PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Fogle claims police and the prosecutors conducted a sometimes bizarre and biased investigation that was tailored to link him to the homicide despite lack of solid evidence that he killed the girl, who was beaten, raped and shot in the head. As Judge Paul B. Matey noted in the circuit court’s opinion, the probe of Fogle was grounded in part on a statement a drug-addicted mental patient -who told numerous stories and had previously failed a lie detector test – provided implicating Fogle in the slaying. The patient gave that statement after being hypnotized by an English teacher who had no formal hypnosis training, the judge wrote."
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STORY: "U.S. Court refuses to free ex-DA from lawsuit by Pa. man whose conviction for teen girl's 1976 murder was voided," by Court Reporter Matt Miller, published by The Patriot-News.
GIST: "A federal appeals court refused Tuesday to grant two former county prosecutors “absolute immunity” from a lawsuit by a Pennsylvania man who spent 34 years in prison before his conviction for killing a teenage girl was overturned.
That decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit clears the way for 68-year-old Lewis Fogle to keep seeking financial damages for what he claims was misconduct by ex- Indiana County District Attorney Gregory Olson and his former first assistant William Martin that led to his wrongful conviction for the 1976 murder of 15-year-old Deann “Kathy” Long. Fogle claims police and the prosecutors conducted a sometimes bizarre and biased investigation that was tailored to link him to the homicide despite lack of solid evidence that he killed the girl, who was beaten, raped and shot in the head. As Judge Paul B. Matey noted in the circuit court’s opinion, the probe of Fogle was grounded in part on a statement a drug-addicted mental patient -who told numerous stories and had previously failed a lie detector test – provided implicating Fogle in the slaying. The patient gave that statement after being hypnotized by an English teacher who had no formal hypnosis training, the judge wrote. Matey’s court took on the case after U.S. Western District Judge David S. Cercone refused to grant Olson and Martin absolute immunity from Fogle’s suit based on their status as prosecutors. The circuit judges agreed with Cercone that many of the actions two took during the investigation of Fogle might fall outside that protective shield. In his lawsuit, filed in 2017, Fogle claims police and the prosecutors ignored evidence including descriptions from witnesses, that showed his innocence. Instead he contends they violated his rights by, among other things, coercing and cajoling jailhouse informants and to give false statements saying he had confessed to killing Long. Fogle was the only one of the four men charged in the case to go to trial. Charges against his brother Dennis were dropped after prosecutors waited too long to bring Dennis to trial. The counts against the other two defendants were withdrawn for lack of evidence. A county jury convicted Fogle of second-degree murder in 1982 and he was sentenced to life in prison. He was released in 2015 and his murder conviction was voided after lawyers for the Innocence Project secured testing of DNA evidence found on Long’s corpse. That DNA didn’t match Fogle’s. In refusing to grant the former DAs absolute prosecutorial immunity that would free them from the suit, Matey agreed with Cercone’s conclusion that they don’t deserve it because some of the misconduct alleged by Fogle “was investigative (and) centered on building a case that consistently lacked probable cause.” He sent the case back to Cercone to consider the merits of Fogle’s claims. “Our decision offers little to celebrate,” Matey wrote. “Lewis Fogle can move forward with some, but not all, of the allegations in his complaint against the prosecutors. The prosecutors must explain some, but not all, of their choices. And decades later, answers and earthly peace still elude Deann “Kathy” Long and her grieving family.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/04/us-court-refuses-to-free-ex-da-from-lawsuit-by-pa-man-whose-conviction-for-teen-girls-1976-murder-was-voided.html
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;
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/04/us-court-refuses-to-free-ex-da-from-lawsuit-by-pa-man-whose-conviction-for-teen-girls-1976-murder-was-voided.html
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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