Ahmaud Arbery: RIP: The failure of local Georgia police to bring to justice the two white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery while he was jogging has put the spotlight on The Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Reporter Akela Lacy's story in The Intercept shows that the GBI has a "mixed record" of its own - especially when it comes to wrongful convictions.

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Perhaps the most troubling of recent examples is the 1999 wrongful indictment of Devonia Inman, whose case is the subject of a podcast and a series of articles by The Intercept’s Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith. Inman has been in prison since the day before his 23rd birthday for the murder of Donna Brown, even though the GBI has matched DNA found at the scene of the crime to another man. The person whose DNA the GBI identified went on to kill at least two other people and is currently serving a federal life sentence without parole.  Like with Arbery, the GBI’s involvement in Inman’s case was initially seen as a step in the right direction."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The failure of local Georgia police to bring to justice the two white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery  while he was jogging has  put the spotlight on  The Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Reporter Akela Lacy's story in The Intercept shows that the GBI has  a "mixed record" of its own - especially when it comes to wrongful convictions. The entire story is well worth the read at the link below. For now, here are  some of the "wrongful convictions' references.

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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STORY: "The troubling history of the Georgia Bureau now investigating the Ahmaud Arbery cover-up, by Reporter Akela lacy, published by The Intercept on May 14, 2020. (Akela Lacy is a politics reporter. She was previously The Intercept’s inaugural Ady Barkan Reporting Fellow; prior to that, she was a politics fellow in the D.C. Bureau. She has also worked at Politico, covering breaking news and immigration.)

GIST: When the  Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced last week that it would be probing the Glynn County Police Department’s dismissal of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, some people breathed a sigh of relief. It was a welcome development after the lynching of a 25-year-old black man, whose white killers had been walking free for 74 days — even though the entire incident was caught on tape.  But those familiar with the GBI responded with warranted skepticism. ............"The GBI has a mixed record in cases involving wrongful convictions, sometimes failing to pursue obvious leads or otherwise mishandling an investigation. In 1979, testimony from a GBI agent helped send John White to prison for a rape, burglary, and robbery that he did not commit. Later, GBI helped with White’s exoneration; he was released in 2007 after serving more than 20 years of a life sentence.  In the case of Kerry Robinson, who was released in January on a wrongful conviction after serving close to 18 years of a 20-year sentence, a GBI DNA analyst provided “inaccurate and overstated testimony,” according to the Georgia Innocence Project. Related:In Georgia’s “Murderville,” Devonia Inman May Finally Have a Chance to Prove His Innocence: Perhaps the most troubling of recent examples is the 1999 wrongful indictment of Devonia Inman, whose case is the subject of a podcast and a series of articles by The Intercept’s Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith. Inman has been in prison since the day before his 23rd birthday for the murder of Donna Brown, even though the GBI has matched DNA found at the scene of the crime to another man. The person whose DNA the GBI identified went on to kill at least two other people and is currently serving a federal life sentence without parole.  Like with Arbery, the GBI’s involvement in Inman’s case was initially seen as a step in the right direction. In the early 2000s, the GBI was ahead of local police regarding access to new DNA technology and “routinely” took over cases in South Georgia’s rural towns, The Intercept reported.  Inman’s is “a story about racism, bad policing, and people who looked the other way,” Segura and Smith say in the “Murderville” podcast. Much of the same can be said of Arbery’s.""

The entire story can be read at:
https://theintercept.com/2020/05/14/georgia-bureau-of-investigation-ahmaud-arbery/

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:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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