STORY: "Cristhian Bahena Rivera sentencing delayed, court to hear argument on new evidence Thursday," published by 5 News WQAD on July 13, 2021:
SUB-HEADING: "Bahena Rivera was convicted on May 28 of murdering 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts."
GIST: "Sentencing has been delayed for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man found guilty of murdering University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts while she was out for a run in July 2018.
Instead of moving forward with sentencing on Thursday, the court will hear a motion to compel. This means the court is being asked to look at information that relates to the case.
Court documents show Bahena Rivera's defense team filed a motion for a new trial after his attorneys said two unrelated people came forward on the same day, May 26, claiming to know more about Tibbetts' murder.
May 26 was the day Bahena Rivera took the stand in his own defense, detailing a scenario where two masked men forced him to drive them and ultimately placed Tibbetts' body in his trunk.
Bahena Rivera ultimately left her body in a cornfield and later led police to the scene.
Judge Joel Yates has agreed to hear testimony from one of the people who came forward, an inmate from the Mount Pleasant Correctional Center. The date of this testimony is to be determined.
A motion to compel filed Tuesday focuses on a man allegedly involved in a sex trafficking ring in the town of New Sharon.
The defense is asking for the state to produce evidence regarding sex trafficking in Poweshiek County, where the crime happened, as well as pending investigations that involve the inmate's story.
The motion to compel will be addressed Thursday, with a hearing on the motion for new trial and sentencing hearing to be scheduled at later dates."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/local/mollie-tibbetts/cristhian-bahena-rivera-court-hearing-motion-to-compel-death-of-mollie-tibbetts-sentencing-date-continued/524-a4c3cbd7-3c39-490e-b143-50241630148d
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; -----------------------------------------------------------------
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: "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;
