Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Kathleen Folbigg: Australia: Bulletin: (Major (Unwelcome) Development: Setback: Appeal court turns her down (on technical grounds without considering the new scientific evidence of her innocence) - and her followers say the decision has strengthened their resolve..."Many international eyes are now on this case and certainly, many more Australian's are rightly asking why Kath's still in prison after 18 years when there's mounting scientific evidence relating to her innocence. "Today's decision went against Kath, but it only strengthens our resolve to keep going until the truth is self evident. We will never give up."


QUOTE OF THE DAY" "Child and public health researcher Professor Fiona Stanley added: "It is deeply concerning that medical and scientific evidence has been ignored, in preference of circumstantial evidence. We now have an alternative explanation for the death of the Folbigg children." Our fight for justice continues and the scientific evidence to support our case continues to grow."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "As the BBC noted recently: "If Folbigg is freed and her convictions are overturned, her ordeal will be seen as the worst miscarriage of justice in Australia's history - worse even than the case of Lindy Chamberlain, who served three years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering her baby, Azaria, at Uluru."..."The science in this case is compelling and cannot be ignored," said human geneticist and researcher Professor Jozef Gecz.

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STATEMENT: "Today's decision strengthens our resolve," published by 'Justice for Kathleen Folbigg' on March 24, 2021.

GIST: "Disappointingly, the Court of Appeal in NSW has announced that it found there was no legal error in last year's inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg's conviction, led by former judge the Hon R O Blanch AM QC.

The inquiry sought to establish whether there was a reasonable doubt as to Kathleen Folbigg's guilt.

Despite the finding, Kathleen's supporters remain steadfast in their commitment to fight for her to be pardoned.

"This was a civil proceeding, quite separate from the pardon petition signed by 90 scientists," said Kathleen's friend Tracy Chapman.

The inquiry heard scientific evidence of research undertaken since the convictions, connecting a genetic abnormality common to Kathleen and her two girls with cardiac conditions.

According to the Court: "Neither this nor other medical evidence was found to have raised a reasonable doubt as to guilt. The Court was not entitled to reassess the findings of fact made by the former judge. Its role was confined to determining if there had been legal error. The Court held that the former judge had applied the correct legal test to the evidence and followed fair procedures in holding hearings and preparing his 500 page report."

Tracy and Kathleen released a joint statement saying: "We're content that we respectfully challenged the system - as is our legal right. You don't always win in the manner you expect. There's a lot of value in learning from the experience, whether you win or lose. You have to give it a go, or the system isn't being utilised effectively.

"Today wasn't our day to successfully take Judge Blanch to task in relation to the way he conducted the 2019 inquiry and his findings, but it has got many more people looking at this important case now than ever before, and many more people are starting to ask valuable questions about how we got here.

"Many international eyes are now on this case and certainly, many more Australian's are rightly asking why Kath's still in prison after 18 years when there's mounting scientific evidence relating to her innocence.

"Today's decision went against Kath, but it only strengthens our resolve to keep going until the truth is self evident. We will never give up."

As the BBC noted recently: "If Folbigg is freed and her convictions are overturned, her ordeal will be seen as the worst miscarriage of justice in Australia's history - worse even than the case of Lindy Chamberlain, who served three years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering her baby, Azaria, at Uluru."
"The science in this case is compelling and cannot be ignored," said human geneticist and researcher Professor Jozef Gecz.

Child and public health researcher Professor Fiona Stanley added: "It is deeply concerning that medical and scientific evidence has been ignored, in preference of circumstantial evidence. We now have an alternative explanation for the death of the Folbigg children."

Our fight for justice continues and the scientific evidence to support our case continues to grow.

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Read the judgment here: https://bit.ly/2P1sgG3

Summary: https://bit.ly/3vMWNrE

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The entire statement can be read at:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/folbigg/FMfcgxwLtGhBzKnkXzFstlQSjBLBxFst


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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FINAL, FINAL WORD (FOR NOW!): "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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