PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Gates long maintained his innocence in handwritten court filings. Two interns with the Georgia Innocence Project went to the district attorney’s office in July 2015 to review the case file. Police and prosecutors had previously said there was no physical evidence to test, and the interns expected to find documents saying the evidence in the case had been destroyed or to find nothing at all. But one of them found a lumpy manila envelope that said it contained a bathrobe belt and neckties. Inside were pieces of white and black fabric. Innocence Project lawyers asked a judge to allow the items to be tested, saying the killer’s DNA would have rubbed off on them while the killer was tying up Wright. After the testing, Gates’ lawyers presented evidence at a hearing last year that showed his DNA was not on the items."
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STORY: "Georgia's high court rules DNA evidence warrants new trial," by Associated Press Reporter Russ Bynum, published by News 1130 on March 13, 2020.
GIST: The state Supreme Court found the judge had good reason to find the DNA evidence compelling. Justice Charles J. Bethel wrote in the high court’s decision that prosecutors made a strong case at Gates’ 1977 trial, where evidence included two confessions by Gates — including one on videotape — and an eyewitness who placed Gates at the scene of the slaying “Nevertheless, the newly discovered DNA evidence now available to Gates casts significant doubt on the State’s theory that Gates was the perpetrator,” Bethel wrote. The decision said the DNA testing “directly undermines Gates’ connection to a central assumption of the State’s case: that the person who bound Wright’s hands was the same person who murdered her.” District Attorney Julia Slater did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment Friday. Gates was convicted and sentenced to death in August 1977. The sentence was later changed to life in prison without parole because he was found to be intellectually disabled. It’s against state and federal law to execute people with intellectual disability. Gates long maintained his innocence in handwritten court filings. Two interns with the Georgia Innocence Project went to the district attorney’s office in July 2015 to review the case file. Police and prosecutors had previously said there was no physical evidence to test, and the interns expected to find documents saying the evidence in the case had been destroyed or to find nothing at all. But one of them found a lumpy manila envelope that said it contained a bathrobe belt and neckties. Inside were pieces of white and black fabric. Innocence Project lawyers asked a judge to allow the items to be tested, saying the killer’s DNA would have rubbed off on them while the killer was tying up Wright. After the testing, Gates’ lawyers presented evidence at a hearing last year that showed his DNA was not on the items. The Southern Center for Human Rights, along with the Innocence Project, last year argued that Gates was also entitled to a new trial because prosecutors in the judicial circuit where he was tried purposely and systematically excluded black jurors from the trials of black men facing the death penalty in the late 1970s. Gates, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury. The court last year ordered the state to turn over prosecutors’ jury selection notes. Gates’ attorneys discovered that prosecutors had written “W” next to the names of white prospective jurors and “N” next to the names of black prospective jurors and also put dots in the margins next to black prospective jurors’ names, they said in a court filing in March. Black prospective jurors were described in the notes as “slow,” ”old + ignorant,” ”cocky,” ”con artist,” ”hostile” and “fat.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://rogers.janrainsso.com/static/server.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.citynews1130.com%2F2020%2F03%2F13%2Fgeorgias-high-court-rules-dna-evidence-warrants-new-trial%2F
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: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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