BACKGROUND: "From a previous post of this Blog: "Discredited former lab analyst Mary Jane Burton: Virginia: Half-hearted effort to identify individuals who may have been convicted because of her tainted work? (Sure looks like it! HL); VPM (Reporter Megan Pauly) reports that the Virginia State Crime Commission has recommended a deeper view of her work. noting that some critics are deeply concerned by the number of people convicted whose evidence was analyzed by Burton…"Del. Charniele Herring (D–Alexandria), majority leader for Virginia’s House of Delegates and chair of the Crime Commission, said she gets a lump in her throat every time she sees the number of people convicted whose evidence was analyzed by Burton. She thinks further review of Burton’s work — and potential legislative changes — are warranted to ensure more innocent people were not wrongfully convicted. “The number of executions… it weighs heavy,” Herring told VPM News. “I'm glad we got rid of the death penalty in Virginia, because people can make mistakes, or intentionally falsify evidence.”
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It’s not entirely clear how a “pattern of misconduct” would be established, but House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R–Shenandoah) is confident the expert panel would be able to make that determination, if and when necessary. Gilbert said the deeper review is “long overdue,” adding that “it's high time that we find out what the consequences of her actions were.”
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STORY: "Crime Commission endorses deeper review of Mary Jane Burton case," by Reporter Megan Pauly, published by NPR VPM PBS on January 17, 2025. (Megan Pauly reports on early childhood and higher education news in Virginia.)
SUB-HEADING: "General Assembly, Gov. Glenn Youngkin still have to approve the bill."
GIST: Lawmakers on the Virginia Crime Commission have endorsed legislation that, if passed, would require a deeper case review of all criminal cases that former state serologist Mary Jane Burton handled in the 1970s and ‘80s.
The legislation calls for creation of an expert panel — including, among others, a commonwealth’s attorney, a public defender, a retired circuit court judge and an independent serologist — to review Burton’s cases and determine if a “pattern of misconduct” could be established.
The Crime Commission voted unanimously Friday to approve the review, which was recommended by commission staff last year.
House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D–Fairfax), the commission’s chair, said during the December meeting “we just have to do a thorough investigation and not cut any corners in this.”
According to co-chair Sen. Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax), the Crime Commission’s endorsement means that the review is likely to sail through the General Assembly and be approved by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“Hopefully the adoption of this legislation will send the message that we're serious about getting to the bottom of this, so that people can have absolute faith in the work of the Department of Forensic Science,” Surovell told VPM News. “Because right now, I think there are questions, given this Mary Jane Burton situation.”
The General Assembly ordered the first look into the scope of Burton’s work last year following the release of the VPM podcast Admissible: Shreds of Evidence — which called into question the quality and accuracy of Burton’s lab work.
That initial review is ongoing.
Sen. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth) told VPM News she thinks a deeper review of Burton’s cases will go a long way toward “trying to correct an error that was made in years past.”
“I think it's egregious that it happened, but we need to be able to set up some process so that it doesn't happen again ever,” Lucas said.
It’s not entirely clear how a “pattern of misconduct” would be established, but House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R–Shenandoah) is confident the expert panel would be able to make that determination, if and when necessary.
Gilbert said the deeper review is “long overdue,” adding that “it's high time that we find out what the consequences of her actions were.”
If the legislation is approved by both chambers of the General Assembly and Youngkin, the Crime Commission would then need to vote to select members for the expert panel.
During Friday’s meeting, Deputy Attorney General Theo Stamos suggested adding a member of the attorney general’s office to the review panel. The move was ultimately agreed upon, but hinged on the Virginia State Bar not finding a conflict of interest from OAG’s involvement.
House Speaker Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) suggested the commission get an informal opinion from the state bar before formally adding an additional representative to the panel."
The entire story can be read at:
herring-surovell-crime-commission-deeper-review-mary-jane-burton-admissible
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;
