Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Robert Roberson: Death Row; Texas; Shaken baby syndrome: New trial? Exclusive interview: Fighting for a new trial," he says he is innocent," KLTV (Reporter Julian Esparza) reports, on August 9, 2022..."Prosecutors argued Nikki’s death could have been the result of frequent shaking – a phenomenon known as Shaken Baby Syndrome. According to the Centers for Disease Control, violent shaking of an infant or young child can result in loss of consciousness, blindness, and even death. Over the last few years in courtrooms across the country, attorneys and judges alike have questioned the legitimacy of the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory. It was described to the jury as a possible cause of Nikki’s death. “At the time of trial, the Shaken Baby Syndrome was seen as orthodoxy. It was kind of universally accepted even though there had started to be challenges by people that were saying what really is the science underlying this? But reading it in 2016, it was shocking to see that no one was questioning this hypothesis at all,” (Roberson's attorney) Sween said."



PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  "In June 2016, Roberson was scheduled to be executed, but that was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after his attorney argued “junk science” related to Shaken Baby Syndrome is no longer accepted by medical experts like it was back in 2003. “And the idea was if any infant, and then it became extended to children, came into the hospital and that condition was observed, then it was seen as, oh, this is proof of child abuse,” Sween said. If not the result of abuse, what did cause Nikki’s head injuries? Sween says it was likely the effect of oxygen deprivation caused by a recent bout with pneumonia. “It sounds so complicated, but it’s kind of simple. If you cease breathing, and you’ve had even the smallest subdural bleed, and these things are not uncommon, you cease breathing and then someone revives you, in other words, they revive the respiratory function and the circulatory function, but your brain was already dead, all you’re gonna get is blood accumulating inside the head and that is what was seen at the autopsy,” Sween said."

STORY: "East Texas death row inmate fighting for new trial says he is innocent," by Reporter Julian Esparza) published by KLTV, on August 9, 2022.

SUB-HEADING: "I thought I was going to get off because I didn't do nothing," Roberson said."

GIST:  In an exclusive interview with KLTV 7, Texas Death Row inmate Robert Roberson says he is innocent and did not kill his daughter, Nikki Curtis.


Roberson’s sentence stems from events that unfolded on January 31, 2002, when Roberson says Nikki was sleeping in his bed. At one point during the night, Roberson says he found Nikki had fallen onto the floor.


“I can’t tell you what happened, because I don’t know,” Roberson said. “We went to bed that night and I’m not sure exactly what time it was exactly, you know, and when I had woke up I found her on the floor, you know, and how did she get on the floor? I don’t know.”


Roberson says Nikki appeared to be okay after he discovered her lying on the floor.


“Her heart was beating, and at the time she acted like she was alright and stuff and so we stayed up a bit and then finally dozed back off,” Roberson said.


But when he woke up later, Roberson says he discovered Nikki wasn’t breathing. He put her in the car and headed for Palestine Regional Medical Center.

“I was scared, didn’t know what was wrong with her,” Roberson said.


As they worked to revive Nikki, nurses noticed bruises on her body and head. They immediately questioned Roberson’s claim that they were the result of a fall. Child abuse was suspected, and Palestine police were called.


“I know it looks bad, I understand it looks bad, because I was the only one that was there at the time,” Roberson said.


Suspicion grew when nurses say Roberson didn’t appear to be showing emotion while at the hospital.


Julian Esparza: “Were you upset at that time?”

Robert Roberson: “Yes, I was upset. I’m still upset because over these years, I’ve been the victim too, you know, because that’s my little girl, you know.”


Police didn’t buy it. Roberson was arrested and taken to jail. Meanwhile, Nikki was flown to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas – where she was pronounced dead on February 1, 2002.



“And so the autopsy was done in the you know shadow that there had already been abuse allegations and Robert was arrested before the results of the autopsy came back but everything was very fast, jumped to abuse, and that would never fly today at a trial,” Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said.


A year goes by, and the trial begins. Roberson pleads not guilty. 


Focusing largely on medical testimony, the prosecution argued it was impossible for Nikki’s injuries to the result of a short fall from the bed – and her death was instead the result of abuse. Additionally, Roberson was accused of sexually assaulting Nikki, but those charges were later dropped.


“All the doctors and police, just ‘cause little girl had a knot on her head and stuff, you know, bruise, they figure, ‘he did it,’” Roberson said.


Prosecutors argued Nikki’s death could have been the result of frequent shaking – a phenomenon known as Shaken Baby Syndrome. According to the Centers for Disease Control, violent shaking of an infant or young child can result in loss of consciousness, blindness, and even death. 


Over the last few years in courtrooms across the country, attorneys and judges alike have questioned the legitimacy of the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory. It was described to the jury as a possible cause of Nikki’s death.


“At the time of trial, the Shaken Baby Syndrome was seen as orthodoxy. It was kind of universally accepted even though there had started to be challenges by people that were saying what really is the science underlying this? But reading it in 2016, it was shocking to see that no one was questioning this hypothesis at all,” Sween said.


In this case, Sween says Nikki did not have injuries to her neck – something she says would be present if she was violently shaken. What Nikki did have was a so-called “goose egg” on her head – along with subdural bleeding and brain swelling. Roberson says he did not cause those injuries.


“I never did hit Nikki,” Roberson said.


The jury didn’t buy it. Roberson was found guilty and sentenced to death.


“I thought I was going to get off because I knew I didn’t do nothing,” Roberson said.


Today, Roberson is incarcerated at the Allan B. Polunsky unit in Livingston – along with the nearly 200 men who have been sentenced to death in Texas.


In June 2016, Roberson was scheduled to be executed, but that was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after his attorney argued “junk science” related to Shaken Baby Syndrome is no longer accepted by medical experts like it was back in 2003.


“And the idea was if any infant, and then it became extended to children, came into the hospital and that condition was observed, then it was seen as, oh, this is proof of child abuse,” Sween said.


If not the result of abuse, what did cause Nikki’s head injuries? Sween says it was likely the effect of oxygen deprivation caused by a recent bout with pneumonia.


“It sounds so complicated, but it’s kind of simple. If you cease breathing, and you’ve had even the smallest subdural bleed, and these things are not uncommon, you cease breathing and then someone revives you, in other words, they revive the respiratory function and the circulatory function, but your brain was already dead, all you’re gonna get is blood accumulating inside the head and that is what was seen at the autopsy,” Sween said.


Roberson was back in an Anderson County courtroom in January 2022 in hopes of being granted a new trial.


 His lawyer Gretchen Sween once again made the case that Roberson did not kill Nikki. Prosecutors – pushing back – saying the original verdict was correct.


“Most of their scientific evidence is not new. Nothing. Not the pneumonia, not the injuries,” Anderson County First Assistant Criminal District Attorney Scott Holden said at the hearing in January 2022.


After closing arguments, Judge Deborah Evans was tasked with deciding whether to recommend a new trial for Roberson to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.


 Ultimately, Judge Evans recommended against a new trial.


 Now, it’s up to the Court of Criminal Appeals to make a final decision on whether Roberson will be granted a new trial.


Julian Esparza: “Do you think if you got a new trial, things would things be different?”


Robert Roberson: “I believe so. I believe so.”


In the two decades he’s spent behind prison walls — Roberson says he’s changed. He says he’s become closer to God and even got married


“She’s from Germany and stuff, you know, she’s about four and a half, five years older than me. She’s real supportive,” Roberson said.


In the meantime, all Roberson can do is wait as he hopes to get off death row.

Julian Esparza: “Are you afraid of dying?”



Robert Roberson: “I don’t want to die but I’m not afraid of dying.”


Julian Esparza: “Why?”


Robert Roberson: “Why? I know I’m going to heaven. Because after I die, nobody can hurt me no more,” Roberson said.


For more information on Robert Roberson’s case, click here."


The entire story can be  read at:


https://www.kltv.com/2022/08/10/east-texas-death-row-inmate-fighting-new-trial-says-he-is-innocent/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

—————————————————————————————————

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;

Monday, August 29, 2022

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy: Massachusetts; From our 'Judges just doing their job - even when the case involves seven dead motorcyclists ' - department..."During opening statements in the trial of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, the jury heard that he had ingested drugs and the president of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club had been drinking beer before the June 2019 crash in which he and six other members were killed. But by the time jurors began deliberations on Tuesday, (August 9, 2022) the judge had dismissed charges that Zhukovskyy, 26, was intoxicated at the time of the crash and instructed them not to consider evidence about his drug consumption or possible impairment. A few hours later, the jury acquitted the commercial truck driver in the head-on collision, stirring outrage and placing scrutiny on Superior Court Judge Peter H. Bornstein’s ruling that there was “simply insufficient evidence” for a jury to find Zhukovskyy was impaired by drugs he consumed roughly 10½ hours before the crash. On Wednesday, (August 10, 2022) legal specialists backed Bornstein’s finding," The Boston Glob (Reporters Travis Anderson and Laura Crimaldi) reports.


PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On the morning of the June 21, 2019 crash, Zhukovskyy consumed heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine at his home in West Springfield, Mass., and then went to work driving a truck to New York and New Hampshire for Westfield Transport, prosecutors said.  Zhukovskyy’s lawyers acknowledged his drug consumption but maintained there was no evidence that he was impaired when the crash occurred at about 6:30 p.m. His defense centered on evidence that the motorcyclist leading the pack, Albert Mazza Jr., 59, had been drinking beer before getting on the road and lost control of his motorcycle, causing the collision. Mazza’s blood alcohol level was .135, well over the legal driving limit of .08, according to court testimony."


----------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Legal experts react to acquittal of Mass. truck driver involved in crash that killed seven motorcyclists, by Reporters Travis Anderson and Laura Crimaldi, published by The Boston Globe on August 10, 2022.


PHOTO CAPTION: "Volodymyr Zhukovskyy reacted as he was found not guilty in the deaths of seven motorcycle club members in a 2019 crash."


GIST: "During opening statements in the trial of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, the jury heard that he had ingested drugs and the president of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club had been drinking beer before the June 2019 crash in which he and six other members were killed.


But by the time jurors began deliberations on Tuesday, the judge had dismissed charges that Zhukovskyy, 26, was intoxicated at the time of the crash and instructed them not to consider evidence about his drug consumption or possible impairment.


A few hours later, the jury acquitted the commercial truck driver in the head-on collision, stirring outrage and placing scrutiny on Superior Court Judge Peter H. Bornstein’s ruling that there was “simply insufficient evidence” for a jury to find Zhukovskyy was impaired by drugs he consumed roughly 10½ hours before the crash. On Wednesday, legal specialists backed Bornstein’s finding.


“That’s a rational decision,” said Buzz Scherr, a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law, “Think about if you got drunk and went to bed at midnight, what was your intoxication level at 10:30 [a.m.] the next day? If you think about it that way, it makes a lot of sense that he would exclude it.”


On the morning of the June 21, 2019 crash, Zhukovskyy consumed heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine at his home in West Springfield, Mass., and then went to work driving a truck to New York and New Hampshire for Westfield Transport, prosecutors said. 


Zhukovskyy’s lawyers acknowledged his drug consumption but maintained there was no evidence that he was impaired when the crash occurred at about 6:30 p.m.


His defense centered on evidence that the motorcyclist leading the pack, Albert Mazza Jr., 59, had been drinking beer before getting on the road and lost control of his motorcycle, causing the collision. Mazza’s blood alcohol level was .135, well over the legal driving limit of .08, according to court testimony.


Manny Ribeiro, a Pembroke resident who was riding alongside Mazza before the crash, said Wednesday he can’t make sense of why the jury could consider his friend’s alcohol consumption but not Zhukovskyy’s drug use.


“There’s no accountability here. Nothing. Zero. Seven people died and no one is going to be accountable except for [Mazza] ... It’s his fault Well, it’s not,” said Ribeiro, who became president of the motorcycle club after Mazza died. He is no longer a member of the group, made up of Marine veterans.


Ribeiro said he was subpoenaed as a witness but was not called to testify. He was in Coös County Superior Court in Lancaster, N.H., Tuesday afternoon when Zhukovskyy was acquitted.


“I’m still in shock,” he said.


During closing arguments, Zhukovskyy’s lawyers said prosecutors were ignoring the findings of a New Hampshire State Police accident reconstruction unit that contradicted the government’s theory that Zhukovskyy crossed into the oncoming lane. 


A defense expert testified that the crash happened on the center line and would have occurred even if the truck had been in the middle of its lane because Mazza’s motorcycle was heading in that direction.


Testimony from two members of that reconstruction team was key to the verdict, legal experts said.


Patricia M. LaFrance, a former New Hampshire prosecutor, said by e-mail that members of an accident reconstruction team are typically called to testify by prosecutors. In this case, they were called by the defense.


“The fact that the State did not call them is significant because it means they did not have testimony that would help the State prove its case,” said LaFrance, a partner at the Black Law Group in Nashua, N.H.


Zhukovskyy’s public defenders declined to comment on Wednesday.


Michael J. Iacopino, a Manchester, N.H. criminal lawyer and president of the board of directors for the state’s nonprofit public defender program, said the verdict demonstrates the importance of effective representation for indigent defendants.

“In a lot of places that don’t have well-trained public defenders, Mr. Zhukovskyy would be serving a life sentence right now,” he said.


The verdict was at odds with findings from the National Transportation Safety Board, which in 2020 concluded that Zhukovskyy’s drug use was the “probable cause” of him crossing the centerline of the highway and causing the collision.


The board concluded that while some of the motorcyclists were impaired by alcohol, their intoxication didn’t cause the crash.


But LaFrance said quashing the evidence of Zhukovskyy’s drug use and dropping the impaired driving charges wasn’t surprising. LaFrance cited the state’s lack of scientific evidence suggesting Zhukovskyy was impaired at the time of the crash, as well as the “admissions that he had consumed drugs a lot earlier in the day.”


“In this situation, it was the judge’s conclusion that the State did not present enough evidence to prove that Zhukovskyy was impaired at the time of the crash,” she said.


Mark J. Geragos, a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer, said the judge’s decision appeared correct based on the “time that elapsed between ingestion and time of crash and the observations of the law enforcement officers who met the accused immediately after the crash and didn’t detect impairment.”


Scherr said the verdict doesn’t necessarily mean jurors fully believed the testimony about Mazza, he said.


“If it’s ‘Hey, we’re conflicted whether to believe this person on where the lead [motorcyclist] was or to believe this person about it,’ ... they’ve got to acquit him,” Scherr said.


After his acquittal, Zhukovskyy was taken into the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency spokesman said. A native of Ukraine, Zhukovskyy has permanent resident status in the United States, although federal officials filed a detainer for his deportation in 2019, citing his previous convictions in unrelated criminal cases.


In March, the federal government made Ukrainian nationals eligible for temporary protected status to shield them from deportation in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."


The entire story can be read at:


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/09/metro/jury-hears-closing-arguments-trial-mass-truck-driver-charged-with-manslaughter-nh/

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;

—————————————————————————————————

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;


Sunday, August 28, 2022

Pervis Payne: Tennessee: From our 'Poetic Justice' department: Shelby County Voters have voted to oust District Attorney General Amy Weirich, the prosecutor did her best to block DNA testing Pervis Payne, and fought fervently to execute him, the Death Penalty Information Centre reports, in what the Center calls, "a stunning rebuke."..."Weirich also faced a backlash from community activists for trying to block DNA testing for Shelby County death-row prisoner Pervis Payne and opposing efforts to overturn Payne’s death sentence because of intellectual disability. After Weirich asked a Shelby County court to deny DNA testing in August 2020, Church of God in Christ Bishop Brandon Porter warned that voters would remember her decision on election day. “[I]f you don’t hear us now, you’ll hear us later,” he said."


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?") 


-----------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Weirich was appointed to the top prosecutor position in 2011, winning election in 2012 and reelection to a full eight-year term in 2014. During her tenure as district attorney, she was reprimanded for her previous conduct in a murder prosecution, including withholding information and making comments that the Tennessee Supreme Court found were “off limits to any conscientious prosecutor.” A 2017 report by the Harvard-based Fair Punishment Project highlighted Shelby County for its pattern of repeated misconduct in death penalty cases. Weirich also has been sharply criticized for her handling of Payne’s case, including allegations of race-baiting and suppressing exculpatory evidence."

PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Payne has consistently maintained his innocence in the murder of a young white mother, Charisse Christopher, and her two-year-old daughter. He was convicted in a racially charged trial in which Shelby County prosecutors asserted, without evidence, that he was a young Black man on drugs who stabbed Christopher to death after she spurned his sexual advances. DNA testing of evidence that had been withheld from the defense found the presence of an unidentified male’s DNA on the handle of the murder weapon. Despite a bloody crime in which the victims collectively were stabbed more than 80 times, Payne’s DNA was not present on the handle of the weapon. Weirich spent years seeking Payne’s execution, until in November 2021, her office withdrew its motioncontesting Payne’s intellectual disability claim."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

ENTRY: "Shelby County Voters Oust Prosecutor Who Sought to Execute Pervis Payne," published by  The  Death Penalty Information Center.

GIST: "Tennessee voters have issued a stunning rebuke to controversial Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich(pictured), ousting her from office after an eleven-year tenure marred by charges of racism and misconduct. 

In an August 4, 2022 election viewed as a major victory for criminal justice reform advocates, voters ended Weirich’s bid for a new eight-year term as county prosecutor, replacing her with University of Memphis law professor and former county commissioner, Steve Mulroy. Unofficial returns showed Mulroy, a Democrat, receiving 56.1% of the 133,522 ballots cast in the election, to Republican Weirich’s 43.9%. 


Weirich’s campaign had touted what it called her “tough on crime” policies, highlighting her support of “truth in sentencing” laws that eliminate parole for certain crimes. She faced strong community opposition for prosecuting and obtaining a six-year prison sentence for Pamela Moses for alleged voter fraud, after Moses’s probation officer had advised her that she was eligible to have her right to vote restored following a prior felony conviction. 


Mulroy, a voting rights activist who previously served as a civil rights lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice, gained wide community support by focusing on policy changes, police accountability, diversity, and violence prevention.


Weirich also faced a backlash from community activists for trying to block DNA testing for Shelby County death-row prisoner Pervis Payne and opposing efforts to overturn Payne’s death sentence because of intellectual disability. After Weirich asked a Shelby County court to deny DNA testing in August 2020, Church of God in Christ Bishop Brandon Porter warned that voters would remember her decision on election day. “[I]f you don’t hear us now, you’ll hear us later,” he said.


Weirich continued to fight giving Payne his day in court on his claim of intellectual disability. But when the trial court set a hearing date on his claim, Weirich conceded that she had no evidentiary basis to oppose vacating his death sentence. 


Weirich was appointed to the top prosecutor position in 2011, winning election in 2012 and reelection to a full eight-year term in 2014. During her tenure as district attorney, she was reprimanded for her previous conduct in a murder prosecution, including withholding information and making comments that the Tennessee Supreme Court found were “off limits to any conscientious prosecutor.” 


A 2017 report by the Harvard-based Fair Punishment Project highlighted Shelby County for its pattern of repeated misconduct in death penalty cases. Weirich also has been sharply criticized for her handling of Payne’s case, including allegations of race-baiting and suppressing exculpatory evidence.


Payne has consistently maintained his innocence in the murder of a young white mother, Charisse Christopher, and her two-year-old daughter. He was convicted in a racially charged trial in which Shelby County prosecutors asserted, without evidence, that he was a young Black man on drugs who stabbed Christopher to death after she spurned his sexual advances. DNA testing of evidence that had been withheld from the defense found the presence of an unidentified male’s DNA on the handle of the murder weapon. Despite a bloody crime in which the victims collectively were stabbed more than 80 times, Payne’s DNA was not present on the handle of the weapon.


Weirich spent years seeking Payne’s execution, until in November 2021, her office withdrew its motioncontesting Payne’s intellectual disability claim. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginiain 2002 that the death penalty was an unconstitutionally disproportionate punishment for individuals with intellectual disability.


 Payne had repeatedly attempted to obtain judicial review of his intellectual disability claim, but Tennessee courts held that state law provided no mechanism to raise the issue for prisoners whose death sentences had already been upheld on appeal before Atkins was decided. 


In April 2021, Payne’s supporters succeeded in passing a new law allowing such claims. 

After Weirich’s office conceded his entitlement to relief, Payne was resentenced to two concurrent life sentences, making him eligible for parole after 34 years on death row. However, his attorney, assistant federal defender Kelley Henry vowed that the defense team “will not stop until we have uncovered the proof which will exonerate Pervis and release him from prison.” 


Mulroy is the first Democrat to be elected District Attorney of Shelby County, the largest county in Tennessee. While campaigning, Mulroy said his first priorities as District Attorney would be to diversify the office, create a conviction review unit, and evaluate bail procedures. With his election, Democrats or the first time in Shelby County history will hold all county-wide offices. 


https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/shelby-county-voters-oust-prosecutor-who-sought-to-execute-pervis-payne

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Newly discovered (by me) resource!: FIU (Florida International University) Forensic Library on-line site: Worth checking out! HL: (I am receiving a FIU email containing links to an array of articles on different aspects of forensic science - including the criminal justice system. (HL);


RELEASE: 'The FIU  (Florida International University) Research Forensic Library is Open!) released by Chyanne Flores on August 8, 2022.

GIST: "Florida International University has a forensic library that allows anyone to access full-text scientific articles on various forensic disciplines. This is great for understanding forensics-based issues in a case, updating your knowledge on recent developments, or even just learning more about forensic science for future use. You can also sign up for their email list for daily updates! Click here to check it out."

Read the entire release at:

https://forensicresources.org/2022/the-fiu-research-forensic-library-is-open/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fiu-research-forensic-library-is-open

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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;

—————————————————————————————————

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;

Friday, August 26, 2022

Criminalizing Reproduction: Guardian (Reporter Johana Bhuiyan) reports how a mother and daughter came to face abortion charges after Facebook gave police their private data - and how "Experts say it underscores the importance of encryption and minimizing the amount of user data tech companies can store."..."When a Facebook staffer posed the dilemma to the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, asking how the platform would protect the user data of individuals seeking abortion care, Zuckerberg said the company’s ongoing push to encrypt messaging would help protect people from “bad behavior or over-broad requests for information”. But when local Nebraska police came knocking in June – before Roe v Wade was officially overturned – Facebook handed the user data of a mother and daughter facing criminal charges for allegedly carrying out an illegal abortion. Private messages between the two discussing how to obtain abortion pills were given to police by Facebook, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The 17-year-old, reports say, was more than 20 weeks pregnant. In Nebraska, abortions are banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The teenager is now being tried as an adult. Court documents filed in June and made public on Tuesday show how tech companies including Facebook contribute to criminal prosecutions of abortion cases. Experts say it also shows the importance of encryption and minimizing the amount of data Facebook stores on its users."


CRIMINALIZING REPRODUCTION: (Attacks on Science, Medicine and the Right To Choose):In recent years, I have taken on the  theme of criminalizing reproduction - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with  flawed science in its myriad forms  - as I am utterly opposed to the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) embodied by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning women and their physicians and others who help them secure a safe abortion,  on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). I can’t remember the source, but agree  totally with the sentiment that control over their reproductive lives is far too important to women in America - or anywhere else -  so they can  participate  equally in the economic and social life of their nations without fear for  loss their freedom at the hands of political opportunists and fanatics. (Far too many of those those around these days.) 

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "The affidavit in support of the search warrant reveals that a detective with the Norfolk police department asked Facebook for extensive user information for the teen’s mother, Jessica Burgess, dating back to 15 April 2022 including, “profile contact information, wall postings, and friend listing, with Facebook IDs”. The warrant and its details were first published by Motherboard. Authorities also requested all photos Burgess uploaded and was tagged in and her private messages from April to the day the warrant was issued. It’s not clear the extent of the user data Facebook handed over. The company said the warrants they received in early June did not mention an abortion, but related to a police investigation of a stillborn baby."

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PASSAGE TWO  OF THE DAY: "When a Facebook staffer posed the dilemma to the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, asking how the platform would protect the user data of individuals seeking abortion care, Zuckerberg said the company’s ongoing push to encrypt messaging would help protect people from “bad behavior or over-broad requests for information”But when local Nebraska police came knocking in June – before Roe v Wade was officially overturned – Facebook handed the user data of a mother and daughter facing criminal charges for allegedly carrying out an illegal abortion. Private messages between the two discussing how to obtain abortion pills were given to police by Facebook, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The 17-year-old, reports say, was more than 20 weeks pregnant. In Nebraska, abortions are banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The teenager is now being tried as an adult. Court documents filed in June and made public on Tuesday show how tech companies including Facebook contribute to criminal prosecutions of abortion cases. Experts say it also shows the importance of encryption and minimizing the amount of data Facebook stores on its users."

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STORY: "Facebook gave police their private data. Now, this duo face abortion charges," by Reporter Johana Bhuiyan, published by The Guardian, on August 10, 2022.

SUB-HEADING: "Experts say it underscores the importance of encryption and minimizing the amount of user data tech companies can store."

PHOTO CAPTION: "Court documents revealed how tech companies contribute to criminal prosecution of abortions."

GIST: "In the wake of the supreme court’s upheaval of Roe v Wade, tech workers and privacy advocates expressed concerns about how the user data tech companies stored could be used against people seeking abortions.


When a Facebook staffer posed the dilemma to the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, asking how the platform would protect the user data of individuals seeking abortion care, Zuckerberg said the company’s ongoing push to encrypt messaging would help protect people from “bad behavior or over-broad requests for information”.


But when local Nebraska police came knocking in June – before Roe v Wade was officially overturned – Facebook handed the user data of a mother and daughter facing criminal charges for allegedly carrying out an illegal abortion. Private messages between the two discussing how to obtain abortion pills were given to police by Facebook, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The 17-year-old, reports say, was more than 20 weeks pregnant. In Nebraska, abortions are banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The teenager is now being tried as an adult.


Court documents filed in June and made public on Tuesday show how tech companies including Facebook contribute to criminal prosecutions of abortion cases. Experts say it also shows the importance of encryption and minimizing the amount of data Facebook stores on its users.


The affidavit in support of the search warrant reveals that a detective with the Norfolk police department asked Facebook for extensive user information for the teen’s mother, Jessica Burgess, dating back to 15 April 2022 including, “profile contact information, wall postings, and friend listing, with Facebook IDs”. The warrant and its details were first published by Motherboard. Authorities also requested all photos Burgess uploaded and was tagged in and her private messages from April to the day the warrant was issued. It’s not clear the extent of the user data Facebook handed over.


The company said the warrants they received in early June did not mention an abortion, but related to a police investigation of a stillborn baby.

“Both of these warrants were originally accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing any information about them. The orders have now been lifted,” said a Meta spokesman, Dave Arnold.


Brad Ewalt, an attorney for Burgess declined to comment. Emails seeking comment were left for a lawyer listed as a representative for her daughter on Tuesday afternoon.


Limit data stored by tech companies

True end-to-end encryption would have made it impossible for Facebook to hand over that data, says Albert Fox Cahn, the founder of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. However, as it exists today, Facebook and Instagram messages are not end-to-end encrypted by default. Instead, consumers have to opt in to encrypt their messages. But privacy advocates and experts like Evan Greer, the director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, say most people don’t have it on.


Plans to make end-to-end encryption, a mechanism that prevents anyone except the sender and the recipient from accessing the contents of the message, the default for Facebook and Instagram was pushed back to 2023. The company already uses end-to-end encryption on its WhatsApp messaging service and had planned to extend that to its Messenger and Instagram apps in 2022, but the global head of safety at Meta, Antigone Davis, said in November 2021 that the company was “taking our time to get this right”.


Burgess was charged with two additional felonies after Madison county authorities served the search warrant, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. Documents show Burgess is charged with hiding a dead human body, performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor and performing an abortion at more than 20 weeks. The latter two are considered felonies in Nebraska.


Privacy advocates argue that one of the only ways tech companies can avoid handing over sensitive abortion related data to law enforcement is to not store it at all. “Expanding end-to-end encryption by default is a part of that, but companies like Facebook also need to stop collecting and retaining so much intimate information about us in the first place,” Greer said.


“Every tech company will tell you the same thing: they comply with law enforcement requests in the jurisdictions where they operate. The only way for companies like Facebook to meaningfully protect people is for them to ensure that they do not have access to user data or communications when a law enforcement agency comes knocking.”


In lieu of that, experts say Facebook could have fought the warrant in court if it chose to.


 “Even if they lost, it would make it so slow and expensive for police to target this information that they’d likely seek it less often,” Cahn said. “That seems like the least they can do when their own product flaws are leaving this data vulnerable to police searches in the first place.”


There is some precedent for tech companies fighting warrants in court, said Logan Koepke, a project director at Upturn, a non-profit that pushes for policy change that advances equity and justice in the use of technology.


“In the past we’ve seen companies fight over-broad requests, or fight requests that seek to damage or change a product feature in some way,” he said. Koepke pointed to Facebook’s refusal to comply with a wiretapping request for Messenger calls. A judge ultimately ruled in Facebook’s favor. “Generally speaking though, technology companies using legal tools to resist search warrants or subpoenas for user data, is the definitive exception, not the rule,” he said.


Koepke also points out that even if Facebook fought the warrant or made end-to-end encryption the default, police could use other mechanisms to get a hold of those same messages including obtaining a search warrant to directly search the mother or daughter’s phone.

The bottom line, though, Koepke and others maintain, is tech companies should limit the user data they collect and store.


“Every technology company that collects and retains personal, sensitive data (messages, location history, searches, etc.) will likely at some point be served with search warrants from law enforcement in states and jurisdictions where politicians and law enforcement are seeking to prosecute and criminalize people seeking, offering, or facilitating abortions,” Koepke said.


 “As a result, companies should seek to limit how they collect, retain, or otherwise use data that might be used by law enforcement to glean information about someone’s reproductive health.”


The entire story can be read at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/10/facebook-user-data-abortion-nebraska-police?utm_term=62f396bd1dbfe3013ab10747c72794d3&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email

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;