PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "It is clear that female defendants are especially vulnerable to death investigation evidence. Similarly, cases involving the killing or harming of children are vulnerable to false conviction. Relatedly, it is clear that the Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma diagnoses are a particular problem area for death investigation. That said, these controversial diagnoses are not the whole problem; they account for only one fifth of the cases in which death investigation contributed to false convictions.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "A number of quality assurance guardrails have been proposed to improve death investigation. These include the replacement of coroners with medical examiners, accreditation, and greater reliance on board-certified forensic pathologists, which itself depends on remedying the longstanding shortage of forensic pathologists in American medicine. Our findings show that useful as these measures may be, none of them promise to eliminate the contribution of death investigation to false convictions. The best the discipline has to offer—accredited medical examiner offices and board-certified forensic pathologists—all contributed to their share, or more than their share, of false convictions."
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REPORT: 'Medicolegal death investigation and convicting the innocent', by Simon A. Cole, Maurice Possley, Ken Otterbourg, Jessica Weinstock Parades, Barbara O'Brien, Meghan Cousins and Samuel R. Gross; Published by The Newkirk Center for Science and Society, University of California, Irvine, and the College of Law, Michigan State University Law School published in August, 2024.)
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CONCLUSIONS: From "National Registry of Exonerations report on medicolegal death investigations and wrongful convictions." (The National Registry of Exonerations is an online archive of all known wrongful conviction cases in the United States.)
GIST: Death investigation continues to contribute to false convictions. "After completion of the analysis for this report, at least 8 new exonerations have already occurred in which death investigation contributed to the false conviction including Shawn Schweitzer, Edward Ramirez, Ricky Dority, Alan Butts, Chad Marcum, Mason Shannon, Marvin Grimm, and Connie Dahl.
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PUBLISHER'S INTERJECTION: Robert Roberson's name belongs on this 'exoneration' list: There is ever mounting medical, scientific evidence that he did not murder his 2 -year-old chronically ill daughter Nikki - a crime that never occurred. Yet he is now on Texas's death row, having been convicted - on the basis of debunked. junk 'science' shaken baby syndrome, scheduled to be executed on October 17 - and the state of Texas has been blocking every attempt to block the execution. In a recent editorial, link below, what comfort is there in knowing that an innocent man has been exonerated after he has been put to death, because of a flawed death investigation? Harold Levy:
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/792437486144657228
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POST CONTINUES: "And there is always more to be learned about known exonerations.
In at least one case, (Ricky Davis) after analysis we learned that death investigation had contributed to a long-known exoneration case.
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As noted above, death investigation in the US has been contested for more than a century.
Today, many proposals for improving death investigation continue to circulate.
0: These include replacing coroner systems with medical examiner systems;
0: expanding the use of state medical examiners;
0:centralizing state medical examiner systems; replacing elected with appointed death investigators;
0: eliminating conflicts of interest raised by death investigation systems run by “other officials,” such as county attorneys or law enforcement officials;
0: recruiting more physicians to specialize in forensic pathology;
0: requiring that all autopsies and death investigation be performed by board-certified forensic pathologists;
0: eliminating the use of manner of death opinions in criminal proceedings;
0: mitigating cognitive bias in death investigation;
0: addressing issues of racial bias in death investigation;
and eliminating or limiting the use of the SBS and AHT diagnoses which essentially require the accusation of the last known caregiver in child deaths involving certain symptoms.
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Commenting on these reform proposals is outside our expertise and the scope of this report.
Our expertise is in exonerations, not death investigation.
Nonetheless, the exoneration cases described in this report and in the Registry’s pages suggest the wide variety of ways in which death investigation can contribute to false convictions and several target areas to consider in improving death investigation in the US.
It is clear that female defendants are especially vulnerable to death investigation evidence.
Similarly, cases involving the killing or harming of children are vulnerable to false conviction.
Relatedly, it is clear that the Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma diagnoses are a particular problem area for death investigation.
That said, these controversial diagnoses are not the whole problem; they account for only one fifth of the cases in which death investigation contributed to false convictions.
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A number of quality assurance guardrails have been proposed to improve death investigation.
These include the replacement of coroners with medical examiners, accreditation, and greater reliance on board-certified forensic pathologists, which itself depends on remedying the longstanding shortage of forensic pathologists in American medicine.
Our findings show that useful as these measures may be, none of them promise to eliminate the contribution of death investigation to false convictions.
The best the discipline has to offer—accredited medical examiner offices and board-certified forensic pathologists—all contributed to their share, or more than their share, of false convictions."
The entire report can be read at:
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/DeathInvestigation.pdf
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;
