Tuesday, June 14, 2022

On-going: (Following end of seasonal break): Bulletin: (From our "Better late than never" department: Nairobi, Kenya: A story which makes me wonder how many wrongful convictions there have been in this country before yesterday's launching of a National Forensic Laboratory. As the Capital News reports: “The dream for the country to have a National Forensic facility that would help in solving crime scientifically has been elusive for many years, even after successive governments invested billions of shillings in the project, the DCI stated. A statement on its twitter account indicated that “every attempt was marred by corruption, gobbling up billions of shillings that went to the pockets of a few, thereby killing the dream of Kenyan taxpayers.”


STORY: "DCI National Forensic Lab to be commissioned Monday," published by Capital News, on June 12, 2022. 

GIST: NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 13 – The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) National Forensic Laboratory is set to officially be opened on Monday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will preside over the opening of the at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters which has already started operations.

Officials said it is expected to fast-track investigations of serious crimes including terrorism, murder, robbery with violence, cyber-crime and rape, among others, besides unravelling several cases, some of which had been difficult to crack.

DCI boss George Kinoti termed the developments historic.

“The dream for the country to have a National Forensic facility that would help in solving crime scientifically has been elusive for many years, even after successive governments invested billions of shillings in the project, the DCI stated.

A statement on its twitter account indicated that “every attempt was marred by corruption, gobbling up billions of shillings that went to the pockets of a few, thereby killing the dream of Kenyan taxpayers.”

“The Forensic Laboratory had been identified as a security flagship project under Vision 2030 and was one of the projects to be completed under the 1st Medium Term plan 2008-2012. Despite being classified under the security, peace building and conflict management sector which plays a critical and strategic role in achieving the targets of vision 2030, the project failed to materialize.

Over the last nine years, the government has invested heavily in the construction of the physical structure and installed the relevant state of the art equipment, in the 10 specialized scientific labs.

Qualified detectives in various academic scientific fields such as Computer Science, Pure Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, Physics and Information Technology among others, have been deployed to offer their professional services in their respective areas of specialization.

“This is therefore a historic national achievement that DCI cannot celebrate alone, but with all Kenyans and stakeholders specifically within the criminal justice system. Today, we bring you a comprehensive coverage of the Commissioning of this critical state of the art facility, that is comparable to none in Africa and which is the regional seat of Forensic investigations,” the DCI further stated."


The entire  story can be read at:


/2022/06/dci-national-forensic-lab-to-be-commissioned-monday/


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;