Ramiro Gonzales: Texas: Major (Very Welcome) Development. He was supposed to be executed on Wednesday, but that won't happen - thanks to reporters Maurice Chammah and Keri Blakinger of the Marshall Project who broke the news that the psychiatrist who predicted that Gonzalez could be dangerous in the future - testimony instrumental in his being sentenced to death - had changed his mind and told the courts that Gonzalez isn't dangerous at all. (Raising questions about why Texas relies on such predictions in the first place.) Chammah and Blakinger told readers about this extraordinary development in the following letter: (Kudos to them - and the Marshall Project - for this phenomenal reporting. HL...."Hours after our story was published today, a Texas court ruled on Gonzales' appeal and halted his execution. Judges instructed a lower court to examine the psychiatrist's testimony, specifically his claim — now thoroughly debunked, which he acknowledges — that people who commit sexual assault are especially likely to repeat their crimes."

LETTER TO READERS:  (July 11, 2022): "Dear Reader,

Until this afternoon, Texas was planning to execute Ramiro Gonzales for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a fellow teenager, Bridget Townsend, in 2001.

The Marshall Project isn't usually a breaking news outlet. But with our focus on the death penalty, sometimes people come to us with tips that can't wait. This was one. We learned that at Gonzales' trial, a psychiatrist named Edward Gripon predicted he could be dangerous in the future. His testimony was instrumental in sending the young man to death row.

But with Wednesday's execution approaching, Gripon changed his mind and told the courts that Gonzales isn't dangerous after all — raising questions about why Texas relies on such predictions in the first place.

One of us (Maurice) had dug into the story of how such predictions ended up in Texas courtrooms for his book. He tracked down the psychiatrist. The other (Keri) has deep experience interviewing men on death row, drawing on her own incarceration. She met with Gonzales.

Hours after our story was published today, a Texas court ruled on Gonzales' appeal and halted his execution. Judges instructed a lower court to examine the psychiatrist's testimony, specifically his claim — now thoroughly debunked, which he acknowledges — that people who commit sexual assault are especially likely to repeat their crimes.

The reprieve also gives Gonzales time for a surprising pursuit: He wants to donate his kidney. After their interview, Keri posted about this to TikTok, and his lawyers received messages from around the world. A woman with a rare blood type could be saved by Gonzales' donation.

We'll follow how this plays out. If you want to keep up with the Gonzales case and other U.S. death penalty developments, please follow us on Twitter: @marshallproj, @MauriceChammah and @keribla.

Thanks for reading."

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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;

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FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WORD: "It is incredibly easy to convict an innocent person, but it's exceedingly difficult to undo such a devastating injustice. 

Jennifer Givens: DirectorL UVA Innocence Project.