Monday, October 2, 2023

Reminder: International Wrongful Convictions Day: (Canadian cases): Zoom Pane: October 2, 2023. 1:00 EST:

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REMINDER: INTERNATIONAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION DAY: (CANADIAN CASES): October 2, 2023: PANELISTS  SHERRY SHERRET-ROBINSON, TAMMY MARQUARDT, DIN...

International Wrongful Conviction Day: (Part Two): Susan Neill-Fraser: Tasmania, Australia: A brief report on her case:

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  On September 10, 2014, I published  a post  headed, "18 days to Wrongful Conviction Day: New appeal hope for con...

International Wrongful Conviction Day 2023 (Part One): Guest Post: Robyn Milera ( South Australia) who has spent 30 years of her life battling to exonerate her brother-in-law Derek Bromley, describes the rocky journey a family member must expect to undergo when responding to injustice, and much more… "It started like this: an invitation from God to notice a prisoner and simply ‘sit’ with him. It was an invitation. I was never put upon. No one forced me to abandon a teaching career, I knew Derek and his predicament well enough to accept that it was going to take focus and availability. That is the essence of my involvement - not heroic, not showy, nothing to brag about, I didn’t have any superpowers. Let me tell you though, when you receive a complementary ticket to just ‘take a seat and watch this’, it’s not as passive as it sounds. It’s a moving train; it’s an immersion in which everything you see, hear and experience is undergoing, disruption and transformation, including your well-hidden self. Justice is a process. I don’t want to draw attention to my own trauma. The media loves it and needs it, but it’s a very vulnerable situation. I don’t like it, but, it’s necessary here to testify to the fact that responding to injustice can be painful and costly, without a doubt. Even just sitting with someone else’s burden for a long time, is transformative."

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PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION: "On October 2, 2020,  I devoted my  International Wrongful Conviction Day post to adding my voice to the ...
Sunday, October 1, 2023

'13 Investigates.' (Part Two): (Shaken Baby Syndrome): Kristina Kerlus: Las Vegas: '13 Investigates' (KTNV) sets out to expose justice system failures that tear families apart, with a focus on her case, in a story headed, 'Legal deck stacked against parents falsely accused of murdering their children.'…"This case, to me, is the most tragic, unjust case I've ever had," said Las Vegas Defense Attorney Ryan Helmick, who represented Kristina. "It didn't make sense factually from the beginning at all. I felt like it was rubber-stamped, so to speak." Helmick was able to get the case dismissed after Pediatric Forensic Pathologist Dr. Evan Matshes found what he called a clear-cut medical cause for Jocai's death. Looking at a slide, Dr. Matshes describes, "A very large, dilated and dead blood vessel which died while Jocai was still alive and ruptured, resulting in this bleeding. It's died because it's fully clotted off with sickled cells." Jocai--born with Sickle Cell Trait--had died a natural death from complications of Sickle Cell Disease. Dr. Matshes used the same medical evidence the Clark County Coroner used but saw what they failed to see."

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REMINDER: INTERNATIONAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION DAY: (CANADIAN CASES): October 2, 2023: PANELISTS  SHERRY SHERRET-ROBINSON, TAMMY MARQUARDT, DIN...

13 Investigates: (Part One): (Shaken Baby Syndrome): Kristina Kerlus: Las Vegas; (Chief Investigative Reporter Darcy Spears) reports on KTNV that Kristina Kerlus lost her baby and then then her freedom after being wrongfully accused in a shaken baby syndrome case…"Nine months after losing her baby, Kerlus lost her freedom when she was arrested and charged with murder for shaking Jocai so violently that it led to his death. "I have zero faith in the justice system. It's a joke to me," she said. Child Protective Services took Kerlus and Davis's other three children, placing them in their aunt's care. "I was falsely accused! For four years, my children were removed from me! I couldn't find work," Kerlus told 13 Investigates."

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REMINDER: INTERNATIONAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION DAY: (CANADIAN CASES): October 2, 2023: PANELISTS  SHERRY SHERRET-ROBINSON, TAMMY MARQUARDT, DIN...