PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Another important report from the Death Penalty Information Center received the following reaction: “The Death Penalty Information Center’s findings are alarming, but not surprising,” Christina Swarns, Executive Director of the Innocence Project, said. “Racism pervades every stage of the criminal legal system and sends far too many innocent people of color to prison and to the execution chamber. The good news is that more Americans are now taking this issue seriously." You can read the entire report - and summaries of the 11 cases - at the link below. I am focusing my comments on the forensic content of the DPIC report - while stressing how important and disturbing are the other areas covered in the report.
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RELEASE: "Death penalty Information Center (DPIC) adds 11 to innocence list," released by The DPIC on February 18, 2021.
MAJOR THEME: One of the most important themes of the document is that new analysis of death row exonerations is that official misconduct was found to be more likely in cases with innocent Black and Latinx defendants.
FIRST MAJOR THEME OF INTEREST TO THIS BLOG: "Misconduct was present in 85.7 percent of the cases in which DNA evidence contributed to proving a death-row exoneree’s innocence, suggesting that the denial of DNA testing or absence of DNA evidence has caused innocence to be undetected or contributed to the denial of relief in other innocence cases. (At the top of every post on a case where DNA testing is denied, I attach the following note: "WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING; CALIFORNIA: (Applicable wherever a state resists DNA testing): "Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate."...Says Gamso: "So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?"" https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2018/06/kevin-cooper-2-california-application.html
SECOND MAJOR THEME RELEVANT TO THIS BLOG: "False or misleading forensic evidence was present in 31.8 percent (59) of exoneration cases and false or fabricated confessions were implicated in 16.2 percent (30) of exonerations."
THIRD MAJOR THEME RELEVANT TO THIS BLOG: "Many people are fighting to add more names to DPIC’s innocence list", including: (Two cases - both in Shelby County Tennessee - and both being cases which have been followed by this Blog are listed:)
SEDLEY ALLEY: "The daughter of Sedley Alley, who was executed in 2006 after a Shelby County court denied DNA testing based on a case that has since been overturned, is currently petitioning for post-humous DNA testing. Mr. Alley said that he was coerced into falsely confessing to a murder, which is supported by details in his statement that do not match the forensic evidence. An expert in false confessions has concluded that Mr. Alley’s confession was likely false."
PERVIS PAYNE: "In addition, Pervis Payne, a Black man with intellectual disability, has maintained his innocence for 34 years. He was convicted in Shelby County, which has a long history of lynchings and racial terror, after the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence and argued without factual support that Mr. Payne was a drug abusing superpredator looking for a white woman to rape."
IMPLICATIONS: "Kirk Bloodsworth, Executive Director of Witness to Innocence and the first death-row survivor to be exonerated by DNA, said the addition of 11 new people to DPIC’s innocence list makes him certain that “innocent people are still on death row today.”He added, "with such a large number of mistakes uncovered, there's no need to wonder anymore, we can also be sure that innocent people have been executed.”
POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS: "On February 9, 2021, more than 80 criminal justice and civil rights organizations cited DPIC’s innocence list to show “the high propensity for error in our criminal legal system” in calling onPresident Bidento abolish the federal death penalty and to commute the sentences of the 49 federal death-row prisoners."
The entire release can be read at:
https://documents.deathpenaltyinfo.org/pdf/Innocence-Epidemic-Press-Release.pdf
Read DPIC’s Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic here: https://tinyurl.com/356x2feb
Read summaries of the 11 cases here: https://tinyurl.com/4xavzwss
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;
