PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This could have been a scene out of Al Pacino's 'And Justice for All', which depicts a criminal justice system high on steroids. Sheriff's whipping up crack coacaine worthy of a Michelin rating, for sale to addicts, who are grateful for receiving free meals for the next three years or so thanks to the oh, so generous state. Yikes!
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor said that while his office was reviewing old records, prosecutors realized that many people have criminal charges or convictions on their records because of the sting operation,, the Associated Press reports. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Pryor said.
-------------------------------------------------------
POST: "Fl Prosecutor Tries to Void 2,600 Convictions in Crack Cocaine Sting," posted by 'Crime and Justice News.
GIST: "A Florida prosecutor will try to vacate as many as 2,600 convictions of people who bought crack cocaine manufactured by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for sting operations between 1988 and 1990.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that people couldn’t be charged in cases when the sheriff made the crack cocaine and undercover deputies sold it to buyers who were arrested and charged.
Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor said that while his office was reviewing old records, prosecutors realized that many people have criminal charges or convictions on their records because of the sting operation,, the Associated Press reports. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Pryor said.
It’s an example of how the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s led to harsh police practices and heavy criminal penalties.
Some people may have been convicted of serious felonies because they bought drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.
Conviction under that law required at the time that defendants be sentenced to at least three years in prison.
“They were arresting people not for selling, but for purchasing,” Ed Hoeg, a defense lawyer, told the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. Hoeg was a public defender who represented Leon Williams, whose appeal led to the state Supreme Court's outlawing the practice.
“They had detention deputies posing as dealers,” Hoeg said. “They would sell it, and these poor people who were addicts were buying it. And they were selling it within 1,000 feet of schools, so the penalties would be greater.”
The sheriff’s office said then that it began making crack because it didn’t have enough of the seized drug to use in its sting operations and because it didn’t have to test the cocaine content of crack made by a sheriff’s chemist."
The entire post 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;
