BACKGROUND: "Four years after the naked and battered body of Barbara Jean Horn was found in a trash bag in Philadelphia, the police had made no arrests despite having a series of suspects. Ogrod was not considered a suspect in the 1988 murder of 4-year-old Barbara Jean Horn until three years after her body was found. He had no criminal record and didn’t match the physical description of the man seen carrying the box Horn was found in. There were no signs of sexual assault on her body. Ogrod was described by acquaintances as unable to make decisions for himself and easily manipulated due to a mental disability. He confessed to the murder and attempted assault after an unrecorded interrogation by detectives Martin Devlin and Paul Worrell, who obtained false confessions that led to exonerations in at least two other cases. His retrial (the first ended in a mistrial) included a notorious jailhouse informant known as “the Monsignor” due to his apparent knack for hearing confessions. Ogrod was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996. (Patricia) Cummings (Supervisor Conviction Integrity Unit) wrote Saturday that Devlin and Worrell “utilized inherently coercive tactics and inaccurate information to obtain a false and unreliable confession from Ogrod; and jailhouse informants colluded to provide false and unreliable testimony against Ogrod in an effort to procure favorable treatment in their own criminal prosecutions.” No credible evidence remains that can prove Ogrod killed Horn, which means Horn’s real murderer remains unknown and may have committed other crimes, Cummings wrote."
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "According to a press release on June 9, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a report indicating that the state’s death penalty has cost taxpayers close to $1.06 billion between 1978 and 2018. In addition about “half was spent on persons later removed from death row because their sentence or convictions were overturned.”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Pennsylvania has exonerated eight people on death row in recent years. In June, Walter Ogrod was released from prison after 30 years, including 27 on death row, when his conviction and sentence were overturned."
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LETTER TO EDITOR Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, from members of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Pennsylvanians for alternatives to the death penalty, published on July 19, 202, headed 'costly and unjust,' citing the Walter Ogrod case - followed closely by this Blog - as a reminder, "that it is time for Pennsylvanians to abolish the death penalty."
GIST: "Recent reports remind us that it is time for Pennsylvanians to abolish the death penalty. According to a press release on June 9, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a report indicating that the state’s death penalty has cost taxpayers close to $1.06 billion between 1978 and 2018. In addition about “half was spent on persons later removed from death row because their sentence or convictions were overturned.”
The Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission that studied the death penalty for over two years determined in 2018 that “the only certain way to eliminate the risk of condemning and executing a factually innocent person would be to eliminate the sentence and not execute any convict.” All aspects of the use of the death penalty were found to have systemic flaws.
Pennsylvania has exonerated eight people on death row in recent years. In June, Walter Ogrod was released from prison after 30 years, including 27 on death row, when his conviction and sentence were overturned.
There are bipartisan bills in the Pennsylvania Legislature (S.B. 990 and H.B. 2211) that have never been moved out of the judiciary committees for discussion on the floor and a vote.
It is time for the members of the Legislature to be given the opportunity to fully discuss and vote on abolishing the death penalty. We ask that everyone contact their legislators and the committee chairs to demand that these bills be brought to the floor for discussion and a vote before December."
The entire letter can be read at:https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2020/07/19/Costly-and-unjust/stories/202007190071
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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