Friday, March 31, 2023

Yusef Salaam: New York: (One of the five Black and brown teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park. They were coerced into confessing to a rape they didn’t commit.) From our 'Irony of (delicious) Ironies' department. Donald Trump wanted him executed: Now, in response to the ex-president's indictment, he gets the last word. Literally. "Karma."..."For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump - who never said sorry for calling for my execution - here it is: Karma," Mr Salaam wrote on Twitter. Mr Trump, then a real-estate developer in 1989, took out full-page advertisements in four New York City newspapers calling for the state to reinstate the death penalty following the Central Park attack. The 45th president in 2019 refused to walk back or apologise for his previous stance, saying "you have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. Mr Salaam recently announced his candidacy for New York City Council. Mr Trump has become the first former US president to be indicted, the culmination of a political rise defined by unprecedented scandal." (The Independent: Reporter Alisha Rahaman Sahar).


STORY: "Member of Central Park Five who Trump wanted executed responds to ex-president's indictment: 'Karma', by Reporter Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, published by 'The Independent' on March 31, 2023.

SUB-HEADNG: "Trump has become the first former US president to be indicted."

GIST: "Yusef Salaam, who was one of the persons exonerated in the Central Park Five case, has responded after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the former president.

Mr Salaam was among five Black and brown teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park. They were coerced into confessing to a rape they didn’t commit.


All served prison time before being exonerated in 2002. They later received a multimillion-dollar settlement from New York City.


"For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump - who never said sorry for calling for my execution - here it is: Karma," Mr Salaam wrote on Twitter.


Mr Trump, then a real-estate developer in 1989, took out full-page advertisements in four New York City newspapers calling for the state to reinstate the death penalty following the Central Park attack.


The 45th president in 2019 refused to walk back or apologise for his previous stance, saying "you have people on both sides of that". "They admitted their guilt."


Mr Salaam recently announced his candidacy for New York City Council.


Mr Trump has become the first former US president to be indicted, the culmination of a political rise defined by unprecedented scandal."..............

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/yusef-salaam-trump-indictment-stormy-daniels-b2311463.html

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

—————————————————————————————————


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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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/


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Roman Zadorov: Israel: Alledged political interference against officials who believed he was innocent reported in 'Jerusalem Post' analysis of this week's acquittal, by Reporter Michael Starr, in a story headed, 'Does Zadorov verdict reveal flawed system needing judicial reform?- analysis,' and sub-headed, "People know that no one has certainty that it won't happen to them either," said Zadorov."..."The criticism of police and prosecution comes at a time when the entire legal system has been challenged by the judicial reform plan first proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman. “The link between Zadorov’s trial and the fixing of the legal system is strong,” Rothman said. “The Zadorov affair exposes the status of the position of government legal counsel to daylight.” Rothman alleges corruption in the trial Former state attorney Shai Nitzan and the Attorney-General’s Office had demanded that the Health Ministry prevent forensic expert Dr. Maya Forman-Resnick from rising to a post as director of forensic pathology at the Institute of Forensic Medicine over her testimony in favor of Zadorov at his trial, he said. Forman-Resnick had said cuts on Rada’s body were made by a serrated knife, rather than a straight-edged knife like the prosecutor said. Forman-Resnick would later win compensation and the right to assume the position in a 2015 trial. “Their ability to take revenge on the doctor, whose only sin was that she did not agree with their theory in the Zadorov trial, should have received treatment in the part of the reform concerning the status of the advice of the attorney-general,” Rothman said."


QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“Their ability to take revenge on the doctor, whose only sin was that she did not agree with their theory in the Zadorov trial, should have received treatment in the part of the reform concerning the status of the advice of the attorney-general,” Rothman said.


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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Forman-Resnick had also accused (Former state attorney) Nitzan of falsifying forensic reports to achieve murder convictions. Nitzan was also accused by Justice Ministry oversight czar Hila Gersetel of cherry-picking from expert reports that helped the prosecution’s case against Zadorov, while suppressing those that undermined it. Rothman also said Gersetel had said that Institute of Forensic Medicine head Dr. Chen Kugel had been told by people within the legal system to change his testimony. The “thuggish conduct” of Nitzan “proves why the rules must be changed,” in particular, regarding the connection between the State Attorney’s Office and the attorney-general, Rothman said."


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


STORY: "'Does Zadorov verdict reveal flawed system needing judicial reform?

"People know that no one has certainty that it won't happen to them either," said Zadorov," by Reporter Michael Starr, published on March 30, 2023. (Michael Starr is the legal affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, and also writes about the Ukraine-Russia War. As a desk manager for the Post’s news desk, he previously wrote on antisemitism, BDS and maritime security. He’s an IDF veteran with experience and education in the security and public diplomacy fields.")


GIST: "The verdict given by the Nazareth District Court for Roman Zadorov’s retrial not only determined his innocence in the murder of Katzrin schoolgirl Tair Rada, but according to proponents of judicial reform, it showed that the Israeli legal system is guilty of gross injustice, and faith in legal officials is misplaced.


Zadorov was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to life in prison in 2010. It took almost 16 years to prove his innocence, despite persistent doubts about his guilt, problems with the evidence and accusations of misconduct by the Israel Police and the State Attorney’s Office.


The overturning of Zadorov’s conviction was not just a simple mistake or a challenge to make the right argument, but rather, according to Zadorov, it is symptomatic of a flawed system.


“People know that no one has certainty that it won’t happen to them either,” he told Ynet on Thursday. “Therefore, people want justice before there’s another like me, another Roman Zadorov. It’s preferable that [an oversight] body will be established that [oversees] the police and the state attorney.”


The criticism of police and prosecution comes at a time when the entire legal system has been challenged by the judicial reform plan first proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman.


“The link between Zadorov’s trial and the fixing of the legal system is strong,” Rothman said. “The Zadorov affair exposes the status of the position of government legal counsel to daylight.”


Rothman alleges corruption in the trial

Former state attorney Shai Nitzan and the Attorney-General’s Office had demanded that the Health Ministry prevent forensic expert Dr. Maya Forman-Resnick from rising to a post as director of forensic pathology at the Institute of Forensic Medicine over her testimony in favor of Zadorov at his trial, he said.


Forman-Resnick had said cuts on Rada’s body were made by a serrated knife, rather than a straight-edged knife like the prosecutor said. Forman-Resnick would later win compensation and the right to assume the position in a 2015 trial.


“Their ability to take revenge on the doctor, whose only sin was that she did not agree with their theory in the Zadorov trial, should have received treatment in the part of the reform concerning the status of the advice of the attorney-general,” Rothman said.


Reformists have been highly critical of government legal advisers, the Attorney-General’s Office and its subservient State Attorney’s Office.


According to Levin, the government legal advisers’ opinions should not be legally binding. The anti-reformist argument against this has contended that the advisers are merely interpreters of the law.


Nevertheless, the pursuit of personal vendettas and interests lends credence to the reformist narrative that the advisers are anything but objective arbiters. The reformist argument for allowing outside representation besides a government attorney for officials is strengthened by the same issue, as an official may have legitimate concerns about a government attorney’s animus against them.


Forman-Resnick had also accused Nitzan of falsifying forensic reports to achieve murder convictions. Nitzan was also accused by Justice Ministry oversight czar Hila Gersetel of cherry-picking from expert reports that helped the prosecution’s case against Zadorov, while suppressing those that undermined it.


Rothman also said Gersetel had said that Institute of Forensic Medicine head Dr. Chen Kugel had been told by people within the legal system to change his testimony.


The “thuggish conduct” of Nitzan “proves why the rules must be changed,” in particular, regarding the connection between the State Attorney’s Office and the attorney-general, Rothman said.







Reformists have argued for the division of the Attorney-General’s Office into two roles, a state prosecutor-general and a chief legal adviser. Currently, the state attorney is subservient to the attorney-general, who has power over law enforcement and is the chief legal adviser for the executive branch.


Critics have expressed concerns that too many responsibilities for the state attorney, a lack of proper oversight and state prosecutors and government advisers working together can lead to a conflict of interest. The government action taken against an expert witness over their testimony also supports this fear.


Likud MK Tally Gotliv also attacked the courts for their previous verdicts. Zadorov had gone through multiple appeals and retrials in the lower and higher courts.


“In Israel, there are innocent people in prison,” she wrote on Twitter. “It is enough [under the current system] to base indictments on the confession of suspects; it is too easy and very dangerous.”


One of the arguments against altering the Judicial Selection Committee to include more elected representatives and to remove members of the Bar Association as reformists wish is that they will be able to keep the appointed judges professional. Problems in their verdicts could be argued to challenge this defense.


What’s more, the allegations of state attorneys working to push evidence to show what they wish jives with the reformist narrative of a club of self-interested judicial and legal professionals pursuing their own interests on the Judicial Selection Committee


Yesh Atid MK Ron Katz challenged the reformist use of the Zadorov case as proof of a need for reform by asking why none of the changes “concern the criminal procedure, the rights of the accused, the time of the process, the investigation methods, something that might really help someone?”


Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky said Levin and other Likud MKs had voted against a Knesset inquiry into the conduct of law-enforcement agencies.


While these are valid challenges, those on the fence about the reform will still see the results of injustice to one man. Those prosecuting the legal system will see the Zadorov case as damning evidence that reform is needed."


The entire story can be read at:


article-735984


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

—————————————————————————————————


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;


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


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/


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(Part 2): War on Women in America: Criminalizing Reproduction Series: Part Two: Police Are Getting Help From Social-Media Sites to Prosecute People for Abortion, and Facebook and Google help them do it," 'Deadline' (Reporter Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert) reports..."As abortion bans across the nation are implemented and enforced, law enforcement is turning to social-media platforms to build cases to prosecute women seeking abortions or abortion-inducing medication — and online platforms like Google and Facebook are helping. Through data collected by online pharmacies, social media posts, and user data requests from law enforcement for message and search logs, cases for prosecution can be built against women for seeking abortion — and it has been happening since before Roe was overturned. This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in Nebraska after being accused of performing an illegal abortion — with a key piece of evidence provided by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Prosecutors said Burgess helped her daughter find and take pills that would induce an abortion. The teenage Burgess also faces charges of illegally disposing of the fetal remains. TechCrunch reported that internal chat logs were provided to law-enforcement officers by the social-media company, which indicated the pair had discussed their plan to find the medication through the app"


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 OF THE DAY: "An investigation by ProPublica found online pharmacies that sell abortion medication such as mifepristone and misoprostol are sharing sensitive data, including users' web addresses, relative location, and search data, with Google and other third-party sites — which allows the data to be recoverable through law-enforcement requests.  ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx. None of the pharmacies immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment. Google search histories have been used to prosecute women for their reproductive health choices since before the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.

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KEY POINTS: 
  • 0: Police make requests for social-media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed.
  • 0: Sometimes, the crime is abortion and social apps are turning over user chat logs and search history.
  • 0: One legal expert said platforms may cooperate with police even if they're not legally required to.
  • ----------------------------------------------
  • STORY: "Police are prosecuting​ abortion seekers using their digital data — and Facebook and Google help them do it, by Reporter    published by 'Deadline' on March 4, 2023,
SUB-HEADING: "Police Are Getting Help From Social-Media Sites to Prosecute People for Abortion," by Reporter  , published by 'Deadline' on March 4, 2023.

GIST:  

Meta said in a statement regarding the Nebraska incident that it responded to "valid legal warrants from local law enforcement" prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned nationwide abortion rights and allowed for bans in some states.


And though the warrants Meta responded to in this case "did not mention abortion" — since law enforcement had requested the chat logs while investigating the teen's disposal of the remains, which incidentally revealed the discussion of abortion pills — the subsequent charges reveal how data released by social-media companies can be used to prosecute people for abortion, even when they are being investigated for other reasons.


Pharmacies sharing data

An investigation by ProPublica found online pharmacies that sell abortion medication such as mifepristone and misoprostol are sharing sensitive data, including users' web addresses, relative location, and search data, with Google and other third-party sites — which allows the data to be recoverable through law-enforcement requests. 


ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx.


None of the pharmacies immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment.

Google search histories have been used to prosecute women for their reproductive health choices since before the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.


In 2018, a Mississippi woman named Latice Fisher was charged with second-degree murder after she delivered a stillborn baby — paramedics discovered the child lifeless, in the woman's toilet, when she called for help. 


The charges were based in part on her Google search history, which included a query for "buy Misopristol Abortion Pill Online'' 10 days earlier, The Washington Post reported. Officers discovered Fisher's search history after she surrendered her phone. 


Representatives for Google told Insider the company has a policy on user data requested by the government, which requires law enforcement to "attest that their requests for user data do not pertain to certain abortion-related investigations" as set forth by a California law that prohibits search warrants for electronic communications that are based on abortion investigations.


 The California-based company applies this standard for all state law enforcement requests.


However, as in the case of Burgess and her daughter, law enforcement requests may not be specifically looking for abortion-related data in their investigations, but may prosecute abortion-related crimes based on what they find.


Representatives for the FBI told Insider they were "unable to accommodate" Insider's detailed request for information about the criteria required for officers to issue a request for a civilian's social media or internet history, what information is generally turned over to them in the pursuit of such information, and what channels officers used to make those requests.


Representatives the Los Angeles and New York police departments, two of the largest police forces in the country, did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.


"We comply with government requests for user information only where we have a good-faith belief that the law requires us to do so," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider. "In addition, we assess whether a request is consistent with internationally recognized standards on human rights, including due process, privacy, free expression and the rule of law. When we do comply, we only produce information that is narrowly tailored to that request. If we determine that a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back and will fight in court, if necessary. We do not provide governments with 'back doors' to people's information."


According to internal statistics provided by Meta, the company complies with government requests for user data more than 70% of the time and receives more than 400,000 requests a year. 


"Certainly, we expect that social-media companies are gonna cooperate with law enforcement when they make legitimate information requests, we need them to do that," Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and the codirector of the school's High Tech Law Institute, told Insider. 


"But we also know that social media isn't likely to stand up to illegitimate law-enforcement requests, because of the fact that they fear their own liability, or because of the fact that it's just too costly to stand up."


Goldman indicated examples where internet services affirmatively go to court to protect user interest, "but those are the exceptions." 


"There's thousands of requests for every one of those cases, and there's thousands of other decisions that the company made to just turn over the data because it's just easier, quicker that way," Goldman said. 


"So law enforcement knows that they can make requests of social media, including court requests that do not comply with law, and expect to get most of them honored simply because that is the path of least resistance for the social-media services."


While cases against people seeking abortions can increasingly be informed by user data provided by social-media companies, those aren't the only prosecutions being built off of what people share online. 


Public social-media posts can be used to build cases against people for major cases including child abuse and murder, as well as against less serious incidents that could have First Amendment implications, such as jokesters who tweeted threats against airlines and memes interpreted by the DOJ as election interference.


Private content by users — such as location data or messages — requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before it can be turned over. 


But "social media companies don't really have incentives to protect privacy," Sharon Docter, a professor of legal issues and new media at California Lutheran University, told Insider. She said because the platforms themselves are unlikely to prioritize user privacy, the burden to do so falls on the individual user. 


"Users of social media need to be concerned about privacy, and that users really need to think through the fact that their digital footprint might potentially be available to law enforcement if there's a valid search warrant," Docter added. 


"And they should do all they can really to protect their privacy, by looking into sending encrypted messages, by making sure their location data is off, by engaging in any efforts that they can to understand the privacy policies of the platforms that they use." 


Meta, which owns WhatsApp, Instagram, as well as Facebook, is working to roll out encryption as a default setting across its messaging platforms by year's end, according to a spokesperson. Currently, encryption is standard on WhatsApp, and is available for users who opt-in on Instagram and Facebook.


But user data across social media platforms, not just Meta and Google, are at risk for similar law enforcement requests.


Expecting social-media companies across the board to change their policies or standardize encryption is unlikely, Docter and Goldman told Insider, since they aren't incentivized by law or user pressure to do so. 


However, overly broad requests made by the government are the key point of the problem, Goldman noted — not that social media is cooperating with law enforcement in the first place. 


"All the angst directed at social-media services for being a pawn in law enforcement's game seems misdirected to me. Social media is in fact a pawn in that game," Goldman told Insider, adding people often don't want to get mad at law enforcement or the government for overreaching and instead get angry at Facebook or Google for complying with sometimes illegal requests.


"We say, 'Law enforcement is just trying to do their job,' right, and 'If they get some wrong along the way, but they get the bad guys, you know, the ends justify the means,'" Goldman added. "It's so tempting to give benefit of the doubt to law enforcement, and that's why it's so hard for us to confront the reality: Maybe there are times they don't deserve that benefit.""


The entire story can be read at: 


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

—————————————————————————————————


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;


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


YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/


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Thursday, March 30, 2023

Roman Zadorov: Israel: Historic wrongful confession (and much more) case: Major (Welcome) Development: Acquitted, exonerated at last of Tair Rada's murder, The Jerusalem Post (Reporters Michael Starr and Shira Silkoff, reports... "According to the majority opinion, Zadorov’s confession of cutting the throat of 13-year-old Rada in 2006 in a bathroom stall in the Katzrin school where he worked as a custodian was false and full of contradictions. Zadorov had retracted the confession days after giving it, and Sarfati noted that it was preceded by a mental breakdown and the custodian may have believed that the punishment would be mitigated if he had admitted to the crime. Kula said that "the findings at the scene did not match the defendant's confession. Sarfati also said that "after examining the details, I came to the conclusion that the confession is nothing more than a hollow, weightless recitation of statements and scenarios."



QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Following the conclusion of the trial, Ilana Rada exited the courtroom, and declared that "Justice has been done, but the war is only just beginning." While her husband believed Zadorov to be his daughter’s killer, Ilana Rada had consistently argued for    Zadorov’s innocence. She contended that the police and State Attorney's Office had framed the Ukrainian immigrant. Former Shin Bet deputy director Itzhak Ilan also joined her in accusations of law enforcement misconduct in recordings leaked after his death."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The majority opinion also questioned the lack of forensic evidence clearly tying Zadorov to the scene. Nissim Shai said that she "found the evidence presented to be tight and well-founded. It holds, beyond any reasonable doubt, the proof of the defendant's guilt." "Absence does not constitute evidence," said Kula, but as stated by Sarfati, "How is it that in such a chaotic scene like in our case, which includes a fight, a scuffle, cuts and placing the body on the toilet, there were no fingerprints or any other forensic findings indicating the accused at the murder site?" No blood was found on the defendant's shoes, but foreign footprints were found in the cubicle. Due to the drying of blood and the time emergency services arrived, could not be attributed to them."

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STORY: "16 years on: Roman Zadorov acquitted of Tair Rada's murder," by Reporters Michael Starr and Shira Silkoff, published by The Jerusalem Post, on March 30, 2023.

SUB-HEADING: F"ollowing his acquittal, Zadorov fought back tears, saying simply that "the truth won. I want to go home, to my children."


GIST: "Roman Zadorov was acquitted of Tair Rada's murder by the Nazareth District court on Thursday morning in a retrial of his 2010 conviction after new evidence brought his conviction into doubt.


Judges Asher Kula and Danny Sarfati were in favor of the acquittal, with Judge Tammar Nissim Shai in dissent. The majority opinion contended that there were far too many inconsistencies in the evidence to reasonably determine Zadorov as the murderer.


"The truth won,” Zadorov said while fighting back tears outside the courthouse after his acquittal.  “I want to go home, to my children."


Zadorov's sister said, "we will start a better life, from here on."


According to the majority opinion, Zadorov’s confession of cutting the throat of 13-year-old Rada in 2006 in a bathroom stall in the Katzrin school where he worked as a custodian was false and full of contradictions.


Zadorov had retracted the confession days after giving it, and Sarfati noted that it was preceded by a mental breakdown and the custodian may have believed that the punishment would be mitigated if he had admitted to the crime.


Kula said that "the findings at the scene did not match the defendant's confession."


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


"Why would the accused murder a girl? Why would the accused choose to kill someone at his place of work, a crowded school? Why would he choose to leave a case full of evidence, say that he threw out his pants, agree to give DNA?"

Judge Dani Zarfati


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Sarfati also said that "after examining the details, I came to the conclusion that the confession is nothing more than a hollow, weightless recitation of statements and scenarios."


Nissim Shai had disputed that there were contradictions in the confession and was convincing. She argued that there was no confession of greater weight than that of the accussed.


 No satisfactory motive was given for Zadorov to kill Rada,  Kula and Sarfati said.


The prosecution's narrative that Zadorov had flown into a rage after Rada had asked for cigarettes and insulted him when denied was disputed by the testimony of her friends who said that she hated the smell of cigarette smoke. There was also no past conduct by Rada in line with this story.


The prosecution's characterization of Zadorov as both a calculating "super chess player" mastermind and an impulsive sexual degenerate were in contradiction with one another, according to Kula.


"This is not a sadist, a sophisticated manipulator subject to uncontrollable fits of rage, capable of murdering a little girl," Kula said in his assessment of Zadorov.


"The attempt to present the defendant as an explosive, deviant and violent person is a complete failure on our part," said Sarfati.


Sarfati questioned why Zadorov if he were indeed guilty, would commit the crime in his workplace in broad daylight, and why he would leave work items in the bathroom that could be tied to him.


It was further challenged as to how a guilty person would leave such a violent crime scene covered in blood with no witnesses and had managed to clean himself off and then engage in small talk instead of fleeing the scene.


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"This is not a sadist, a sophisticated manipulator subject to uncontrollable fits of rage, capable of murdering a little girl."

Judge Asher Kula


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The majority opinion also questioned the lack of forensic evidence clearly tying Zadorov to the scene.


Nissim Shai said that she "found the evidence presented to be tight and well-founded. It holds, beyond any reasonable doubt, the proof of the defendant's guilt."


"Absence does not constitute evidence," said Kula, but as stated by Sarfati, "How is it that in such a chaotic scene like in our case, which includes a fight, a scuffle, cuts and placing the body on the toilet, there were no fingerprints or any other forensic findings indicating the accused at the murder site?"


No blood was found on the defendant's shoes, but foreign footprints were found in the cubicle. Due to the drying of blood and the time emergency services arrived, could not be attributed to them.


Olga Kravchenko, Adir Habani and the evidence at the scene

Hair found at the scene also did not match Zadorov, though Nissim Shai argued that it did not necessarily belong to the killer. A July 2022 mitochondrial DNA test of the hair showed an inconclusive match to Adir Habani, the former partner of another possible suspect in the murder case - Olga Kravchenko.


Kravchenko had been a key witness against Zadorov, used by the prosecution to highlight that the custodian was the sole plausible witness.


Kula ordered the continued investigation into the DNA evidence and the possibility that it did indeed belong to Habani. Zadorov and his lawyers have alleged Kravchenko to be the true killer, and Rada's mother, Ilana, has previously called for the arrest of both Kravchenko and Habani.


Kravenchko was accused of the murder by Habani, who claimed at the time that she had worn his clothes in order to carry it out. 


However, the case against Kravenchko was closed due to lack of evidence, and after Habani confessed to Israel Police that he had beaten and raped her throughout their 10-year relationship.


At the verdict on Thursday, Kola ordered the continued investigation into the mitochondrial DNA and the possibility that it did indeed belong to Habani.


To date, no hairs with a mitochondrial profile that matches either Zadorov or Kravchenko have been received.


Following the conclusion of the trial, Ilana Rada exited the courtroom, and declared that "Justice has been done, but the war is only just beginning."


While her husband believed Zadorov to be his daughter’s killer, Ilana Rada had consistently argued for Zadorov’s innocence. She contended that the police and State Attorney's Office had framed the Ukrainian immigrant. Former Shin Bet deputy director Itzhak Ilan also joined her in accusations of law enforcement misconduct in recordings leaked after his death.


The controversy about the investigation and prosecution grew even as he was sentenced to life in prison.


New evidence led the High Court of Justice to order the lower courts to reexamine the case in 2013, but Zadorov’s conviction was upheld in 2014. Zadorov filed multiple appeals -- the High Court again upheld the verdict in 2015 -- but in July 2021 the court ruled for a retrial.


In August of that year, Zadorov was released to house arrest. The verdict of the highly publicized case had been delayed multiple times.


The intense public interest in the case was referenced by Kula, who said that despite it, the court had ignored the media storm when deliberating the verdict. The case spawned rumors and theories, such as those of local teenagers committing the murder and a cover-up by teachers.


Zadorov was seen by some as vulnerable for prosecutors to pin the crime to, as he had settled in Israel under unstable legal circumstances. Kula said that he hoped that the verdict would calm the public furor over the case.


"An innocent girl of about 13 years old, she died in a brutal murder in what was supposed to be a shelter," said Kula. "The school where she acquired tools for life, became a murder scene where the life of the late Tair Rada was taken. Our hearts and condolences go out to her family."


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The entire story can be read at:


https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-735889

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


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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:


David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”


https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/


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