PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Henning and Birch were 17 and 18 years old, respectively, when they were charged with murder in the death of Carr, who was stabbed 27 times. Birch and Henning had separate trials and, in each, Lee testified that a towel with a reddish smear tested positive for blood. While the victim’s blood was not found on either Birch or Henning, the prosecutor argued the men cleaned up after the killing, based on Lee’s testimony. Three decades later, the state Supreme Court exonerated the men after an appeal of their convictions proved that Lee had never tested the towel and that the stains weren't blood."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Birch's attorneys also contended in the trial that New Milford officers should have known than an out-of-state inmate who claimed Birch had told him he committed the murder was coached and given information on the murder by a state police detective working the case — a fact that local officers would have known but chose to proceed with the arrests anyway."
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STORY: "New Milford seeks to avoid paying wrongfully convicted man $5.7 million judgement, documents say," by Staff Writer Lisa Backus, published on May 6, 2025. (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.)
PHOTO CAPTION: "Ralph Birch, left, and Shawn Henning, seen in 2020 leaving state 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: New Milford: The town has asked a federal judge to throw out a $5.7 million jury award to Ralph "Ricky" Birch, one of two men wrongfully convicted in the local murder of Everett Carr, contending there is no evidence to suggest that local officers improperly gathered evidence.
But a legal team with Kaufamn Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP representing Birch disagrees.
"After listening to a tape recording of a detective providing the star witness in a bogus murder case with details about the crime that the witness did not otherwise know, could a reasonable jury find that the detective fabricated evidence and that his partner was negligent in failing to intercede?" the team said in a memorandum of law asking the judge to deny New Milford's motion. "To ask the question is to answer it. As the Court has already repeatedly held, the evidence in this case more than suffices to support a verdict in plaintiff’s favor."
Birch won the $5.7 million award after filing a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state of Connecticut, the town of New Milford and some of the officers involved in the case. Co-defendant Shawn Henning settled with the town of New Milford in October 2024 for $2.5 million. Meanwhile, Birch took the lawsuit to trial in March, winning the $5.7 million verdict.
Birch and Henning were teens when they were charged and convicted in Carr's 1985 murder. Both men served nearly 30 years in prison before new information came to light calling into question the evidence gathered by renowned state forensic scientist Henry Lee and state and local police.
A judge overturned their convictions in 2019. The men contended in a federal 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 fabricated evidence, malicious prosecution and a suppression of material exculpatory evidence.
After a judge ruled Lee was liable for damages in 2024, 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.
Henning and Birch were 17 and 18 years old, respectively, when they were charged with murder in the death of Carr, who was stabbed 27 times. Birch and Henning had separate trials and, in each, Lee testified that a towel with a reddish smear tested positive for blood. While the victim’s blood was not found on either Birch or Henning, the prosecutor argued the men cleaned up after the killing, based on Lee’s testimony.
Three decades later, the state Supreme Court exonerated the men after an appeal of their convictions proved that Lee had never tested the towel and that the stains weren't blood.
Birch's attorneys also contended in the trial that New Milford officers should have known than an out-of-state inmate who claimed Birch had told him he committed the murder was coached and given information on the murder by a state police detective working the case — a fact that local officers would have known but chose to proceed with the arrests anyway.
New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said in late March that the town wouldn't appeal the verdict.
But attorneys for the town filed a motion for judgement and an offset of the $5.7 million verdict in April on claims that the state police detective didn't provide the jailhouse informant with any information regarding Carr's murder, which would mean that there was "no legally sufficient evidentiary basis" for the verdict which should be overturned, documents said.
Birch's attorneys, however, said in their opposition to the motion to throw out the verdict that "a reasonable jury could find" that the jailhouse informant was improperly coached and that a New Milford officer witnessed the coaching.
The federal court record doesn't indicate when a judge will rule on the motions."
The entire story can be read at:
ralph-birch-everett-carr-new-milford-murder-20312566.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;
