Sunday, August 14, 2022

Richard Glossip: Death Row; Oklahoma: Execution date: September 22;; (False confession case/ missing or destroyed evidence/lack of physical; proof): Supporter's message to the parole board, as he files for clemency: 'We still have a chance to get this right,' KFOR (Reporter Ashley Moss) reports...“I’m hopeful that we can get to a point that the Court of Criminal Appeals will do the right thing on behalf of Oklahoma. And let’s go to this hearing and allow everybody to bring their evidence to the table. And I guarantee you, if they do that, Richard Glossip walks out a free man and should have never, ever been on death row or even in prison in the state of Oklahoma,” he added. “Every Oklahoman should say and demand, ‘Hey, we want the truth here before we execute a guy,’” said Knight. “We have a chance still to get this right.”

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  " The newly filed petition centers on new evidence, including testimonies from unheard witnesses and a handwritten...

ExperTox Lab: Scientist Ernest Lykissa: Texas: Here we go again! Another beleaguered American drug testing lab: Not just a censure - but a two year suspension of its licence to do drug testing in criminal cases for its 'professional misconduct' in relation to a Pennsylvania sex assault case - and impact on other cases, NBC Dallas/Fort Worth (Reporter Scott Gordon) reports..."In a July interview with investigators, (Lab Director Ernest) Lykissa said “ExperTox does not have a forensically validated hair-testing method” and acknowledged the lidocaine test result in the Pennsylvania case was “well below” its own reporting threshold, the commission said. Furthermore, ExperTox never produced its raw data validating its test, which the law requires labs to keep, the panel said. Prosecutors dropped the rape case for lack of evidence."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Fort Worth defense attorney Christy Jack represents a former Waco daycare owner convicted in 2015 of murdering a c...
Saturday, August 13, 2022

Massive miscarriages of justice: (From our 'Tip of the Iceberg' department): Notorious Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara: Kim Foxx: The prosecutor who is seeking justice for his innocent victims, in what The Daily Mail suggests could be "America's biggest miscarriages of justice." (Link below)..."Kimberly Foxx: August 10: “Today the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office acted on our obligation as seekers of justice and took measured and necessary steps to right the wrongs of the past,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. “A comprehensive case-by-case review of these cases revealed police misconduct by Guevara that called the validity of these convictions into question, and we concluded that the totality of the evidence currently available is insufficient to support a retrial of these cases. As we work to rebuild trust in our justice system, I’m grateful for the attorneys in this office who continue to seek justice, restore trust, and address the historic inequities of Cook County’s criminal justice system.”

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  KIM FOXX: AUGUST 10:  “When it became clear that the allegations of misconduct against Guevara had significant merit, w...

Roman Zadorov: The case Israeli's are consumed with: (False confessions, an inquisitive cellmate, an alternative suspect), juicy forensic issues and a whole lot more! HL); Author Ruth Margalit asks 'Who killed Tair Rada" as she takes the reader on a gripping trip inside what she calls, "Israel's true crime obsession."..."These days, the group — “The Whole Truth About the Murder Case of Tair Rada, of Blessed Memory” — numbers some 200,000 people, the equivalent of a large Israeli city, representing a “hub of anti-establishment activity,” Lev-On noted. Its members also use the platform to call attention to other perceived instances of state overreach. For some, the interest is political: Just as Zdorov has fallen victim to an overzealous prosecution, they argue, so has Netanyahu in his corruption trial. In 2020, Netanyahu’s son Yair tweeted that Zdorov and another man who was convicted of burning the home of a Palestinian family in 2015 “are innocent!!!” In the case of Zdorov, supporters function as “semi-experts,” as Lev-On put it. On any given day, it seems, members of the group pore over court documents, debate distinctions between cuts made by serrated and smooth knife blades and crosscheck witness testimonies for possible holes. Many attend the trial and use courtroom lunch breaks to take selfies with Zdorov. They contend that the police used borderline-illegal subterfuge to gain Zdorov’s confession. No attorney, for example, was present in the room at the time of his confession (though the interrogations were all taped). When Zdorov said that he had stabbed Tair in the forearm, an investigator can be heard correcting him: “The wrist.” “Yes,” Zdorov replies. There was Zdorov’s hesitance before leading investigators to the girls’ bathroom, suggesting, his supporters argue, that he didn’t know where the crime took place and was merely trying to placate the officers. And there was the absence of his DNA inside the small stall. Perhaps most significant, his supporters believe, was a trail of bloody shoe prints on and around the toilet seat, which did not fit Zdorov’s shoe size. The prosecution successfully argued in the first trial that they most likely originated with someone from the search party or one of the paramedics. But Yarom Halevy, Zdorov’s current defense attorney, secured a new trial last year in part by sowing doubt on that assumption. Relying on testimony from the head of Israel’s National Forensic Institute, Halevy claimed that Tair’s blood dripped on those shoe prints, suggesting that they were imprinted at the time of the murder — not five hours later, when Rada’s body was found. This, Halevy asserted, meant that the shoe prints could have belonged only to the murderer himself. Or “herself,” as he ominously put it."

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  PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " After 10 months of twice-weekly hearings, the retrial of Roman Zdorov is winding down. Over the next two months...