Thursday, April 21, 2022

Toforest Johnson: Death Row: Alabama: (Cellmate evidence): A formerChief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court asks the question of the day: "Why is Toforest Johnson still on Alabama's death row?"..."So what was the evidence against Mr. Johnson? There was all too little. There was no physical evidence. No eyewitness testimony. No police confession. The State’s case relied entirely on a woman who said she overheard a three-way jail phone call in which a man who referred to himself as “Toforest” admitted to the crime. This woman had never met Mr. Johnson, and she didn’t know his voice. But her testimony was enough for the jury to convict. It turns out that the woman was paid $5,000 for her testimony after the trial, which was never disclosed to Mr. Johnson or his lawyers. As for Mr. Johnson’s actual whereabouts at the time Deputy Hardy was killed, multiple witnesses have told the District Attorney in Birmingham, Danny Carr, that Mr. Johnson was across town and could not have committed the murder. DA Carr met with these witnesses, and he found them credible. There are other red flags in the case as well. In various court proceedings, the police and prosecutors cycled through alternative theories as to who shot Deputy Hardy. Even after Mr. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death on the theory that he shot Deputy Hardy, the State asserted a completely different theory in a separate case.?


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: What do police informants have to do with forensic science? (I'm glad you asked). Investigative  Reporter Pamela Colloff give us  a clue when she writes: "I’ve wanted to write about jailhouse informants for a long time because they often appear in troubled cases in which the other evidence is weak." That's my experience as  will as a criminal lawyer and an observer of criminal justice. Given the reality that jurors - thanks to the CSI effect - are becoming more and more insistent on the need for there to be forensic evidence, it is becoming more and more common for police to rely on shady tactics such as use of police snitches (paying them for their favourable  testimony occasionally), staging lineups, coercing, inducing, or creating false confessions out of thin air, procuring false eyewitness testimony or concealing exculpatory evidence. 

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;


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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "I commend the District Attorney and the lead trial prosecutor for supporting a new trial instead of defending a flawed conviction.  This type of prosecutorial support for a person on death row is unprecedented to my knowledge, and I think it speaks volumes about the uniqueness of the case and the evidence. Earlier this year, I joined other former Alabama judges in a brief urging the Jefferson County Circuit Court to grant a new trial to Mr. Johnson.   Another brief in support of Mr. Johnson was filed by former Alabama prosecutors, including Bill Baxley, who was instrumental in bringing the death penalty back to Alabama when he served as Attorney General in the 1970s.   As Mr. Baxley has written, “Johnson’s murder trial was so deeply flawed, the evidence presented against him so thin, that no Alabamian should tolerate his incarceration, let alone his execution.” I agree."

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COMMENTARY: "Why is Toforest Johnson still on Alabama's death row?," by Drayton Nabers, Jr., published by The Montgomery Advertiser,  on April 20, 2022. (Drayton Nabers, Jr. served as Chief Justice of Alabama from 2004 to 2006.)


GIST: "As a former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, I believe in our state’s criminal justice system.  It’s not only that we have good laws and a strong framework for seeking justice.  It’s also that the people who lead our system serve with honor and professionalism.  That’s why I’m troubled by this question: Why is Toforest Johnson still on death row?


Mr. Johnson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1998, twenty-four years ago, for the killing of Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy in Birmingham.  But over time, the State’s case has fallen apart, and there’s now substantial evidence that Mr. Johnson is innocent.  Both the District Attorney in Birmingham and the lead prosecutor from Mr. Johnson’s 1998 case support a new trial.  Yet our State continues to defend the conviction, and Mr. Johnson remains on death row.


We trust prosecutors to pursue criminal charges, to resolve cases, to present evidence, and to argue to juries.  If we’re going to do all of that, we also should trust prosecutors when they say that we need to correct a mistake.  And that’s what both the District Attorney and the lead trial prosecutor in Toforest Johnson’s case are saying.


To be clear, I support the death penalty in cases that warrant it.  When I served as Chief Justice, I voted with my colleagues to uphold death sentences.  But supporting the death penalty shouldn’t mean ignoring signs that a person on death row may have been wrongfully convicted.  In fact, it should mean the opposite.  If we’re going to use the power of the state to execute someone, we should do everything possible to make sure that the person had a fair trial and that the evidence proves his guilt.


So what was the evidence against Mr. Johnson?  There was all too little.  There was no physical evidence.  No eyewitness testimony.  No police confession.  The State’s case relied entirely on a woman who said she overheard a three-way jail phone call in which a man who referred to himself as “Toforest” admitted to the crime.  This woman had never met Mr. Johnson, and she didn’t know his voice.  But her testimony was enough for the jury to convict.


It turns out that the woman was paid $5,000 for her testimony after the trial, which was never disclosed to Mr. Johnson or his lawyers.  As for Mr. Johnson’s actual whereabouts at the time Deputy Hardy was killed, multiple witnesses have told the District Attorney in Birmingham, Danny Carr, that Mr. Johnson was across town and could not have committed the murder.  DA Carr met with these witnesses, and he found them credible.

There are other red flags in the case as well.  In various court proceedings, the police and prosecutors cycled through alternative theories as to who shot Deputy Hardy.  Even after Mr. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death on the theory that he shot Deputy Hardy, the State asserted a completely different theory in a separate case.


I commend the District Attorney and the lead trial prosecutor for supporting a new trial instead of defending a flawed conviction.  This type of prosecutorial support for a person on death row is unprecedented to my knowledge, and I think it speaks volumes about the uniqueness of the case and the evidence.


Earlier this year, I joined other former Alabama judges in a brief urging the Jefferson County Circuit Court to grant a new trial to Mr. Johnson.  


Another brief in support of Mr. Johnson was filed by former Alabama prosecutors, including Bill Baxley, who was instrumental in bringing the death penalty back to Alabama when he served as Attorney General in the 1970s.  


As Mr. Baxley has written, “Johnson’s murder trial was so deeply flawed, the evidence presented against him so thin, that no Alabamian should tolerate his incarceration, let alone his execution.” I agree.


I continue to have confidence in our system, so I’m hopeful and optimistic that Mr. Johnson will be given a new trial soon. 


 Then no longer will we ask — in a case in which the evidence is so problematic that even the District Attorney and the trial prosecutor support a new trial — why, after 24 years, is Toforest Johnson still on death row?


The entire story can be read at: 
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinion/2022/04/20/why-toforest-johnson-still-alabamas-death-row/7384281001/

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;



SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:





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;