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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The pair of court cases swirl around what really happened on the snowy, stormy evening of Jan. 26, 2011. That’s when Ellen, a 27-year-old bride-to-be, was found by her live-in fiancé bloodied and lifeless in the kitchen of her apparently locked unit in the Venice Lofts apartment building, located in Philadelphia’s upscale Manayunk neighborhood. The freckle-faced elementary school teacher who grew up in the Harrisburg area was slumped on the floor, her back against a kitchen cabinet. She had been stabbed 20 times, mostly in the back of her neck and head and in her chest. A 10-inch kitchen knife protruded from the center of her chest. Philadelphia detectives who responded to the 911 call placed by Ellen’s fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, treated the death as a suicide. At the time of her death, Ellen was seeing a psychiatrist and being medically treated for anxiety. By assuming suicide in the Ellen’s death, police did not treat the bloodied apartment as a crime scene that evening. It was left unsealed when investigators departed late that evening. Ellen’s body was shipped to the city morgue, the knife still protruding from her chest. The following day, Ellen’s death was ruled a homicide by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office after an autopsy. Philadelphia pathologist Dr. Marlon Osbourne cited “multiple stab wounds by an unknown person” in his ruling. The newly launched homicide investigation was hampered from the start."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "The Greenbergs’ suit accuses the police, prosecutors and medical examiner officials involved in the meeting of “individual and willful misconduct and participating in a conspiracy to cover up the murder of Ellen R. Greenberg.” The Greenbergs are seeking unspecified monetary damages in that case. PennLive interviewed William H. Trask, one of the two Philadelphia attorneys handling the Greenbergs’ dual lawsuits. He said the continued public interest in Ellen’s death could buoy their arguments in the upcoming hearing over depositions and further discovery. Sandee Greenberg said it’s clear to her that the public understands what Philadelphia officials fighting their suits refuse to accept – namely, that Ellen didn’t take her own life but was stabbed to death by an assailant. “It’s 13 1/2 years later, and everybody knows who Ellen Greenberg is,” she said. “To everybody else, it’s obvious. It’s crystal clear. I just don’t understand why they (Philadelphia officials) don’t want justice.”
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GIST: A hearing set for Tuesday in Philadelphia should clarify whether Ellen Greenberg's parents can move ahead with sworn depositions of assistant DAs and detectives who were involved in their daughter's death investigation."
The legal battle over Ellen Greenberg’s mysterious 2011 death by 20 stab wounds awaits a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on whether to accept her Harrisburg-area parents’ appeal.
Joshua and Sandee Greenberg are seeking to change Ellen’s official manner of death ruling from suicide to homicide to re-ignite a police investigation into the 13-year-old case. But the high court has yet to signal whether it will hear the appeal, filed in Oct. 2023
One of the Greenbergs’ attorneys told PennLive legal briefs have been filed on both sides, with the City of Philadelphia opposing the appeal. But it could be another six months before the court decides whether to take the case.
Meanwhile, a second civil lawsuit filed by the Greenbergs is heating up.
A pre-trial motion hearing is set for Tuesday in Philadelphia County Court in their suit alleging a conspiracy among Philadelphia detectives, medical examiner officials and assistant district attorneys to cover up what the Greenbergs insist was Ellen’s homicide.
“I’m the mother of a murdered daughter,” Sandee Greenberg told PennLive on the eve of the high-stakes hearing. “It’s clearly obvious with all the facts and all the evidence this was a murder.”
The city denies the suit’s allegations and its lawyers are aggressively defending the case.
At issue in the hearing is a request by the Greenbergs’ attorneys to begin putting Philadelphia officials under oath to question them at length during a series of depositions as part of the legal discovery process. First up to be deposed is former Philadelphia assistant district attorney Guy D’Andrea, who’s spoken out in favor of the Greenbergs’ cause since leaving the office.
D’Andrea is on record saying he found Ellen Greenberg’s death investigation file buried in a DA’s office closet containing Christmas decorations. D’Andrea said he combed through the file and organized it. In the process, he claims to have found evidence pointing to Ellen’s homicide and debunking the official suicide ruling in the case.
The Philadelphia solicitor’s office is on record in court filings opposing the depositions. Tuesday’s hearing should clarify whether the Greenbergs’ attorneys can move forward with deposing D’Andrea and then other officials tied to the case.
“It’s obvious that the legal system in Philadelphia is using every effort to delay, postpone and deny,” Sandee Greenberg lamented. “Their heels are dug in so deep.”
The pair of court cases swirl around what really happened on the snowy, stormy evening of Jan. 26, 2011. That’s when Ellen, a 27-year-old bride-to-be, was found by her live-in fiancé bloodied and lifeless in the kitchen of her apparently locked unit in the Venice Lofts apartment building, located in Philadelphia’s upscale Manayunk neighborhood.
The freckle-faced elementary school teacher who grew up in the Harrisburg area was slumped on the floor, her back against a kitchen cabinet. She had been stabbed 20 times, mostly in the back of her neck and head and in her chest. A 10-inch kitchen knife protruded from the center of her chest.
Philadelphia detectives who responded to the 911 call placed by Ellen’s fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, treated the death as a suicide. At the time of her death, Ellen was seeing a psychiatrist and being medically treated for anxiety.
By assuming suicide in the Ellen’s death, police did not treat the bloodied apartment as a crime scene that evening. It was left unsealed when investigators departed late that evening. Ellen’s body was shipped to the city morgue, the knife still protruding from her chest.
The following day, Ellen’s death was ruled a homicide by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office after an autopsy. Philadelphia pathologist Dr. Marlon Osbourne cited “multiple stab wounds by an unknown person” in his ruling.
The newly launched homicide investigation was hampered from the start. The apartment where Ellen died, never sealed as a crime scene, was cleaned and sanitized before Philadelphia detectives and their forensics team secured a search warrant and returned to it on Jan. 28, following the medical examiner’s homicide ruling.
With little evidence to go on, the investigation foundered. On April 4, 2011, the rug was pulled out from under the probe.
That’s when Osbourne, the pathologist who performed the autopsy and initially ruled the death a homicide, amended Ellen’s death certificate, changing the manner of death to suicide. It has remained a suicide ever since, despite the Greenbergs’ self-funded investigation and legal battle, now in its 13th year and costing more than $500,000.
The conspiracy case, which is heating up with Tuesday’s hearing, centers on a meeting or meetings among investigating police, at least one prosecutor and two medical examiner officials during which the Greenberg investigation was discussed. After these discussions, Osbourne changed Ellen’s manner of death to suicide, effectively closing the probe into her stabbing.
The Greenbergs’ suit accuses the police, prosecutors and medical examiner officials involved in the meeting of “individual and willful misconduct and participating in a conspiracy to cover up the murder of Ellen R. Greenberg.” The Greenbergs are seeking unspecified monetary damages in that case.
PennLive interviewed William H. Trask, one of the two Philadelphia attorneys handling the Greenbergs’ dual lawsuits. He said the continued public interest in Ellen’s death could buoy their arguments in the upcoming hearing over depositions and further discovery.
Sandee Greenberg said it’s clear to her that the public understands what Philadelphia officials fighting their suits refuse to accept – namely, that Ellen didn’t take her own life but was stabbed to death by an assailant.
“It’s 13 1/2 years later, and everybody knows who Ellen Greenberg is,” she said. “To everybody else, it’s obvious. It’s crystal clear. I just don’t understand why they (Philadelphia officials) don’t want justice.”
The Greenbergs and their attorneys are seeking the full documentary record of the police investigation into Ellen’s death, including all interview statements, other police forms, evidence logs, and Ellen’s personal diary, laptop computer and any other personal electronics held in evidence. They also want to question the detectives and prosecutor who handled the case under oath during depositions recorded by a stenographer.
Thus far, only a limited number of police documents from the initial police investigation have been turned over, Trask said. Philadelphia also has agreed to allow the Greenbergs’ forensic experts to examine the knife found buried in Ellen’s chest, which is still being held in evidence. The Greenbergs’ side also has received about four hours of video surveillance tape from the apartment building lobby and other public vantage points on the day of Ellen’s death, Trask said.
However, video of the interior of Ellen’s apartment shot by an apartment manager the day after Ellen’s death but before the apartment was cleaned is missing, according to Trask. The legal team also is seeking several more days of surveillance video from the apartment building that would show when various people -- including detectives, medical examiner officials, relatives of Ellen’s fiancé, and a private cleaning service -- came and went from the apartment.
A somewhat contradictory opinion by Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court also could strengthen the Greenbergs’ hand as they seek more discovery and depositions in the conspiracy case.
The appellate judges on the state’s second-highest court were divided 2-1 over the narrow legal question of whether the Greenbergs, as executors of Ellen’s estate, had legal standing to challenge the medical examiner’s suicide ruling in Ellen’s death. In the end, the court held the Greenbergs did not.
However, the balance of the court’s 39-page opinion handed down in Sept. 2023 was highly favorable to the Greenbergs. In strongly worded terms, the court chronicled all the problems with Ellen’s death investigation and the need for a top-to-bottom review.
“In the interests of justice, we believe that providing a detailed review of the victim’s death and the ensuing investigation is clearly warranted with hopes that equity may one day prevail for the victim and her loved ones,” the court wrote.
Dozens of pages of the opinion were devoted to reciting the large volume of evidence the Greenbergs have uncovered during their decade-long investigation into Ellen’s death -- evidence that they say points to homicide, not suicide, in Ellen’s death.
Sandee Greenberg cited the court’s strong endorsement of a detailed review of Ellen’s death and the resulting investigation as buoying their call for maximum transparency in the conspiracy lawsuit.
“Yes, every little bit helps,” she said. “The court went to great lengths. It was one of the longest responses that our lawyer has ever seen for a denial.”
Mrs. Greenberg added that if depositions are allowed to go forward, their evidence pointing to Ellen’s homicide will only get stronger.
“There are more things in the works that will expose the people in Philadelphia,” she said. “The world doesn’t understand why Philadelphia is conducting themselves in this manner.""
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
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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-12348801
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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-12348801
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