the charles smith blog
Monday, October 28, 2024
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.”
›
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " State Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth) said she thinks Burton’s work is the “most criminal thing” that she’s e...
Iwao Hakamada; Japan: Part Three; Collateral Damage; Judge Morimichi Kumamoto: ''The Japanese Judge and the Boxer he sentenced to death'. No Attribution. The tragic story of Norimichi Kumamoto who headed the three judge panel that convicted professional boxer Iwao Hakamada of murder and sentencing him to death - only to becoming obsessed with exonerating him and saving his life… "In 2007, after a silence of 39 years, Kumamoto broke the rule that trial judges must keep their deliberations secret. He petitioned for Hakamada's retrial adding his voice to those calling for the same. "I could not bear my tortured conscience and so I quit my judgeship the following year [in 1969],” Kumamoto wrote in his petition. “Of course, I understand that I must keep the secrets of the tribunal. But I have been losing my physical and mental strength. I thought that it would be my last chance to bring about the retrial of Hakamada.”
›
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Now that Iwao Hakamada, now 88-years-old has been exonerated - and the Japanese courts have found that he was victim o...
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Robert Roberson: Death Row Texas: Update: While the war of words between the varying branches of government has ensued ever since, Texas lawmakers are working on a face-to-face with him, Governor Abbott and AG Paxton continue to push for the execution, along with eight House Republicans who have filed an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court, WFAA (Journalist Michael McArdle) reports… "Rep. Leach stresses he and other lawmakers aren’t looking to release Roberson onto the street tomorrow, arguing instead for a new trial. For now, the Texas Supreme Court has only delayed Roberson’s execution. But the clock has been reset and there’s no new date yet."
›
QUOTE OF THE DAY: " According to the Associated Press, Roberson would have been the first person in the U.S. to be executed over a &quo...
›
Home
View web version