PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Channel 10 (Australia) recently short, taught documentary on Derek Bromley's High Court application for leave to appeal the murder conviction that has kept him in prison, protesting his innocence, for almost 40 years. As per my 'Publisher's Note': "This documentary makes a powerful case for granting the application and freeing Derek Bromley on two principle grounds detailed below - mainly fresh evidence relating to the severe psychological impairment of the only prosecution witness to place him at the crime scene, and the role played by South Australia's then 'Chief Forensic Pathologist', Dr. Colin Manock, who it turns out was utterly unqualified to do autopsies and give testimony in court as an expert witness. All eyes were on Australia recently as Kathleen Folbigg, a notorious, hated, convicted serial killer of her four children, was exonerated when science proved her innocence. Now, people around the world should be watching South Australia again, where Derek Bromley, an Aboriginal has been forced to languish in prison for almost forty years, having been convicted by the lethal combination of a psychologically tainted eyewitness - and the so-co-called 'expert' testimony, of a demonstrably unqualified pathologist who had been endowed by the state with credibility by the undeserved title, 'Chief Forensic Pathologist'. (Yes, Colin Manock was also a bigot.' But that's another story. HL)
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK TO THE CHANNEL TEN RECENTLY TELEVISED DOCUMENTARY ON DEREK BROMLEY'S BATTLE FOR FREEDOM:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND (Excerpt: From the sbs.com story by Reporter Peta Doherty, published on May 17, 2023 under the heading, "This man has spent nearly 40 years in prison for a murder he says he didn't commit)..."Bromley and another man, John Karpany, were jailed for life in 1984 for the murder of Stephen Docoza, whose body was found in Adelaide’s River Torrens. Bromley, who is in his 60s, has now been in prison for 39 years. He has been eligible for parole since 2006, but as he has continued to maintain his innocence it has been denied........."The hearing (the High Court application for leave to appeal of which a decision could be entered any time now HL) is Bromley's final chance at having his conviction overturned. He is able to challenge his conviction under South Australia's right to appeal laws, which came into effect in 2013.
The appeal is based on new evidence that questions the evidence of an eyewitness who had a schizoaffective disorder which Bromley’s lawyers say meant there was an “extremely high likelihood” that their account of events was inaccurate. In 2018, the SA Court of Criminal Appeal justices ruled this new evidence was not compelling, and dismissed Bromley’s application to appeal. But in their application to the High Court, the defence argues the lower court conducted a "flawed analysis" of the additional expert evidence and that other witnesses had not put Bromley at the scene of the offence.
Bromley’s supporters have also questioned the original autopsy evidence of the state's chief forensic pathologist Colin Manock who was appointed despite lacking relevant qualifications. “It turned out he was never actually qualified as a pathologist,” said Dr Robert Moles, an academic lawyer from Flinders University. Dr Moles has spent the past 20 years studying miscarriages of justice that occurred during Dr Manock's 30 years as state pathologist. “He was never qualified to do autopsies. He was never qualified to give evidence in court as an expert witness,” he said."
----------------------------------------------------
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/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
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/
