the magnitude of that loss.”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Kristine Bunch met Daniel and Raley in November 2006 when they came to visit her in a women’s prison in Indiana. At the time, Bunch was serving time after she was convicted of arson and murder charges in 1996 in connection with the death of her 3-year-old son, convictions that were later overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals. Bunch spent 16 years behind bars. A volunteer who came into the prison reached out to the Center on Wrongful Convictions about Bunch’s case. When the two attorneys arrived, Bunch wasn’t expecting more than a 15-minute conversation, but they stayed and talked for two hours. The time flew by because they both were so personable and easy to talk to, showing genuine interest in Bunch. Raley and Daniel worked together like fire and ice, Bunch said. Raley’s passion oozed out of her in her voice and expressions. Daniel was “crystal clear and concise” when it came to the law. She could make a point in the same tone she made her introduction, Bunch said. Bunch immediately felt like she was able to trust them with her case. Through their work, they found an altered report that showed the fire was accidental, and they argued Bunch’s case. Bunch was exonerated in 2012, which was incredible in the moment, Bunch said — until the fear of readjusting to life outside set in. She called Daniel when she didn’t know what to do with her resume: How do you explain on one piece of paper that you have a long employment gap because you were in prison for a murder case? But Daniel put her in touch with someone at human resources at Northwestern, which eventually led to a job at the university. Daniel even helped Bunch, now 46, with her move from Indiana to Evanston. Daniel was always working, but one day in 2016, Bunch said she just wanted to kick back and relax and Daniel said she felt the same. The two went to see the movie “Sisters” together. Daniel showed up just as put together as she is at work, and then they got their nails done. Bunch got a sparkly black polish, which Daniel said was probably too much for her, opting for a darker solid color, which Bunch joked was plain. The two finished the day by getting a latte. “She was a little woman with a huge spirit. There’s no way to calculate how many lives are affected by her loss,” Bunch said. “I would tell her that I’m forever grateful because she made my life better, and she made me see the world could be better.”
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STORY: "Prominent attorney Karen Daniel, who led Northwestern’s wrongful convictions unit, is struck and killed by vehicle in Oak Park," by reporters Paige Fry and Patrick M. O'Connell, published by The Courant on December 27, 2019.
GIST: "Karen Daniel was a petite woman with a soft
voice. But when she spoke, her passion, knowledge and confidence
demanded the attention of everyone in a courtroom. She knew how to
dissect the prosecution’s case using the most polite daggers. Daniel
died Thursday morning in Oak Park after she was struck by a vehicle
while walking with her dog near the intersection of Pleasant Street and
Scoville Avenue, according to Oak Park police. She died at the scene,
police said. She was 62. The driver, a 63-year-old man, was cited
for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to yield to
a pedestrian, police said. He passed a field sobriety test. The driver,
who was turning left across a crosswalk at the intersection, may not
have seen Daniel because of the sun, according to an account relayed to
Daniel’s family. Friends say Daniel was walking her dog, which she
adored and adopted this summer. The family recovered the dog later in
the evening. Daniel was happy she was about to begin work in January
at the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago, partly because
she could bring the dog, said Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, an attorney at
Exoneration Project. She was also planning to work soon with the
Northwestern Prison Education Program to teach legal research and
writing to inmates at Stateville Correctional Center. “It just
makes you feel so fragile. Doesn’t it?" said Lawrence Marshall, who
hired Daniel 20 years ago and is now a Stanford Law School professor.
“In one half a second, it all changes.” Daniel touched the lives
of many in Chicago and beyond through her work at Northwestern
University Law School’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, where she
started as an attorney on a half-time appointment and eventually became a
co-director. She retired earlier this year but kept an office as an
emerita — still coming in often and continuing to work on cases. She
couldn’t stay away from work for long, friends said. Daniel’s death was noted by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who posted her thoughts in a Friday post on Twitter. “Karen was as brilliant as she was caring,” Foxx wrote.
“She was a teacher, a mentor, an advocate, and an exceptional attorney.
Karen was a true believer in justice and brought a unique spirit to
this work that will be deeply missed.” Northwestern Pritzker
School of Law Dean Kim Yuracko said in a statement: “Karen was a fierce,
tenacious and brilliant lawyer-advocate whose life’s work was fighting
for justice. She was universally beloved by her students, clients and
colleagues, and her passing is felt near and far.” During
her work at the center, Daniel represented more than 20 people in legal
proceedings that led to their exoneration or release from prison,
according to her biography at the center. She also taught hundreds of
students, many who now help the wrongly convicted because of her,
friends said.As
word spread of her passing, many remarked of having just spoken to her.
She sent people “Merry Christmas” texts to catch up. She was known for
keeping in touch with former colleagues and clients, even after they got
off her case list. They thought about how it was a strange coincidence that Daniel’s death came the day after the five-year anniversary of the passing of Jane Raley,
who was one of Daniel’s closest friends and colleagues. She wrote a
tribute to Raley on her Facebook page Wednesday morning with a photo of
the two in 2002 with Raley’s first exoneree. “How I miss that brilliant
smile!” Daniel wrote. The two were a force to be reckoned with,
and their losses are notable in Chicago’s criminal justice community and
the innocence community beyond. “It’s a wound. It’s a gaping hole
in the efforts to continue to exposing wrongful convictions," said Jeff
Urdangen, a defense attorney who knew Daniel for about 20 years and was
director of the Northwestern’s Center for Criminal Defense. "It’s hard
to describe the magnitude of that loss.” Kristine Bunch met Daniel
and Raley in November 2006 when they came to visit her in a women’s
prison in Indiana. At the time, Bunch was serving time after she was
convicted of arson and murder charges in 1996 in connection with the
death of her 3-year-old son, convictions that were later overturned by
the Indiana Court of Appeals. Bunch spent 16 years behind bars. A
volunteer who came into the prison reached out to the Center on Wrongful
Convictions about Bunch’s case. When the two attorneys arrived,
Bunch wasn’t expecting more than a 15-minute conversation, but they
stayed and talked for two hours. The time flew by because they both were
so personable and easy to talk to, showing genuine interest in Bunch.
Raley
and Daniel worked together like fire and ice, Bunch said. Raley’s
passion oozed out of her in her voice and expressions. Daniel was
“crystal clear and concise” when it came to the law. She could make a
point in the same tone she made her introduction, Bunch said. Bunch
immediately felt like she was able to trust them with her case. Through
their work, they found an altered report that showed the fire was
accidental, and they argued Bunch’s case. Bunch was exonerated in 2012,
which was incredible in the moment, Bunch said — until the fear of
readjusting to life outside set in. She called Daniel when she
didn’t know what to do with her resume: How do you explain on one piece
of paper that you have a long employment gap because you were in prison
for a murder case? But Daniel put her in touch with someone at human
resources at Northwestern, which eventually led to a job at the
university. Daniel even helped Bunch, now 46, with her move from Indiana
to Evanston. Daniel was always working, but one day in 2016,
Bunch said she just wanted to kick back and relax and Daniel said she
felt the same. The two went to see the movie “Sisters” together. Daniel
showed up just as put together as she is at work, and then they got
their nails done. Bunch got a sparkly black polish, which Daniel said
was probably too much for her, opting for a darker solid color, which
Bunch joked was plain. The two finished the day by getting a latte. “She
was a little woman with a huge spirit. There’s no way to calculate how
many lives are affected by her loss,” Bunch said. “I would tell her that
I’m forever grateful because she made my life better, and she made me
see the world could be better.” Daniel grew up in Los Angeles, her
family said, and graduated from the University of California, Davis,
later earning her law degree at Harvard Law School. She moved to the
Chicago area in 1981. Marshall, who co-founded the Center on
Wrongful Convictions, recruited Daniel to work for the center in 2000
after hearing about her reputation as an extraordinarily brilliant
attorney and as “someone with a heart as wide as a grand canyon,”
through her work at the state appellate defender’s office, the agency
that represents indigent inmates in appeals. One of the first
cases given to Daniel at the center involved Michael Evans and Paul
Terry, two men who had been in prison for years after they were
convicted of the 1976 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl.
The lawyers needed to find information and court records on DNA testing.
When Daniel was assigned to the case, she went down to the evidence
warehouse and wouldn’t leave until they found the evidence. That effort
led to DNA testing that excluded them as the perpetrators of the
assault, eventually exonerating the two men of the crimes. Marshall
said he was a little embarrassed because he wasn’t able to do what
Daniel did for their clients, adding that her perseverance and care for
clients were unmatched. She always tried to put herself in their shoes
and felt urgency to help them. Outside of work, Daniel truly cared
for her friends and listened to them with great interest, said
Urdangen, who considered Daniel one of his best friends. They bonded
over law and having sons around the same age who are both musicians.
They played together at Daniel’s retirement party in May. “We were
on the same wavelength,” he said. "We had a very strong sense of what’s
wrong with the legal system and wished to correct injustice.” Urdangen
and Daniel worked together on Alan Beaman’s case. He had been
wrongfully convicted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Daniel
seemed sweet and caring, Beaman said, but when she was in the
courtroom, she was the one to look out for. When she objected, she
didn’t scream, “I object!” "She would be like, 'Well your honor,
I’m going to object to that,’” said Beaman, now 47. “Her arguments spoke
for themselves. She didn’t have to act. She didn’t have to do anything
extra.” Beaman walked out of prison in 2008. Years later, Daniel
pushed for a certificate of innocence and a governor’s clemency for him.
He received both. He still has some struggles left with his legal
proceedings, but when he saw Daniel recently at an event at Northwestern
— where she was given an award — she reminded him that he’s the only
person in the state to have those two forms of innocence. She was always
a silver-lining person. “Long after we lay her to rest, her
impact is going to be felt," he said. "I don’t know if there’s a tribute
I can give that does her justice. The world is losing somebody great.” Daniel
is survived by husband Alan Goldberg, son Scott Goldberg Daniel,
stepdaughters Julia Alamillo, Laura Goldberg and Diana Goldberg, mother
Mary K. Daniel, sister Kelly Selva and one granddaughter. A memorial
service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham
Zion, 1235 N. Harlem Ave. in Oak Park.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.courant.com/ct-karen-daniel-obit-20191227-h3jbt3ch3ff7naqdin6kletytu-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;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.""
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20191210/da-drops-murder-charge-against-taunton-man-who-served-35-years-for-1979-slaying
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The entire story can be read at:
https://www.courant.com/ct-karen-daniel-obit-20191227-h3jbt3ch3ff7naqdin6kletytu-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;
---------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.""
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20191210/da-drops-murder-charge-against-taunton-man-who-served-35-years-for-1979-slaying
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