PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "In the early hours of Sept. 14, 1982, a man broke into a home in Newport News and beat 30-year-old Jesse Perron to death with a crowbar. Then, over several hours, the attacker sexually assaulted Perron’s 22-year-old wife, Teresa, leaving bite marks during the assault. Before the attacker fled, he took $14 from Teresa’s purse. Evidence pointed toward a sailor who served on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson that was harbored nearby. At the time, I was one of 1,300 crew members on that ship. Eight months later, after being discharged from the Navy, I became suspect No. 1 after an assault upon my girlfriend in which I bit her. On March 6, 1986, a jury in Newport News convicted me of murder, robbery, burglary and rape. I was sentenced to life in prison. The key evidence against me was a coerced witness identification and testimony by two forensic experts who said that I was the only person who could have left the bite mark on the rape victim. In July 2015, the Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of the crime scene evidence. The DNA tests excluded me as the source of the biological evidence. The investigation by the Innocence Project also discovered that the lab analyst who conducted the analysis of the blood and semen recovered in the case falsely testified that I could not be eliminated as the source of the evidence. The analyst’s bench notes of his testing actually excluded me. Those notes were never given to my defense attorney."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "On April 7, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a writ of actual innocence, my convictions were dismissed and I was released after spending 33 years in prison. If I had been sentenced to death back in 1986, the commonwealth would have executed me in the 1990s along with 65 other men. And no one would have ever known that I was innocent. Virginia has executed 113 men since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976. Only one person, Earl Washington, has been exonerated after being sentenced to die in Virginia. However, some of those killed by the commonwealth went to the execution chamber claiming their innocence. Only God knows how many were in fact innocent. Since 1976, there have been 166 people exonerated in the United States after being sentenced to death for crimes that they did not commit. In that same time period 1,510 have been executed. That is a ratio of one innocent person for every nine killed by the state. Most people will agree that is an unacceptable and intolerable error rate. I am only one of 18 people in Virginia who have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of murder since 1989. Who knows how many others may still be behind bars for murders that they did not carry out. Our criminal justice system makes mistakes more often that we would like to admit. It is time for the General Assembly to abolish capital punishment here in the commonwealth."
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COMMENTARY: "Innocence reason enough to abolish the death penalty," by Keith Harward, published by The Richmond Times-Dispatch on December 21, 2019. Thanks to Dr. Michael Bowers of CSIDDS (Forensics and Law in Focus) for bringing this commentary to our attention.
PHOTO CAPTION: Keith Harward raised his hands after his release from the Nottoway Correctional Center on April 8, 2016. Accompanying him were (from left) Dana Delger, Chris Fabricant and Olga Akselrod of the Innocence Project. Harward was wrongly convicted of the 1982 slaying of a Newport News man and the rape of his wife.
GIST: "Keith Harward raised his hands after his release from the Nottoway Correctional Center on April 8, 2016. Accompanying him were (from left) Dana Delger, Chris Fabricant and Olga Akselrod of the Innocence Project. Harward was wrongly convicted of the 1982 slaying of a Newport News man and the rape of his wife. In the early hours of Sept. 14, 1982, a man broke into a home in Newport News and beat 30-year-old Jesse Perron to death with a crowbar. Then, over several hours, the attacker sexually assaulted Perron’s 22-year-old wife, Teresa, leaving bite marks during the assault. Before the attacker fled, he took $14 from Teresa’s purse. Evidence pointed toward a sailor who served on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson that was harbored nearby. At the time, I was one of 1,300 crew members on that ship. Eight months later, after being discharged from the Navy, I became suspect No. 1 after an assault upon my girlfriend in which I bit her. On March 6, 1986, a jury in Newport News convicted me of murder, robbery, burglary and rape. I was sentenced to life in prison. The key evidence against me was a coerced witness identification and testimony by two forensic experts who said that I was the only person who could have left the bite mark on the rape victim. In July 2015, the Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of the crime scene evidence. The DNA tests excluded me as the source of the biological evidence. The investigation by the Innocence Project also discovered that the lab analyst who conducted the analysis of the blood and semen recovered in the case falsely testified that I could not be eliminated as the source of the evidence. The analyst’s bench notes of his testing actually excluded me. Those notes were never given to my defense attorney. The DNA profile from the crime scene evidence was identified as that of Jerry L. Crotty, another sailor on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson at the time of these crimes. Crotty died in prison in Ohio in 2006, where he was sentenced for numerous crimes, including abduction and attempted burglary. On April 7, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a writ of actual innocence, my convictions were dismissed and I was released after spending 33 years in prison. If I had been sentenced to death back in 1986, the commonwealth would have executed me in the 1990s along with 65 other men. And no one would have ever known that I was innocent. Virginia has executed 113 men since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976. Only one person, Earl Washington, has been exonerated after being sentenced to die in Virginia. However, some of those killed by the commonwealth went to the execution chamber claiming their innocence. Only God knows how many were in fact innocent. Since 1976, there have been 166 people exonerated in the United States after being sentenced to death for crimes that they did not commit. In that same time period 1,510 have been executed. That is a ratio of one innocent person for every nine killed by the state. Most people will agree that is an unacceptable and intolerable error rate. I am only one of 18 people in Virginia who have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of murder since 1989. Who knows how many others may still be behind bars for murders that they did not carry out. Our criminal justice system makes mistakes more often that we would like to admit. It is time for the General Assembly to abolish capital punishment here in the commonwealth. The risk of executing an innocent person is simply too high. Even though it took 33 years for me to walk out of prison, I am now free to eat what I want and go where I want. I can enjoy the company of family, friends and neighbors. I can appreciate the simple joys of camping and nature. There is no way that we can undo the terrible mistake of executing an innocent person. That alone is reason enough for ending the practice of capital punishment. I urge the Virginia General Assembly to abolish the death penalty during its 2020 legislative session." Keith Harward lives in North Carolina."
The entire commentary can be read at:
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Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley at the link below: "In the early morning hours of September 14, 1982, a man broke into a home in Newport News, Virginia and beat 30-year-old Jesse Perron to death with a crowbar. Then, over several hours, the attacker repeatedly sexually assaulted Perron’s 22-year-old wife, Teresa, leaving bite marks during the assaults. Before the attacker fled, he took $14 from Teresa’s purse.
Teresa helped police develop a composite drawing of her attacker. She told investigators that earlier in the day, she had taken her children swimming and when she drove away from the pool, a hitchhiker in a Navy uniform cursed at her. That evening, around 6 p.m., she was hanging clothes in her backyard when she saw a man watching her through the back fence. Teresa could not say that either man was the attacker, but said the man who cursed at her had a voice that sounded like the man who assaulted her.
Teresa and Jess Perron’s home was located near an entry gate to the Newport News Shipyard where the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, a recently commissioned aircraft carrier, was harbored and where Perron worked as a welder. The day after the crime was reported in the media, Donald Wade, a security guard at that gate, told police that he saw a sailor with blood spatter on his uniform enter the shipyard through the gate at about 2:30 a.m.
After being hypnotized, Wade changed the time to around 5 a.m., which was consistent with Teresa’s account of when her attacker left. Teresa also was hypnotized and for the first time said the attacker had three upside down V’s on the sleeve of his uniform and that she “associated” the hitchhiking sailor with her attacker, not just that he sounded the same. In the criminal case that ultimately followed, the prosecution did not disclose to the defense that Teresa and Wade were hypnotized and changed their accounts after hypnosis.
A police tracking dog was brought in and led officers from the Perron home through the entry gate where Wade worked and up to the pier where the Carl Vinson was docked.
Police focused their investigation on the Carl Vinson and over several months bite mark impressions were taken from hundreds of sailors on the Carl Vinson before it finally left the harbor in December 1982 with its crew of more than 1,300 men. Police had no suspects at that time.
In March 1983, 26-year-old Keith Harward, a Naval enlistee who formerly had been stationed on the Carl Vinson, was discharged from the Navy. At about the same time, his girlfriend accused him of assaulting her, including biting her during a fight.
Harward had been among those whose teeth were examined in the immediate aftermath of the investigation, but he had been ruled out as the source of the bite marks on Teresa by a civilian dental consultant working with the Newport News City medical examiner. When Harward came to court, Teresa was there, but could not identify him as the attacker.
At that point, police asked Harward to submit to a second procedure to obtain a cast of his teeth. The cast was sent to Lowell Levine, then a budding superstar in the fledgling field of bite mark analysis who had gained fame for his testimony linking bite marks to serial killer Ted Bundy and to Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. Levine concluded that Harward was responsible for the bite marks on Teresa’s body. Police showed a photographic lineup to Wade, who selected Harward’s picture as the man who came through the security gate with a blood-spattered uniform.
On May 16, 1983, police arrested Harward on charges of capital murder, rape, robbery and burglary.
Harward went to trial in Newport News City Circuit Court and in October 1983 he was convicted of capital murder, rape, robbery, and burglary, primarily based on Wade’s identification of him in court and Levine’s conclusion that Harward’s teeth left the bite marks. Harward was sentenced to life in prison.
On appeal, the Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court held that under Virginia’ law at that time, a rape could only elevate a homicide to capital murder if the person murdered was also the victim of the rape.
Harward went to trial a second time in March 1986. Levine testified to a “very, very, very, very high degree of probability” that Harward’s teeth made the bite marks on Teresa’s body. He told the jury that it was a “practical impossibility that someone else would have all these characteristics” that Levine found in the bite marks.”
Harward testified in his own defense and denied involvement in the crime. He showed that at the time Teresa said she saw a man staring at her in her back yard, Harward was attending a mandatory Naval alcohol and drug abuse program because he had been caught with marijuana on the ship. Harward also testified that the rank insignia on his uniform at the time of the crime consisted of three slashes, not upside the down V’s that appeared on the uniforms of higher-ranking petty officers. Harward also testified that he had a mustache at the time of the crime—but Teresa and Wade said the man they saw was clean-shaven.
Harward was convicted of murder, robbery, burglary, and rape on March 6, 1986. He was again sentenced to life in prison.
In July 2015, the Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of the physical evidence in the case. The DNA tests excluded Harward as the source of the biological evidence.
The Innocence Project’s investigation also discovered that the crime lab analyst who conducted laboratory analysis of the blood and semen recovered in the case falsely testified that Harward could not be eliminated as the source of the evidence. The analyst’s bench notes of his testing actually excluded Harward. The notes were not disclosed to Harward’s defense attorney at the time of his trials.
The DNA profile that was recovered from the crime scene evidence was identified as that of Jerry L. Crotty, another sailor on the Carl Vinson at the time of these crimes. Crotty died in prison in Ohio in 2006 where he was imprisoned for numerous crimes, including abduction and attempted burglary.
In March 2016, the Innocence Project and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom filed a petition for a writ of actual innocence. In April, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said he believed in Harward’s innocence and joined in the petition. On April 7, the Virginia Supreme Court issued the writ of actual innocence, the convictions were dismissed and Harward was released after spending 33 years in prison.
In 2017, the Virginia Legislature
approved payment of $1.6 million to Harward with a lump sum of $309,000
and the remaining $1.2 million to be used to purchase an annuity. Gov.
Terry McAuliffee signed the legislation in March 2017."
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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;
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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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