Bulletin: Joe Bryan: Texas: Bad news. James Dailey: Florida: Good news for a change? (I suppose every day you are still alive is good news when you are on death row. HL.)

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: In response to  the stunning number of exonerations  enabled by DNA evidence,  one of the most common explanations has been that all too often police and prosecutors  are tempted to use devious techniques in the absence of  scientific evidence which can neatly provide a conviction. One of these techniques - in addition to rigging the statement and identification processes and other corrupt policing techniques - is by 'buying' the evidence of prison informants -  commonly referred to as ‘jailhouse snitches." The increased  awareness impact of tainted  jailhouse snitch evidence has been recognized - as evidenced by  their many  posts on this Blog - by talented investigative journalists such as Mike White in New Zealand and Pamela Colloff in the USA.

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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POST: Updates from  top investigative reporter Pamela Colloff  to her readers, published by ProPublica on January 17, 2020.

(JOE BRYAN: PASSAGE OF THE DAY): "For more than a year, we have waited for Texas’ highest criminal court to rule on whether it would consider his writ for habeas corpus, a last-ditch appeal to have his case reexamined. The writ laid out powerful new evidence suggesting Bryan was wrongfully convicted.

 On Wednesday night, some terrible news came down for Bryan. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied his application for writ of habeas corpus. The court did not issue a written order, so we will never know how its justices came to this decision, or why. 

Bryan has few options left."

GIST:  JOE BRYAN TEXAS: "Many of you began following my investigations after ProPublica published my 2018 story “Blood Will Tell,” which examined a troubled Texas case; Bryan, a beloved high school principal, was convicted of his wife’s 1985 murder, largely with faulty bloodstain pattern analysis. For more than a year, we have waited for Texas’ highest criminal court to rule on whether it would consider his writ for habeas corpus, a last-ditch appeal to have his case reexamined. The writ laid out powerful new evidence suggesting Bryan was wrongfully convicted.

 On Wednesday night, some terrible news came down for Bryan. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied his application for writ of habeas corpus. The court did not issue a written order, so we will never know how its justices came to this decision, or why. 

Bryan has few options left. He can file another writ in state court if newly discovered evidence emerges that was not available at the time of his original writ application, or he could try to get relief through the federal courts, but those options are all long shots. And they take time.

Bryan, who will turn 80 this September, suffers from congestive heart failure. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has already denied him parole seven times. 

His ordeal shows how incredibly hard it is to reverse a conviction, even when there is compelling new evidence of innocence. The lesson here is not that Texas courts are uniquely unfair, but that junk science and forensic “experts” with dubious credentials still play a major role in our criminal justice system. Until that changes, defendants like Bryan — with credible innocence claims — will remain behind bars.

 I promise to keep you updated on any forthcoming news in Joe’s case.
 "

JAMES DAILEY: (PASSAGE OF THE DAY): "

As you may remember, Dailey’s stay of execution expired on Dec. 30, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has been free to set a new execution date ever since. But so far, he has not. This is a striking contrast to last fall, when he abruptly set an execution date while the Florida Supreme Court was still considering DaileyEs post-conviction appeal. 

So what changed? Over the past few weeks, many Florida newspapers’ editorial boards and columnists have expressed their concern about Dailey’s possible execution."

GIST:  JAMES DAILEY: FLORIDA: Turning to Florida and the case of death row inmate James Dailey, there is a lot to tell you — and most of it is wholly unexpected.

As you may remember, Dailey’s stay of execution expired on Dec. 30, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has been free to set a new execution date ever since. But so far, he has not. This is a striking contrast to last fall, when he abruptly set an execution date while the Florida Supreme Court was still considering Dailey’s post-conviction appeal. 

So what changed? Over the past few weeks, many Florida newspapers’ editorial boards and columnists have expressed their concern about Dailey’s possible execution. Tampa Bay Times columnist Daniel Ruth wrote that there would be “blood on DeSantis’ hands” if he allowed Dailey to be put to death. Many editorials cited our reporting on con-man-turned-jailhouse-informant Paul Skalnik and the role he played in Dailey’s case. The Orlando Sentinel ran an editorial under the headline “Gov. DeSantis Must Not Be Conned into Executing James Dailey,” and the novelist and Miami Herald opinion columnist Carl Hiaasen wrote that “sending a man to his grave on the worthless word of Paul Skalnik wouldn’t be justice. It would be a shameful travesty.”

But Robert Heyman, who prosecuted Dailey in 1987, went on local TV to say that he stood by the testimony of all three jailhouse informants whom the state relied on at trial. "As the old saying goes, 'You've got to make a deal with a sinner to catch the devil,’” he told Bay News 9.

Dailey remains under an active death warrant — an order that authorizes his execution. DeSantis can set a new execution date until March 23, when the warrant expires. After that, he would have to sign a new warrant before he could set another execution date. 

What the governor might do is anyone’s guess. At a hearing on Monday in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Clearwater, prosecutors from both the state attorney’s office and the Florida attorney general’s office told Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa that they did not know if or when DeSantis might set an execution date, and they said they were unlikely to learn of that fact until they read it in the newspaper.

In the meantime, Dailey’s attorneys are asking the court to grant an evidentiary hearing at which Dailey’s co-defendant, Jack Pearcy, would be called to testify — which brings us to the second astonishing development in Dailey’s case. 

A week before Christmas, a member of Dailey’s defense team, Joshua Dubin, met with Pearcy in prison. During that meeting, Pearcy signed a remarkable affidavit which stated: “James Dailey had nothing to do with the murder of Shelly Boggio. I committed the crime alone. James Dailey was back at the house when I drove Shelly Boggio to the place where I ultimately killed her.”

Pearcy has now repeatedly confessed to being solely responsible for the crime for which he was sentenced to life in prison and for which Dailey was sentenced to death.

In 2017, he signed a sworn affidavit in which he asserted that Dailey was not present when Boggio was killed. But when he was called to the stand the following year to attest to this under oath, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. If called to the stand again, Pearcy told Dubin, he would testify — and he would testify truthfully. 

Will Siracusa give Pearcy a second chance to say what really happened that night? If so, will Pearcy state under oath that he committed the crime alone? And if he does, will the judge find Pearcy credible? We’ll have to wait and see. If Siracusa allows such a hearing to take place, it will be held on March 6 in Clearwater — that is, unless DeSantis sets an execution date first and the judicial process has to be sped up. It’s an unusual situation to say the least.

As everyone waits to see what DeSantis will do, Dailey’s attorneys are working hard to save his life. His case is currently before three different courts: Siracusa’s court; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, where Dailey’s federal attorneys have asked that his claims of innocence be considered; and the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, his attorneys filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the nation’s highest court, asking it to review the Florida Supreme Court’s refusal to consider Pearcy’s 2017 sworn affidavit, which clears Dailey.

In the meantime, Dailey remains on “death watch” in a cell that is just 30 feet from the execution chamber. There, he waits for news from the governor’s office.

I promise to keep you posted. Thank you so much for your interest in both of these cases, and for subscribing to this newsletter. More from me soon.

Best wishes,
 Pamela

The entire post can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#search/pamela/FMfcgxwGCkngQTGVWXQPBBbtfjHngVKk

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring these cases/issues. 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:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project.

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