PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "After Birch's and Henning's convictions were overturned in 2019, authorities said their convictions were based on evidence fabricated by state forensic scientist Henry Lee during their trial. Lee had testified during Birch’s and Henning’s separate trials that a towel with a reddish smear tested positive for blood. The case’s prosecutor contended Birch and Henning cleaned up after the killing, based on Lee’s testimony, though Carr’s blood was not found on either man. An appeal of the men’s convictions later proved Lee had never tested the towel and the stains weren’t blood."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Birch and Henning contended they were victims of malicious prosecution in a lawsuit they filed against Lee, the state of Connecticut, the town of New Milford and individual New Milford police officers and state police officers. After a judge ruled Lee was liable for damages, state officials settled with Birch and Henning for $25 million in March 2024, and the state was removed from the lawsuit."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "The town of New Milford asked a federal judge to throw out the $5.7 million award after contending there was no evidence to suggest local officers improperly gathered evidence in the murder case. However, Birch’s attorneys contended that New Milford officers should have known the trial’s jailhouse informant was coached and given information on the murder by a state police detective working the case."
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STORY: "New Milford approves payoff of $7.6M wrongful murder conviction case using multiple funding sources," by Staff Writer Kaitlin Keane, published by CT Insider, on June 10 2025.
GIST: "Within the span of a four-minute meeting, the town of New Milford voted a plan for awarding a $7,659,000 settlement to one of two men wrongfully convicted of murder in 1985.
0:30
A special town meeting was held Monday night to vote on the payment plan to award the federal court judgment, including interest, to Ralph “Ricky” Birch, who was wrongfully convicted with Shawn Henning in the 1985 murder of Everett Carr.
Birch and Henning, both of whom were teenagers when they were charged and convicted for Carr’s murder, served more than 30 years in prison before their convictions were overturned in 2019.
"In March, a federal jury found that the negligence of the New Milford police led to Ricky Birch’s false conviction and 30 years of wrongful incarceration," said David Lebowitz, an attorney from Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick. He represented Birch in March alongside attorney Doug Lieb when Birch was awarded a $5.7 million verdict from the town of New Milford.
"It is unfortunate that the town rejected earlier chances to settle this case for far less than the amount of the judgment against it, and instead spent nearly five years fighting an innocent New Milford native in court to avoid accountability," Lebowitz said. "We’re gratified that the town has finally abandoned its strategy of deflection and delay and will comply with the court’s order to compensate Mr. Birch.”
Of the total $7,659,000 settlement, the town will make the payoff using $3.5 million from the town’s unassigned funds; $500,000 from assigned tax relief; $1 million from capital reserves; and $2.6 million from the landfill settlement, under the plan that was approved Monday night.
The Town Council voted at its May 12 meeting to pay off the settlement before moving the decision about the payment plan to its meeting on Monday.
The town did not have insurance to cover police conduct in the 1980s, according to Mayor Pete Bass.
That forced New Milford to find a way to come up with the money, which town attorney D. Randall DiBella previously said would likely involve tapping surplus cash accounts.
"As far as we’re concerned, the funds will be drawn to the order and request of attorneys Lebowitz and Lieb, and it will be paid in due course," DiBella said Tuesday.
After Birch's and Henning's convictions were overturned in 2019, authorities said their convictions were based on evidence fabricated by state forensic scientist Henry Lee during their trial.
Lee had testified during Birch’s and Henning’s separate trials that a towel with a reddish smear tested positive for blood. The case’s prosecutor contended Birch and Henning cleaned up after the killing, based on Lee’s testimony, though Carr’s blood was not found on either man.
An appeal of the men’s convictions later proved Lee had never tested the towel and the stains weren’t
Birch and Henning contended they were victims of malicious prosecution in a lawsuit they filed against Lee, the state of Connecticut, the town of New Milford and individual New Milford police officers and state police officers.
After a judge ruled Lee was liable for damages, state officials settled with Birch and Henning for $25 million in March 2024, and the state was removed from the lawsuit.
The town of New Milford agreed to settle with Henning for $2.5 million in October 2024. Birch took the lawsuit to trial, where he won a $5.7 million verdict this past March..
The town of New Milford asked a federal judge to throw out the $5.7 million award after contending there was no evidence to suggest local officers improperly gathered evidence in the murder case.
However, Birch’s attorneys contended that New Milford officers should have known the trial’s jailhouse informant was coached and given information on the murder by a state police detective working the case."
The entire story 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
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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;
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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;
