PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "After the murder charges were dismissed in 2020, Henning and Birch filed lawsuits against the town of New Milford, Connecticut State Police detectives and sergeants, officers with the New Milford Police Department and Lee, accusing them of fabricating evidence, malicious prosecution and suppression of material exculpatory evidence. A judge ruled Lee was liable for fabricating evidence and said the rest of the claims could go to trial. State Superior Court Judge Karen Goodrow, who was the director of Connecticut's Innocence Project, which was instrumental in getting the towel retested, is on the list to testify at the trial. Lee, a renowned forensic scientist and a professor emeritus at the University of New Haven, denied he had fabricated evidence in a letter sent to the media after judge's ruling. The office of state Attorney General William Tong initially appealed the ruling, but later reached a deal for the $25 million settlement, which was approved by the state legislature this year."
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STORY: "New Milford agrees to settle with man wrongly convicted in 1985 case involving Henry Lee," by Crime Reporter Lisa Backus, published by CTInsider, on October 29, 2024. (Lisa Backus is a local, state and national award-winning crime reporter who covers breaking news and criminal justice policy for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. When she's not working she can be found hanging out with her animal companions Spot and Morgan and her six grandchildren.)
PHOTO CAPTION: Ralph Birch, left, and Shawn Henning seen in 2020 leaving Superior Court in Torrington, after having all charges against them dismissed by a state judge due to erroneous testimony by famed criminologist Henry Lee that was used to secure their convictions."
GIST: "Town officials agreed Monday to settle a federal lawsuit with one of two men exonerated after serving about 30 years for a murder they didn't commit.
Ralph "Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning were exonerated after serving nearly 30 years for the 1985 murder of Everett Carr, and had filed a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit against the town and the state.
Both men settled their lawsuit with the state for $25 million.
Henning indicated in court papers that he also was willing to settle with the town but Birch is not so inclined.
As of Thursday, jury selection in a trial of the case was slated to begin in March, according to federal court documents.
But, on Monday, the Town Council approved a settlement with Henning, according to Mayor Pete Bass.
No other details of the settlement were available as of 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The settlement would also have to be approved by the town's Board of Finance and by residents during a special meeting, court papers said.
The process could go into December.
The convictions were based on false information provided during their trial by renowned state forensic scientist Henry Lee, which led to a judge overturning their convictions in 2019.
The men contended in a lawsuit filed against Lee, the state, the town of New Milford and individual New Milford and state police officers that they were the victims of malicious prosecution.
The pair was convicted of killing 65-year-old Carr in his daughter's New Milford home when they were teenagers.
After a judge ruled Lee was liable for damages in the case earlier this year, state officials settled with Henning and Birch for $25 million.
The state then was removed from the lawsuit and a panel of appellate judges concluded that the lawsuit against the town and its individual officers could move forward.
Evidence presented in 2019 led to their convictions being overturned the following year when new testing concluded that a towel Lee said previously had tested positive for blood did not contain a bloodstain.
It also was determined that there was no documentation that the item ever had been been tested while Lee was in charge of the state Division of Scientific Services.
The trial is expected to focus on whether local police ignored evidence that would have pointed to the men's innocence.
In one case, Officer Steve Jordan withheld from prosecutors and the defense that he had found an envelope at the crime scene that contained $1,000, the documents show.
The existence of the money called into question the prosecution's theory that Carr was killed during a botched burglary, court papers filed in the lawsuit said.
Attorneys for Birch and Henning would also be expected to introduce evidence regarding Officer David Shortt, who his attorneys said failed to intervene when a state police detective may have coached an inmate close to Birch into saying false statements about his involvement in the murder, documents said.
Shortt since has died and the administrator of his estate is being sued by Birch and Henning.
The men suffered greatly in prison but did not rack up any disciplinary violations and were held in high regard by staff, court papers said.
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/shawn-henning-ralph-birch-new-milford-murder-19871209.php
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;
