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?")
http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/search?q=%22kevin+cooper%22
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STORY: "Arkansas judge denies Damien Echols' request to conduct new DNA tests on West Memphis Three evidence," by Reporter Lara Farrar, published by The Arkansas Democrat and Gazette, on June 23, 2022.
GIST: "Damien Echols, the highest profile member of the trio that was convicted in one of Arkansas' most notorious murder cases, had petitioned for permission to employ new technology to test for DNA on ligatures found with the three slain boys in a drainage ditch near West Memphis in 1993.
Circuit Judge Tonya Alexander denied Echols' request in a Thursday morning hearing in West Memphis, citing an Arkansas statute that requires those petitioning for new DNA testing to still be in prison.
Echols' attorney, Patrick Benca of Little Rock, said they plan to appeal.
Echols, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, were convicted in 1994 for the killings, spending years in prison until they were granted immediate freedom under a deal known as an Alford Plea, which permitted Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley to maintain their innocence yet plead guilty in exchange for 18-year-sentences and credit for time served.
The three men were released in 2011, and have been working to clear their names since. No DNA evidence ever linked them to the murders of the three 8-year-old boys — Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
Lawyers contend that more advanced genetic testing equipment might detect fragments of DNA that were not detectable when evidence was first examined in the early '90s.
The entire story can be read at:
arkansas-judge-denies-damien-echols-request-to-conduct-new-dna-tests-on-west-memphis-three-evidence
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:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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;
