Friday, June 19, 2026

June 19: Research shows that how you sound on a 911 call can determine whether police treat you as a victim or a perpetrator," as The Innocence Project's Alexandria reports, in a post headed, "This Police Method Is Used to Infer Guilt From 911 Calls, But It’s Not Backed by Science," which notes that, " ProPublica investigative journalist Brett Murphy — and guest speaker in the Innocence Project’s latest Just Data conversation: “What’s Your Emergency? When Calling For Help Makes You a Suspect” — spent months documenting the adoption of these programs, which have never been backed by science. Detailing his investigation at the live virtual conversation hosted by the Innocence Project’s Data Science & Research team on May 11, Mr. Murphy was joined by Dr. Jessica Salerno, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Associate Member of the law faculty at Cornell University, who presented her research on how police form suspicion based on the sound of someone’s voice. Their findings followed Huwe Burton’s personal account of being wrongfully convicted after calling for help."

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POST : "This Police Method Is Used to Infer Guilt From 911 Calls, But It’s Not Backed by Science," by Alyxaundria Sanford, publish...
Thursday, June 18, 2026

Murder on Mount Olive: Awet Asfaha: Christopher Sheriffe: Ontario: Ongoing 'Faint Hope' Hearing: In a bid for early parole - at his ongoing 'faint hope' hearing, the Toronto Star (My former Toronto Star colleague Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan reports that, Awet Asfaha, the admitted murderer, claims he shot innocent stranger ‘to gain stripes’ with gangsters," noting that: "Asfaha was not asked in court whether his actions ever gained him approval with gangsters. Today, Asfaha said he feels great remorse over what he did. In 2017, shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada denied his appeal, Asfaha confessed to his family that he was the shooter. His sister Sara testified at the hearing, saying her brother “told me he was trying to get in with gang members.” Asfaha told court he has had many years to reflect."

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MURDER ON MOUNT OLIVE: BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog:  (June 5, 2026):  "Chris Sheriffe: Ontario: Major (most unusual) ...

June 18: Neonatal Nurse Lucy Letby: UK: (Part 2): Excellent up-to-date primer on Lucy Letby by Simone Barbon, published by 'Film Daily'. on June 14, 2026, which explains why experts' are now doubting the Lucy Letby convictions - and sets out the author's views on where the debate is heading, noting that: "The recent wave of expert re-examination has turned the Lucy Letby case from a settled verdict into an open question. International neonatologists, statisticians, and sitting MPs have filed fresh reports that challenge the medical and statistical pillars of the original prosecution. Their work now sits with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and a Netflix documentary has widened the audience asking how much of the evidence holds up."

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STORY: "Why experts now doubt the Lucy Letby Convictions," by Simone Barbon, published by 'Daily Film' on June 14, 2026. (...
Wednesday, June 17, 2026

June 17: Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby: UK; (Part 1): From our 'Eagerly Awaited' department: New book being launched by Cinto Press on July 9: "Reasonable Doubt: Examining the case of Lucy Letby," by Criminal Justice Analyst Christopher Morris, who, as his publisher tells us believes that Lucy Letby has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, that her guilty verdict is not beyond reasonable doubt, and that he is not the only one. Stay tuned. HL. Details below:..."Ever since the nurse was condemned to fifteen life sentences, highly-regarded professionals in their fields have gone on record to raise concerns about the evidence used to convict her. The science behind how her victims died, the reliance on circumstantial evidence, and the interpretation of the statistics used against Lucy Letby are all being questioned. Controversially, the defence did not call an expert witness to challenge the medical evidence presented by the prosecution. Nobody, except her lawyers, knows why."

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RELEASE: "Reasonable Doubt: Examining the Case of Lucy Letby," by Criminal Justice Analyst  Christopher Morris, who, as publisher ...
Tuesday, June 16, 2026

June 16: Charles Flores: Death Row, Texas: (Junk Science Hypnosis): Major (Unwelcome) Development: Ellie Ashby reports in the Texas Tribune that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected his submission that his conviction was improperly based on testimony from a witness who changed her recollection after hypnosis by an investigator., noting that: "Flores argued that his 1999 conviction should be overturned under the Texas “junk science” law because testimony from a key witness was improperly influenced by hypnosis performed by a police officer who was investigating the murder of 64-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Black in Dallas County. The Texas junk science law permits inmates to challenge convictions that relied on outdated or disproven scientific procedures or practices. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had declined to review Flores’ junk science claims, saying he failed to meet the state law’s requirement that new evidence be previously unavailable, among other standards. The Supreme Court rejected Flores’ request to order the Texas court to reconsider the appeal."

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Flores’ lawyer, Gretchen Sween, said his conviction “rests on the kind of testimony that is now barred from use in T...

June 16: Penile (not 'penal' HL) measurements: From our 'Dubious Scientific Evidence department: Question of the day: Can penis measurements justify a sexual offender's indefinite detention? Explored by Jake Sullum in 'Reason." in a commentary sub-headed, "The court (South Carolina's top court HL) unanimously ruled that penile plethysmography (PPG) is unreliable and inadmissible as evidence of recidivism risk.'..."The scientific community appears polarized as to whether to recognize the PPG as a diagnostic tool for assessing sexual deviancy," Kittredge wrote. "While some experts have found the PPG inherently unreliable—based, in part, on the lack of standardization and high error rate (upwards of twenty percent)—others have concluded the opposite and found the PPG to be an accurate and reliable diagnostic tool." But "even the experts who believe the PPG to be a valuable tool in pre-commitment evaluations acknowledge the test is not standardized." That is a fatal flaw, ('Chief Justice' HL) Kittredge said...."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  " When someone is convicted of a crime, the assumption is that he deserves to be punished because he had the abili...
Monday, June 15, 2026

June 15: Child Abuse Pediatricians: Parents Beware! Major (Welcome) Development: Illinois moves closer to protecting parents from flawed investigations of potential child abuse with a bill, passed unanimously by lawmakers, and now goes to the governor's desk: As Evan Holden reports in IPM News: "The bill requires child abuse pediatricians — investigators at the hospital who look at medical records to determine if there is potential child abuse — to state who they are to parents as they start an investigation. It also allows parents to get a second opinion and use that during court hearings."... "Alan Novick is a recently retired lawyer from Bloomington who spent 35 years in abuse and neglect court. Until recently, he served on the board of the Family Justice Resource Center, a Peoria-based organization that helps parents navigate child abuse cases. Novick said pediatricians don’t always indicate whether they are reporting findings to the Department of Children and Family Services [DCFS] that could lead to parents not seeing the reports, or knowing their legal rights until the day of the trial. Novick said the bill would change that “by causing the pediatrician to indicate what they’re really doing there” and tell the parents about their right to a second opinion."

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QUOTE  OF THE DAY: " Sometimes kids have a vitamin D deficiency, he said, that is most of the time a genetic condition, or other geneti...