Lindy Chamberlain: Australia: (Forensic nightmare): Disturbing message emerges from reporter Karen Ruiz's Daily Mail story, "Lindy Chamberlain and poor science" - "It could still happen today."... " Lindy Chamberlain's lawyer reveals how authorities wrongly prosecuted her based on 'poor science' and how nothing has changed 37 years later. Stuart Tipple said 'poor science' contributed to Lindy Chamberlain's conviction. The mother was wrongfully jailed in 1982 for the death of her baby girl Azaria. Ms Chamberlain claimed a dingo snatched infant during a trip to Uluru in 1980. The lawyer who defended Lindy Chamberlain has revealed how 'poor science' played a major role in her wrongful conviction and says the system could fail others again.", in the Daily Mail: 'Lindy Chamberlain and poor science.'..."It could happen today."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Mr Tipple addressed the high profile case in an interview with The Morning show, ahead of the release of his new book. '[It was] confirmation bias. They made their mind up, this was a murder, and any evidence to the contrary they really weren't interested in,' he told the Seven Network on Tuesday. 'When they [witnesses] gave anything at all that was supportive of the Chamberlains, they'd be told, 'we don't wanna know about it, this is a murder'.' While he agreed there was 'no doubt' the media played a significant role in Ms Chamberlain's conviction, Mr Tipple said a botched police investigation and 'poor science' was mostly at fault. 'The thing that astounds me - and one of the reasons I wrote the book - is that it can still happen today. It's absolutely ridiculous that you can be trialed on bad science,' he said. 'A scientist can go under court, can be regarded as an expert and give absolute nonsense science and convict you of murder. 'It's easier to have that evidence accepted than for that scientist to have a scientific paper published because there's no peer review. 'And it's the same today.' Ms Chamberlain, a Seventh-day Adventist, was charged on the flawed basis foetal haemoglobin was found in the family's Holden Torana. The substance turned out to be sound deadener. Earlier this year, a toddler was nearly attacked by two dingoes during a family's
trip to Fraser Island, in Queensland. Mr Tipple said he considered the case to be 'the last piece of the jigsaw' that would vindicate the Chamberlains. 'We always had a scenario. We never knew exactly what happened, but we always said the dingo went in there and how it would've grabbed the child,' he said. 'The experts, regarded as the greatest pathologists in the world, said that there was no way in
the world a dingo could grasp a 10-week-old baby. 'In April this year, they grabbed a 14-
month-old toddler in very similar circumstances. So in 40 years, what have we learned? Not
very much.'"

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STORY:  ‘Lindy Chamberlain and poor science’ by reporter Karen Ruiz, published by The Daily Mail on December 3, 2019. Thanks to Dr. Bob Moles of the NetK site - Forensic Science and Pathology Homepage - for  bringing this important story to our attention.

GIST:  'It could still happen today': Lindy Chamberlain's lawyer reveals how authorities wrongly
prosecuted her based on 'poor science' and how nothing has changed 37 years later. Stuart Tipple said 'poor science' contributed to Lindy Chamberlain's conviction. The mother was wrongfully jailed in 1982 for the death of her baby girl Azaria. Ms Chamberlain claimed a dingo snatched infant during a trip to Uluru in 1980. The lawyer who defended Lindy Chamberlain has revealed how 'poor science' played a major role in her wrongful conviction and says the system could fail others again. Stuart Tipple has spoken out on the infamous case that saw an innocent mum locked up for murder in 1982.
A Northern Territory jury had rejected her claim a dingo had killed her 10-week-old baby
daughter Azaria two years earlier. While Ms Chamberlain was released four years later, a coroner didn't declare a dingo was responsible until 2012. That was more than three decades after the August 1980 disappearance of a girl at a campsite near Ayers Rock, as Uluru was then known, divided Australia. Mr Tipple addressed the high profile case in an interview with The Morning show, ahead of the release of his new book. '[It was] confirmation bias. They made their mind up, this was a murder, and any evidence to the contrary they really weren't interested in,' he told the Seven Network on Tuesday. 'When they [witnesses] gave anything at all that was supportive of the Chamberlains, they'd be told, 'we don't wanna know about it, this is a murder'.' While he agreed there was 'no doubt' the media played a significant role in Ms Chamberlain's conviction, Mr Tipple said a botched police investigation and 'poor science' was mostly at fault. 'The thing that astounds me - and one of the reasons I wrote the book - is that it can still happen today. It's absolutely ridiculous that you can be trialed on bad science,' he said. 'A scientist can go under court, can be regarded as an expert and give absolute nonsense science and convict you of murder. 'It's easier to have that evidence accepted than for that scientist to have a scientific paper published because there's no peer review. 'And it's the same today.' Ms Chamberlain, a Seventh-day Adventist, was charged on the flawed basis foetal
haemoglobin was found in the family's Holden Torana. The substance turned out to be sound
deadener. Earlier this year, a toddler was nearly attacked by two dingoes during a family's trip to Fraser Island, in Queensland. Mr Tipple said he considered the case to be 'the last piece of the jigsaw' that would vindicate the Chamberlains. 'We always had a scenario. We never knew exactly what happened, but we always said the dingo went in there and how it would've grabbed the child,' he said. 'The experts, regarded as the greatest pathologists in the world, said that there was no way in
the world a dingo could grasp a 10-week-old baby. 'In April this year, they grabbed a 14-
month-old toddler in very similar circumstances. So in 40 years, what have we learned? Not very much.' Ms Chamberlain opened up on her ordeal on ABC series Anh's Brush with Fame in April. 'My mum had to tell them [Chamberlain's children] they'd sent me to prison - which haunted
her until the day she died,' she said, moving Do to tears. 'It was the worst thing she had ever had to do. She'd never heard a noise come out of a kid like that in her life before. 'She said he did these big dry sobs, that was the only way to describe it.' The New Zealand-born woman wrongly jailed for murder, despite a coroner's 1981 finding that a dingo took her baby, also addressed her subsequent campaigns for reform of Australia's criminal justice system. 'If I hadn't gone through all that we wouldn't have the laws that we've got in Australia right now, we've got independent forensic science now as a result of that trial,' she told Do. 'What's happened to me has been able to make it better for other Australians and for that I'm grateful.'"

The entire story can be read at:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7749663/Lindy-Chamberlains-lawyer-blamespoor-science-wrongful-conviction.html

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 For background, read the Wikipedia entry at the link below: "Alice Lynne "Lindy" Chamberlain-Creighton (née Murchison; born 4 March 1948) is a New Zealand-born woman who was wrongfully convicted in one of Australia's most publicised murder trials. Accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru (then usually known as Ayers Rock) in 1980, she maintained that she saw a dingo leave the tent where Azaria was sleeping. The prosecution case was circumstantial and depended on forensic evidence. Chamberlain was convicted on 29 October 1982,^[1] and her appeals to the Federal Court of Australia,^[2] and High Court of Australia,^[3] were dismissed. On 7 February 1986, after the discovery of new evidence, Chamberlain was released from prison on remission. She and her husband Michael Chamberlain, co-accused, were officially pardoned in 1987,^[1] and their convictions were quashed by the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 1988.^[4] In 1992, the Australian government paid Chamberlain $1.3 million in compensation.^[5] In 2012, a fourth coroner's inquest found that Azaria died "as a result of being attacked and taken by a dingo."^[
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Chamberlain-Creighton
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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;