BACKGROUND: "On July 18, 2009, newsagent Min Lin, 45, Mr Lin’s wife Yun Li “Lily” Lin, 44, their sons Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, and Mrs Lin’s sister, Yun Bin “Irene” Lin, 39, are found dead in their North Epping home. Police investigations over the next six months fail to find clues or culprits. In January 2010, police set up surveillance on Robert Xie: cameras and listening devices installed in his house and car. Still nothing. On May 5, 2011, Robert Xie is arrested and charged with five counts of murder. There was no direct evidence that Robert Xie viciously murdered the five members of his wife’s family nor any credible circumstantial evidence. In the absence of any durable evidence that pointed to Robert Xie, the police exhibited tunnel vision to focus on Xie. The prosecution continued the process and made much of a DNA sample (‘stain 91’) taken from the Xie family home garage floor, 200 metres from the Lin family’s house, the scene of the murders. Expert witnesses provided extensive but conflicting testimony, and in the end, none of them could exclude young Brenda Lin from the DNA sample; but Brenda was overseas on a school excursion at the time of the murders. In stain91 six profiles were found with scores exceeding 4000; they were the six members of the family – yet there were only 5 victims. Since Brenda was out of the country at the time, it is virtually impossible for the DNA in stain91 to have originated from the crime scene. The appeal against his 2017 conviction has been delayed by the Crown, most recently in October 2019 and is expected to be heard in 2020."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Monday, the fifth hearing day, Mr Quilter said the murder weapon was never located by police nor seen by any witness. But at trial the Crown successfully applied to adduce "coincidence evidence" asserting similarities between a piece of blood-soaked cloth found in one of the bedrooms, and a folded towel on a homemade massage device found at Xie's home in May 2010. The Crown had contended the murders were committed with a hammer-like implement and that the blood-soaked piece of cloth was at one time secured to the head of the implement with a red rubber band. The massage device featured towelling which was folded over a protruding bolt and secured in place with a red rubber band. Mr Quilter said while the defence agreed Xie constructed the massage device, it very much disputed he constructed a murder weapon. "If the applicant's construction of the massage device, through tendency or coincidence reasoning, was admissible to prove that he affixed the piece of cloth to the murder weapon, then this would be evidence that the applicant committed the murders," Mr Quilter said. The defence argued there was no proper foundation for an inference that the piece of cloth was attached to the murder weapon. Further, the fundamentally different purposes of the two objects - the massage device had a remedial purpose, while the hypothesised murder weapon was used to inflict harm - reduced "the probative value of the coincidence evidence", Mr Quilter said. He said different types of fabric, which were different sizes, were used in the two objects and no meaningful comparison was able to be made of the two rubber bands, other than they were both red. The cloth found at the crime scene had been folded twice, while the hand towel on the massage device was folded at least three times."
STORY: "Sydney family killer's appeal continues," by Associated Press Reporter Margaret Scheikowski, published by The Associated Press on June 29, 2020.
GIST: "Evidence related to a possible murder weapon shouldn't have been put before the jury at the trial of Robert Xie, who was convicted of bludgeoning five relatives to death, his appeal has been told.
The trial judge erred in admitting "coincidence" evidence in relation to a folded, blood-soaked piece of cloth found at the crime scene and a "massage device" found at Xie's home, his barrister Tom Quilter said.
After four trials, Xie was found guilty in 2017 of murdering three adults and two children in the bedrooms of their Sydney home in the early hours of July 18, 2009.
Xie's newsagent brother-in-law Min Lin, 45, his wife Lily Lin, 43, the couple's sons Henry, 12, and nine-year-old Terry, and Lily's 39-year-old sister, Irene, suffered horrific head injuries when they were attacked with what the Crown contended to be a hammer like object attached to a rope.
The now 56-year-old Xie is behind bars for the rest of his life and is appealing his convictions on seven grounds in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.
On Monday, the fifth hearing day, Mr Quilter said the murder weapon was never located by police nor seen by any witness.
But at trial the Crown successfully applied to adduce "coincidence evidence" asserting similarities between a piece of blood-soaked cloth found in one of the bedrooms, and a folded towel on a homemade massage device found at Xie's home in May 2010.
The Crown had contended the murders were committed with a hammer-like implement and that the blood-soaked piece of cloth was at one time secured to the head of the implement with a red rubber band.
The massage device featured towelling which was folded over a protruding bolt and secured in place with a red rubber band.
Mr Quilter said while the defence agreed Xie constructed the massage device, it very much disputed he constructed a murder weapon.
"If the applicant's construction of the massage device, through tendency or coincidence reasoning, was admissible to prove that he affixed the piece of cloth to the murder weapon, then this would be evidence that the applicant committed the murders," Mr Quilter said.
The defence argued there was no proper foundation for an inference that the piece of cloth was attached to the murder weapon.
Further, the fundamentally different purposes of the two objects - the massage device had a remedial purpose, while the hypothesised murder weapon was used to inflict harm - reduced "the probative value of the coincidence evidence", Mr Quilter said.
He said different types of fabric, which were different sizes, were used in the two objects and no meaningful comparison was able to be made of the two rubber bands, other than they were both red.
The cloth found at the crime scene had been folded twice, while the hand towel on the massage device was folded at least three times.
The appeal is continuing."
The entire story can be read at:
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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