Bulletin: Sonja Farak: Massachusetts: The former state chemist's bail has been revoked after she tested positive for cocaine; The Daily Hampshire Gazette;

STORY: "Bail revoked for former state drug chemist Sonja Farak after she tests positive for cocaine," by reporter Bob Dunn, published by the  Daily Hampshire Gazette on December 23, 2013.

GIST: " Instead of spending the holidays with her family, former drug lab chemist Sonja Farak will spend the rest of 2013 in custody after violating her bail conditions. Farak, 35, of Northampton has pleaded not guilty to four counts each of evidence tampering and larceny of a drug and two counts of possessing a Class B drug (cocaine). Hampshire Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup on Monday granted the prosecution’s request to revoke Farak’s bail after cocaine was found in her system during a random drug test. Farak was a chemist at the state drug lab on the University of Massachusetts campus until she was arrested in January after state police were contacted about discrepancies in its drug evidence inventory. Farak is accused of removing drug samples from the lab, replacing them with other materials and keeping the narcotics for her own personal use, according to Assistant Attorney General Beth Lux who appeared in Hampshire Superior Court Monday to argue for the revocation of bail......... According to Lux and the Probation Department, Farak submitted to a random drug screening on Monday as part of the conditions of release on $5,000 bail she posted at her arraignment in January in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown. Farak’s drug test on Monday reacted positively for cocaine, according to Lux. Before testing, Farak denied having any drugs in her system, Lux said. When confronted with the positive result, Farak admitted to snorting “a few lines” of cocaine at a party the previous Friday night, according to Lux......... Farak will be held at the Western Mass Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee. She is expected to appear in court on Jan. 3 to enter a change of plea."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.gazettenet.com/news/townbytown/northampton/9931572-95/bail-revoked-for-former-state-drug-lab-chemist-sonja-farak-after-she-tests-positive

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:


hlevy15@gmail.com;


Sent from my iPad

Neal Robbins: Texas; The Courier of Montgomery County describes this as "the first test case for a new Texas law enabling prisoners to file subsequent appeals based on a change in expert testimony in their case."(Must Read. HL);

STORY: "Neal Robbins attorneys use new state law to request new trial," published by the Courier of Montgomery County on December 15, 2013.

GIST: "In what will be the first test case for a new Texas state law enabling prisoners to file subsequent appeals based on a change in expert testimony in their case, attorneys for Neal Hampton Robbins, 38, plan on submitting a brief in the next three weeks stating Robbins was convicted on testimony that has since been deemed unsubstantiated and subsequently unfair, said Robbins’ attorney, Brian Wice. Under the new law, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 11.073, Judge K. Michael Mayes of the 410th District Court in Montgomery County recommended Oct. 21 that Robbins get a new trial.........Robbins was convicted of Capital Murder by a Montgomery County criminal jury in 1999, for the May 2, 1998, death of 17-month old Tristan Rivet. Robbins’ conviction centered, in part, on the testimony of then-Harris County associate medical examiner Patricia Moore, who in 2007, reversed her medical opinion that had been central to Robbins’ being convicted in the infant’s death. Moore, and a subsequent review by Moore’s former employers with the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office seven years after Robbins’ conviction, later found that they no longer stood by Moore’s medical findings that the infant Rivet was asphyxiated at the time of her death. Instead concluding, as now did Moore, that the 17-month old’s cause of death was “undetermined”. At the time of Robbins’ conviction, Moore’s testimony was a key portion of the evidence in the case that a crime had occurred. In 2010, Mayes recommended the case should go to the state Court of Criminal Appeals based on Moore’s and HCMEO’s reversal of their previous medical opinion, where by a 5 to 4 vote, a panel of CCA judges rejected Robbins’ request for a new trial. Wice said Sunday, he intends to file a brief requesting a new trial for Robbins, who is currently serving life in prison. “The state expert, who’s testimony was responsible for convicting a defendant for capital murder with a life sentence, can no longer stand by the accuracy of her expert opinion,” Wice said. “Therefore you don’t need to be a legal scholar to conclude that the result of the (1999) trial was unreliable, and thus the trial itself was fundamentally unfair.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/neal-robbins-attorneys-use-new-state-law-to-request-new/article_1168baa5-4db5-51c9-8311-7ee933e535d3.html


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;

The San Antonio Four: Grits for Breakfast post on how the recently enacted Texas junk science writ has been lauded "in the national press." (Must Read. HL);

POST:  "San Antonio Four case, Texas junk science writ lauded in national press," by  Scott Henson, published in his superb Blog  "Grits for Breakfast" on December 17, 2013.

GIST: "A couple of national stories - from USA Today and Time magazine deserve Grits' readers attention related to theSan Antonio Four case and Texas' new law allowing habeas corpus writs for convictions based on junk science. Mike Ware, pictured at right, who's a member of the Innocence Project of Texas board of directors, was lead attorney on the case. The new law was championed in the Texas Legislature by state Sen. John Whitmire and state Rep. Sylvester Turner"

The entire story can be found at:

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.ca/2013/12/san-antonio-four-case-texas-junk.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;

The San Antonio Four; Dan and Fran Keller; USA Today story says Texas is leading the trend to challenging forensic evidence in U.S. courts. Cites the state's new "junk science writ" law.

STORY: "Texas leads trend in challenging forensic evidence," by reporter Rick Jervis,  published by USA Today on December 16, 2013.

GIST:  For 16 years, Elizabeth Ramirez endured supervised life at the Texas state prison in Marlin, praying and hoping that one day she'd be freed for a crime she insists never occurred. Last month, she walked out of jail - thanks in part to a new Texas law that allows inmates to challenge faulty forensic science used in their prosecution. Ramirez, 39, is one of four women known as the "San Antonio Four" who were convicted more than a decade ago amid child abuse charges and allegations of Satanic ritual abuse. All have been released. For 16 years, Elizabeth Ramirez endured supervised life at the Texas state prison in Marlin, praying and hoping that one day she'd be freed for a crime she insists never occurred. Last month, she walked out of jail - thanks in part to a new Texas law that allows inmates to challenge faulty forensic science used in their prosecution. Ramirez, 39, is one of four women known as the "San Antonio Four" who were convicted more than a decade ago amid child abuse charges and allegations of Satanic ritual abuse. All have been released..........Ramirez and her co-defendants are part of an emerging trend across the USA of inmates who believe they were wrongly convicted challenging forensic science to spur their release. Glamorized by TV shows such asCSI: Crime Scene Investigation, techniques long believed to be irrefutable - hair and fiber matching, arson investigations, even fingerprinting - are being challenged in court and closely scrutinized by state and federal agencies.........The U.S. Justice Department and FBI last year launched a review of thousands of criminal cases involving hair and fiber examinations. Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced the creation of the National Commission on Forensic Science to investigate the techniques. Somewhat surprisingly, Texas, home to one of the toughest penal codes in the USA and the nation's leader in executions, is at the forefront of the effort, said Stephen Saloom, policy director of the New York-based Innocence Project, a non-profit group that helps exonerate wrongfully accused people. A Texas Forensic Science Commission was recently formed to look into forensic techniques used in convictions. Earlier this year, Texas lawmakers enacted the "Junk Science Writ" law, which allows inmates to challenge faulty or outdated forensic science using newer studies - the first of its kind in the nation, Saloom said. Meanwhile, the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office is reviewing old arson cases. The need for forensic review is mounting, Saloom said.........Since the Junk Science Writ was enacted in September, two Texas cases have been reviewed and their defendants released. The women in the San Antonio Four case, all friends, were convicted and sent to prison in the late 1990s after two of Ramirez's nieces, then ages 7 and 9, accused them of sexually assaulting them during a stay at her apartment. Lawyers for the women were able to show that expert testimony alleging the girls' genitals were scarred by abuse was inaccurate by today's standards. Earlier this month, two other high-profile defendants - Dan and Fran Keller - were released in Austin after serving more than two decades on ritual child abuse allegations. The Kellers were convicted in 1992 and sentenced to 48 years in prison after therapists testified that three children attending Fran Keller's home-based daycare told them they were victimized by the Kellers in Satanic rituals, sexually assaulted in videotaped sessions and flown to Mexico to participate in bizarre rituals........."This is not just a Texas problem. This is happening all over the country," Saloom said. "Texas just happens to be a leader in its willingness to reconsider convictions based on such evidence."http://www.delawareonline.com/usatoday/article/3992313

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;

Sent from my iPad

Bulletin: Sonja Farak; Massachusetts: Two more narcotics cases dropped as prosecution says it has run out of resources to retest all of the cases the indicted former state chemist has handled; The Republican;

STORY: "Actions of indicted state chemist Sonja Farak cause 2 more Springfield cases to be dropped," by reporter Buffy Spencer, published by The Republican on December 17, 2013.

GIST:  "Two more narcotics cases involving defendants in Hampden Superior Court have fallen victim to the actions of indicted state chemist Sonja Farak who is accused of evidence tampering and theft.........As of November, 208 pending Hampden Superior Court drug cases had been dismissed because Farak is not available to testify about her testing of the drugs, according to the district attorney's office. New trials are being sought in dozens cases involving convictions based on drug testing by the indicted chemist. A judge in the superior court has already heard motions to grant new trials to 15 defendants who were convicted or entered guilty pleas in cases involving drug testing by Farak; thus far, two of those defendants were granted new trials. In granting the new trials, Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder concluded in November, “There is powerful evidence that this was not the first time (Jan. 18) that Farak tampered with drug samples at the Amherst Lab.” Kinder wrote in his opinion that he believed Farak had been tampering with drugs as far back as the summer of 2012.........In the Hampshire Superior Court case against Farak, 35, of Northampton, she has denied all charges against her. Those include four counts each of evidence tampering and larceny of drugs and two counts of possession of cocaine. She was one of two chemists at the drug testing laboratory run by the state police and located on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. She is only charged with the crimes for Jan. 18, the day before she was arrested. The prosecution is ordering retesting of drug samples in some cases, but there are not enough resources to retest all cases she handled, Flannery said. There are the pending cases, which have not got to a trial date, in which Farak was involved, according to Flannery. Defense lawyers during the hearings before Kinder questioned repeatedly why it appears no entity is investigating the scope of Farak’s criminal activity to see if she should face more charges of drug theft of tampering on other dates.........Farak is scheduled for trial on Feb. 5 in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton. She has denied the charges against her."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/actions_of_indicted_state_chem_1.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;

Email

Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh and Anna Vasquez" The "San Antonio Four." Columnist Judith Levine's take on "punishment without Crime," in "Seven Days." (Must read. HL);

STORY: "Punishment without crime," by Judith Levine, published by "Seven Days" (Vermont's independent voice)  on December 4, 2013.

GIST: "After reading an exposé in a local paper, one of the “victims,” by now a young woman, recanted, tearfully recounting how her father — whose repeated advances were spurned by Ramirez — coerced her into lying about the “abuse.” In a letter, she asked her aunt’s forgiveness. “I was only 7,” she wrote, “and I was scared.” Kellogg signed an affidavit saying that, had she known then what she knows now about sexual-abuse forensics, she would not have come to the same conclusion. In fact, she should have known then. In 1992, Kenneth Lanning, the FBI’s eminent behavioral scientist and sex-crime expert, released a report shedding serious doubt on the existence of satanic abuse. In 1994, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect concluded a five-year nationwide investigation of more than 12,000 satanic-abuse accusations, most in daycare centers. It found “not a single case where there was clear corroborating evidence.” The trials were not until 1997 and 1998. Before Kellogg testified, her theory had been discredited as “junk science.” This last fact is what got the SA4 out of prison. The women’s attorneys used a new Texas law allowing retrials for people falsely convicted on junk science. The DA has agreed not to retry the women, effectively dropping the charges. It’s up to a higher court to clear their names."

The entire story can be found at:

ww.7dvt.com/2013punishment-without-crime

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;

Bulletin: Amanda Knox: Guede's handprint on the pillow from the beginning called "the signature of the crime" in her letter to the court setting out her defence. Associated Press. (Link provided to the five-page letter. (ABC News);

STORY: "Amanda Knox defends herself by email," by reporter Colleen Barry, published by Associated Press on December 17, 2013.

GIST: "Amanda Knox declared her innocence in her roommate's 2007 murder in a highly unusual email today to the Italian court hearing the case against her. The former US exchange student also said she was staying away from the trial out of fear of being wrongly convicted. ''I didn't kill. I didn't rape. I didn't rob. I didn't plot. I didn't instigate. I didn't kill Meredith," Knox wrote.........Defense lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said that the changing scenarios for the murder and the lack of Knox's motive were weak points - and that in there is not sufficient evidence to convict. ''The lack of motive alone is a reason for acquittal," Dalla Vedova. He added that ''there was a lack of proof, and consequently doubt." While prosecutors have pointed to Knox's DNA on the presume murder weapon and that of the victim on the blade, Dalla Vedova argued that it doesn't make sense for the defendants to have carried the kitchen knife from Sollecito's apartment to murder Kercher, then put it back at his house. A murderer, he said, would have more likely tossed the weapon into the ravine below the house where the young women lived. The defense has said Knox used the knife for domestic purposes and that the DNA trace attributed to Kercher has been put into question. Dalla Vedova said Knox was a victim of ''judicial harassment" starting from the long interrogations without a lawyer. She said Knox should have been dropped from the investigation, along with Sollecito, when a bloody handprint on a pillow in Kercher's bedroom pointed to Guede. ''Guede's handprint on the pillow from the beginning was the signature of the crime,"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/9528946/Amanda-Knox-defends-herself-via-email

Read the five-page letter(ABC News):

http://abcnews.go.com/International/page/amanda-knoxs-letter-court-appeals-florence-21248920

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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

I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com;