Garr Keith Hardin: Jeffrey Dewayne Clark: Kentucky; Momentous Development. Kentucky's highest ocurt vacates their "satanic abuse} convictions and orders a new trial. (May the authorities quickly throw in the towel and put an end to this madness. HL)..." "The evidence seemed compelling: a broken chalice, a blood-soaked rag and a single hair on a lifeless body in what prosecutors described as a gruesome human sacrifice to Satan. It was enough for a jury to convict Jeffrey Dewayne Clark and Garr Keith Hardin at the height of the satanic abuse scare of the 1980s and 1990s, sending them to a Kentucky prison for more than 20 years. But since their 1995 trial, DNA evidence has shown the hair didn't belong to Hardin, and the blood wasn't from a sacrificial ritual but from Hardin cutting himself on the chalice's jagged edge."..." During the trial, prosecutors said Hardin and Clark were devil worshippers and they killed Warford as part of a satanic ritual. To support this theory, they showed the jury a broken chalice and blood-soaked rag found in Hardin's bedroom. They said the blood came from an animal that Hardin had sacrificed. And Detective Mark Handy testified that Hardin had told him he "got tired of looking at animals and began to want to do human sacrifices." The only evidence prosecutors had tying Hardin to the scene was a single hair found on Warford's sweatpants that an expert testified "matched" Hardin. But the science behind that analysis has since been discredited, and DNA analysis years later showed the hair did not come from Hardin. Also, DNA analysis showed the blood in the rag was Hardin's blood, not an animal that had been sacrificed to Satan. Plus, it was later revealed that Handy "testified falsely under oath" in another trial that resulted in the false murder conviction of another man, who was not exonerated until 2009."

STORY: "Kentucky court orders new trial in satanic killing case," by reporter Adam Beam, (AP), published by ABC News on August 24, 2017.

GIST: "The evidence seemed compelling: a broken chalice, a blood-soaked rag and a single hair on a lifeless body in what prosecutors described as a gruesome human sacrifice to Satan. It was enough for a jury to convict Jeffrey Dewayne Clark and Garr Keith Hardin at the height of the satanic abuse scare of the 1980s and 1990s, sending them to a Kentucky prison for more than 20 years. But since their 1995 trial, DNA evidence has shown the hair didn't belong to Hardin, and the blood wasn't from a sacrificial ritual but from Hardin cutting himself on the chalice's jagged edge. On Thursday, Kentucky's highest court vacated Clark and Hardin's convictions and ordered a new trial........."We hope this decision will persuade Commonwealth's Attorney David Williams to realize that this case was based on nothing more than far reaching conjecture that has now been completely discredited by DNA evidence and should be dismissed once and for all," said Linda Smith, Clark's attorney and the supervising attorney for the Kentucky Innocence Project. Just after midnight on April 2, 1992, Rhonda Sue Warford left her home in Louisville and never returned. Authorities found her body three days later about 50 miles away in Meade County. She had been stabbed multiple times "following a close-range, violent struggle" according to the medical examiner. Warford was dating Hardin at the time, and Clark was one of Hardin's close friends. Warford's mother told police she believed all three were involved in satanism. During the trial, prosecutors said Hardin and Clark were devil worshippers and they killed Warford as part of a satanic ritual. To support this theory, they showed the jury a broken chalice and blood-soaked rag found in Hardin's bedroom. They said the blood came from an animal that Hardin had sacrificed. And Detective Mark Handy testified that Hardin had told him he "got tired of looking at animals and began to want to do human sacrifices." The only evidence prosecutors had tying Hardin to the scene was a single hair found on Warford's sweatpants that an expert testified "matched" Hardin. But the science behind that analysis has since been discredited, and DNA analysis years later showed the hair did not come from Hardin. Also, DNA analysis showed the blood in the rag was Hardin's blood, not an animal that had been sacrificed to Satan. Plus, it was later revealed that Handy "testified falsely under oath" in another trial that resulted in the false murder conviction of another man, who was not exonerated until 2009. Prosecutors have pointed out that Hardin later confessed to the murder in hearing before the parole board and Clark has confessed to helping Hardin move the body. But the Supreme Court ruled those confessions had little merit because they were "insincere and contrived admissions, which are induced solely by the yearning to be free."

The entire story can be found at:

 http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/court-orders-trial-satanic-killing-case-49398430

See this Blog's post - on the $3.4 million compensation awarded   to Fran and Dan Keller  earlier this week, at the link  below: "

Dan and Fran Keller; Texas; Momentous Development...Wrongly convicted in 'satanic day care case,' they will receive $3.4 million compensation, The American Statesman reports..."The Keller case made national news after three children accused them in 1991 of leading ghastly satanic rituals that supposedly included desecrated graves, videotaped orgies, dismembered babies and tortured pets. No evidence of such activities was discovered at their in-home day care facility, and the case against them collapsed about two decades later when the only physical evidence of abuse was acknowledged as a mistake by the examining physician. Freed on signature bonds in 2013, the Kellers launched an effort to clear their names. Hampton argued that the Kellers were the victims of “satanic panic” — a belief that swept the nation in the early 1990s that a national network of secretive cults was preying upon day care children for sex and other horrors. The Kellers also were harmed, he argued, by the combined efforts of inept therapists, gullible police and an investigation that spiraled out of control, producing a suspect list of 26 ritual abusers, including many of the Kellers’ neighbors and a respected Austin police captain. Children who reported no problems at the day care were ignored, and leading psychologists and criminology professors provided affidavits saying improper interview techniques and subtle encouragement by therapists produced believable-but-false memories in the children who accused the Kellers of abuse. Taped interviews of a Keller accuser, a 3-year-old girl, made at the Travis County sheriff’s office have since been used in lectures by a top specialist in assessing and treating crime victims to illustrate common interviewing mistakes."

https://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2017/08/dan-and-fran-keller-texas-momentous.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Paul Aaron Ross: New York; Bitemark homicide case; DA blasts Innocence Project lawyers for blog posts in 'bite-mark' homicide case..."The bite mark, which the defense contends unfairly linked Ross to the victim, has become controversial because the accuracy of such evidence has been under fire nationwide. Frabricant said Tuesday that 29 convictions have been overturned because of discredited bite mark evidence. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has recommended the use of bite mark evidence in Texas be put on hold. Consiglio on the other hand argued that no court in the land has yet suppressed the use of bite mark evidence, and he said that it is still a valid science. Kopriva stated in March that bite mark evidence is not a “novel methodology” and “is currently accepted in the relevant scientific community of forensic odontologists.” The defense asked her to reconsider her ruling, and, if necessary, allow an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court with the request that the state appeals court determine if “relevant scientific community” is limited to just odontologists and whether experts from other fields can offer their opinions about such evidence during a Frye hearing — a hearing to contest the scientific validity of bite mark evidence. The controversial blog stated that “scientific basis for bite mark evidence is insufficient.” When the judge was confronted with the “damming critiques” of those who contest the scientific certainty of bite mark evidence, the “court deemed them irrelevant, focusing only and improperly on the opinions of the very individuals whose livelihoods depend on the continued use of the bite marks: forensic dentists.” It continued, “Such willful scientific illiteracy among the judiciary flies in the face of Supreme Court mandates over 30 years ago that capital cases must aspire to a heightened standard of reliability.”

STORY:  "DA  blasts defence Blog in Ross case,"  by reporter Phil Ray,  published by the Altoona Mirror on August 24, 2017.

GIST:  "The Blair County district attorney has asked that a gag order be imposed on lawyers in the Paul Aaron Ross homicide case because of a blog posted on the website of the Innocence Project of New York. The blog was critical of Judge Jolene G. Kopriva’s recent ruling allowing the use of bite mark evidence in Ross’ upcoming trial. DA Richard A. Consiglio said attorneys for the Innocence Project, M. Chris Fabricant and Dana Delger, were attempting “to try the case in public.” He called the remarks about Kopriva’s March 8 ruling “outrageous,” contending that they could affect the jury pool. “We don’t know who’s looking at the website,” he said. Consiglio also said the blog violated Pennsylvania’s judicial rules of professional conduct. The complaint about the blog was in a petition Consiglio filed last week. Consiglio said after his petition was filed, the blog was removed from the website. Fabricant told the judge he wrote the blog but said, “There is no jury pool yet. We haven’t violated any ethical rules.” The attorney for the Innocence Project then pointed out the irony of Consiglio complaining about civility in the courtroom, pointing out the district attorney repeatedly refers to the Innocence Project attorneys as “these people.” Blair County attorney Tom Hooper, who is also representing Ross, jumped into the fray, stating that he has been insulted and called a “liar” many times during the often-heated courtroom discussions about the Ross case, and he objected to the gag order. He said that the Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization that relies on funds from the public to operate and uses its website to relate to the public what it does. “They have overturned countless prosecutions,” Hooper said. Kopriva did not make a ruling for or against the proposed gag order during Tuesday’s 90-minute hearing, but she stated she had no objections to the posting of blogs by the Innocence Project. She then explained to Fabricant that while his agency has good intentions, he has a professional responsibly to the court not to berate people...........Ross, now 45, is accused of killing Tina S. Miller, 26, of Hollidaysburg, whose body was found at Canoe Creek State Park on the morning of June 26, 2004. During Ross’ initial trial in 2005, an Allentown odontologist could not identify a bite mark on the victim as definitely coming from Ross but found his dental impression “very highly consistent” with it............For the past six years, the hotly contested case has focused on many issues, including if the prosecution can seek the death penalty in the second trial. Kopriva has ruled the death penalty will be a option for the jury, if Ross is again found guilty of first-degree murder. The bite mark, which the defense contends unfairly linked Ross to the victim, has become controversial because the accuracy of such evidence has been under fire nationwide. Frabricant said Tuesday that 29 convictions have been overturned because of discredited bite mark evidence. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has recommended the use of bite mark evidence in Texas be put on hold. Consiglio on the other hand argued that no court in the land has yet suppressed the use of bite mark evidence, and he said that it is still a valid science. Kopriva stated in March that bite mark evidence is not a “novel methodology” and “is currently accepted in the relevant scientific community of forensic odontologists.” The defense asked her to reconsider her ruling, and, if necessary, allow an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court with the request that the state appeals court determine if “relevant scientific community” is limited to just odontologists and whether experts from other fields can offer their opinions about such evidence during a Frye hearing — a hearing to contest the scientific validity of bite mark evidence. The controversial blog stated that “scientific basis for bite mark evidence is insufficient.” When the judge was confronted with the “damming critiques” of those who contest the scientific certainty of bite mark evidence, the “court deemed them irrelevant, focusing only and improperly on the opinions of the very individuals whose livelihoods depend on the continued use of the bite marks: forensic dentists.” It continued, “Such willful scientific illiteracy among the judiciary flies in the face of Supreme Court mandates over 30 years ago that capital cases must aspire to a heightened standard of reliability.”

The entire story can  be found at:

https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2017/08/da-blasts-defense-blog-in-ross-case/

 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Bulletin: Missouri governor stops execution after questions about DNA evidence; Reporter Jeremy Kohler; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; August 22, 2017;

Gov. Eric Greitens called off an execution on Tuesday so the state could make sure it sentenced a guilty man to death. Greitens granted a stay of execution to Marcellus Williams, who had been facing death by injection at 6 p.m. for the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle at her home in University City. Williams’ lawyers had claimed recent DNA tests could prove their client’s innocence. With a little more than four hours to go before the execution was scheduled to begin, Greitens said he was appointing a board of inquiry to investigate the case in light of an “inconclusive” DNA test. “A sentence of death is the ultimate, permanent punishment," he said in a statement. "To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt.” Attorneys for Marcellus Williams have insisted he could be innocent, after DNA found on the murder weapon did not match Williams’ DNA. Kent Gipson, a Kansas City-based lawyer for Williams said the governor's action was "good news" and said the appointment of a board of inquiry was a "rare thing" for a Missouri capital case. Greitens invoked a rarely-used state law giving him discretion to appoint a board of inquiry to gather information and report back on whether a person condemned to death should be executed. Former Gov. Mel Carnahan convened two such boards in the 1990s. Greitens said the five-member board would include retired Missouri judges and have the power to subpoena witnesses and evidence. His executive order said all of the proceedings would be closed to the public. Williams, 48, was sentenced to death in 2001. The prosecution said Williams was burglarizing the home when Gayle, who had been taking a shower, surprised him. She fought for her life as she was stabbed repeatedly. Williams' attorneys claim recent DNA tests could prove Williams’ innocence. The Missouri Supreme Court in 2015 postponed Williams’ execution to allow time for the DNA tests. Using technology that was not available at the time of the killing, those tests show that DNA found on the knife matched an unknown male, according to an analysis by Greg Hampikian, a biologist with Boise State University. Williams’ DNA was not found on the knife. Despite that finding, the state’s high court denied his petition to stop the execution and either appoint a special master to hear his innocence claim or vacate the death sentence and order his sentence commuted to life in prison. Williams’ attorneys have also petitioned Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, circuit justice for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to stop the execution. Gorsuch had not ruled by Tuesday evening. Williams’ attorneys were hoping for further DNA tests to compare the case to another slaying in 1998, the unsolved stabbing death of Debra McClain in Pagedale. “Americans don’t want their states executing innocent people,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit clearinghouse for studies and reports related to capital punishment. “They want assurances that the evidence is at least carefully reviewed before people are executed. And this decision backs Missouri off the brink here.” He said the U.S. Supreme Court should still review the case and “clearly declare that the Constitution guarantees that death row prisoners who present substantial evidence of their innocence be given a meaningful opportunity to prove it in court.” In its response to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state said it had a wealth of non-DNA evidence to convict Williams. The state could prove Williams had sold Gayle’s laptop to a third party after the killing, and had two witnesses who independently said he confessed to them. And, the state said, the lack his DNA on the murder weapon did not mean he was innocent. One of the witnesses was Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in the Workhouse in 1999. He testified that he had heard a report on TV about a $10,000 reward offered by Gayle’s family, and that Williams told him “I pulled the caper … I laid that down.” Cole told police about Laura Asaro, Williams’ former girlfriend. She would later testify that when police confronted her, she told them that Williams had admitted killing Gayle. She helped police recover the computer with serial numbers that confirmed it had been stolen from Gayle’s house. Neither Cole nor Asaro could be reached on Tuesday. An Ansaro relative said Williams’ ex-girlfriend “doesn't have a statement to give and doesn't want to be contacted.” Gayle was a Post-Dispatch reporter from 1981 to 1992. She left the paper to do volunteer social work with children and the poor. Her husband, Dr. Daniel Picus, declined to comment through a family member. A spokeswoman for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, wrote in an email that “we remain confident in the judgment of the jury and the many courts that have carefully reviewed Mr. Williams’ case over (16) years. We applaud the work of the numerous law enforcement officers who have dedicated their time and effort to pursuing justice in this case.” St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, whose office prosecuted Williams, said in a prepared statement that he was "confident that any Board and the Governor, after a full review of all evidence and information, will reach the same conclusion reached by the Jury and the various Courts." However, he said the statute invoked by Greitens pertained only to criminal proceedings involving mental illness, which was "not an allegation made by Williams." The case has attracted national attention because no forensic evidence ever pointed to Williams, and now what has been tested pointed away from him. Protests across the state broke into celebrations after hearing about Greitens’ action.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/greitens-stops-execution-after-questions-about-dna-evidence/article_7cccd545-19ad-5df4-94cb-5020bbe3590a.html

The Monfils Six: New book by author Joan Trepa - Reclaiming Lives: Pursuing Justice for Six Innocent Men - highlights Monfils 6 case," NBC26 reports..."I was in disbelief that there could be innocent people in prison and I couldn't stand back and just let it happen," said author Joan Trepa. One of the men convicted, Keith Kutska, is taking his case through the courts. The next step for him is the U.S. Supreme Court. Kutska and five others, known as the "Monfils 6," were convicted of the 1992 murder of Tom Monfils, their co-worker at a Green Bay paper plant. Monfils' body was found in a paper vat. Kutska is currently serving a life sentence. Another one of the convicted men has been released."

 

STORY: "New book highlights Monfils 6 case," rewviewed by Marisa DeCandido, for NBC 26, on August 16, 2017.

GIST: "More than two decades after Tom Monfils was murdered at a Green Bay paper mill, a new book has been released about the convicted killers and their next steps to get out of prison. The author of the book, titled Reclaiming Lives: Pursuing Justice for Six Innocent Men, said she believes she's standing up for what's right. "I was in disbelief that there could be innocent people in prison and I couldn't stand back and just let it happen," said author Joan Trepa. One of the men convicted, Keith Kutska, is taking his case through the courts. The next step for him is the U.S. Supreme Court. Kutska and five others, known as the "Monfils 6," were convicted of the 1992 murder of Tom Monfils, their co-worker at a Green Bay paper plant. Monfils' body was found in a paper vat. Kutska is currently serving a life sentence. Another one of the convicted men has been released.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.nbc26.com/news/new-book-highlights-monfils-6-case

See early post (June 9 2016)  of this blog at the link below; "Keith Kutska: (Monfils Six): Wisconsin; His attorneys say the state “absurdly mocks” the defence's suicide theory..."Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded to that appeal in May, calling the suicide theory “so flimsy and unconvincing that no reasonable jury could have seriously entertained any doubt that he was murdered.” Schimel said, “The mere fact that 20 years after this conviction Kutska has dredged up evidence that was not presented at his trial is not a reason to give him a new trial.” In the response released Tuesday, Kutska’s attorneys say “Kutska has presented compelling evidence pointing toward suicide.” The reply says Dr. Mary Ann Sens rejected trial testimony from Dr. Helen Young, who presented the homicide conclusion that Monfils was beaten before entering the vat. The defense cites dismissed testimony from Dr. Sens, who found that Monfils was “indisputably alive when he entered the vat … There was no evidence confirming that any injury could only have been caused by beating.” Attorneys also argue that Kutska had ineffective counsel during the trial. “The tragic fact remains that Dr. Young’s claim to know what she did not know, combined with the defense counsel’s wholesale disregard of her assumptions, findings, and conclusions, profoundly misled the jury and courts." WBAY:
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/keith-kutska-monfils-six-wisconsin-his.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Dan and Fran Keller; Texas; Momentous Development...Wrongly convicted in 'satanic day care case,' they will receive $3.4 million compensation, The American Statesman reports..."The Keller case made national news after three children accused them in 1991 of leading ghastly satanic rituals that supposedly included desecrated graves, videotaped orgies, dismembered babies and tortured pets. No evidence of such activities was discovered at their in-home day care facility, and the case against them collapsed about two decades later when the only physical evidence of abuse was acknowledged as a mistake by the examining physician. Freed on signature bonds in 2013, the Kellers launched an effort to clear their names. Hampton argued that the Kellers were the victims of “satanic panic” — a belief that swept the nation in the early 1990s that a national network of secretive cults was preying upon day care children for sex and other horrors. The Kellers also were harmed, he argued, by the combined efforts of inept therapists, gullible police and an investigation that spiraled out of control, producing a suspect list of 26 ritual abusers, including many of the Kellers’ neighbors and a respected Austin police captain. Children who reported no problems at the day care were ignored, and leading psychologists and criminology professors provided affidavits saying improper interview techniques and subtle encouragement by therapists produced believable-but-false memories in the children who accused the Kellers of abuse. Taped interviews of a Keller accuser, a 3-year-old girl, made at the Travis County sheriff’s office have since been used in lectures by a top specialist in assessing and treating crime victims to illustrate common interviewing mistakes."

STORY: "Dan, Fran Keller to get $3.4 million in ‘satanic day care’ case," by reporter Chuck Lindell, published by The American-Statesman on August 22, 2017.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: "Fran Keller is overcome Tuesday while learning that she and husband Dan Keller, left, will receive money from the state fund for those wrongly convicted of crimes."

 

HIGHLIGHTS: "State compensation fund pays $80,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment. Dan, Fran Keller were victims of ‘satanic panic’ that swept the nation in the early 1990s, their lawyer says.

GIST: "Dan and Fran Keller, who spent more than 21 years in prison after they were accused of sexually abusing children during supposed satanic rituals at their South Austin day care facility, will receive $3.4 million from a state fund for those wrongly convicted of crimes.........The Kellers’ lawyer, Keith Hampton, said the couple will collect two checks totaling $3.44 million Wednesday at the state comptroller’s office, which administers the compensation fund. “They’re happy, and I’m happy for them,” said Hampton, who worked for no charge in getting the Kellers released and declared innocent. The Kellers received news of the payments as they stood outside the Williamson County Jail on Tuesday in support of Greg Kelley, who was to be released on bond. READ: Greg Kelley is released on bond from jail after 3-year legal slog: Kelley, serving a 25-year sentence on a child sexual assault charge, has maintained his innocence and also is being represented by Hampton, who phoned the Kellers with news of the state payments while he was inside the jail arranging Kelley’s release.........The Keller case made national news after three children accused them in 1991 of leading ghastly satanic rituals that supposedly included desecrated graves, videotaped orgies, dismembered babies and tortured pets. No evidence of such activities was discovered at their in-home day care facility, and the case against them collapsed about two decades later when the only physical evidence of abuse was acknowledged as a mistake by the examining physician. Freed on signature bonds in 2013, the Kellers launched an effort to clear their names. Hampton argued that the Kellers were the victims of “satanic panic” — a belief that swept the nation in the early 1990s that a national network of secretive cults was preying upon day care children for sex and other horrors. The Kellers also were harmed, he argued, by the combined efforts of inept therapists, gullible police and an investigation that spiraled out of control, producing a suspect list of 26 ritual abusers, including many of the Kellers’ neighbors and a respected Austin police captain. Children who reported no problems at the day care were ignored, and leading psychologists and criminology professors provided affidavits saying improper interview techniques and subtle encouragement by therapists produced believable-but-false memories in the children who accused the Kellers of abuse. Taped interviews of a Keller accuser, a 3-year-old girl, made at the Travis County sheriff’s office have since been used in lectures by a top specialist in assessing and treating crime victims to illustrate common interviewing mistakes. Travis County prosecutors, however, had pushed back, arguing that the Kellers failed to produce sufficient proof of innocence, such as an ironclad alibi or DNA evidence.
 n 2015, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals split the difference, overturning the Kellers’ convictions but declining to declare the couple innocent. The couple’s circumstances changed in June, when Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore filed court documents that dropped all charges and declared the Kellers “actually innocent” under the law. After an extensive review, it was clear that the Kellers’ innocence claim should be supported in the interest of justice, Moore said at the time."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/crime--law/dan-fran-keller-get-million-satanic-day-care-case/dsYUsfqzNfvApC472mBPnK/

  

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

Susan Neill-Fraser: Australia: Another extraordinary revelation: Sydney Morning Herald exposes an explosive file (called 'the white paper') which revealed that a potential teenage witness to one of Tasmania's most notorious crimes had signed a statutory declaration which casts doubt on Neill-Fraser who has spent the past seven years behind bars for her partner's murder." The story, by reporters Nick McKenzie, Nino Bucci and Richard Baker, runs under the heading: "Secret file could prove yacht killer's innocence. Could the Tasmanian and prosecution establishment police be systematically sabotaging evidence which could clear her by criminally charging witnesses who back her up? (This fascinating case case is truly heating up. HL)..."Mr Richter's white paper suggests Chappell was killed when he disturbed Vass and other vagrants, who had boarded the Four Winds planning to steal from it. The dossier names two men with extensive criminal records who may be involved in the murder. Neill-Fraser has maintained her innocence, but was convicted by a jury in 2010, a finding later upheld on appeal. It is the biggest legal story in Tasmania. And Richter, an intense, bearded QC regarded as one of Australia's finest and most forensic trial advocates, had travelled to Hobart to tell the Premier that police may have got it terribly wrong. The 25-page white paper contained an extract from a secret statutory declaration made by Vass a week earlier in which she admitted to being on the yacht the night Chappell disappeared."..."The arrests have plunged the small state's criminal justice system into the spotlight and led to claim and counterclaim of cover-ups and witness intimidation."

STORY: "Death on the Derwent: Secret file could prove yacht killer's innocence," by reporters  Nick McKenzie, Nino Bucci, and Richard Baker, published by The Sydney Morning Herald on August 22, 2017.

SUB-HEADING: "On May 11, Victoria's leading criminal barrister, Robert Richter QC, met with Tasmania's premier, Will Hodgman and handed him a confidential dossier known as the "white paper". The explosive file revealed that a potential teenage witness to one of Tasmania's most notorious crimes had signed a statutory declaration which casts doubt on the conviction of a woman who has spent the past seven years behind bars for her partner's murder."

GIST: "On the night of Australia Day 2009, Bob Chappell, a pillar of the local community, disappeared from the deck of the Four Winds, a yacht moored off the Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay. Chappell's partner, Sue Neill-Fraser, is serving a 23-year sentence for his murder. Police say she bludgeoned him to death, winched his body onto its deck, and disposed of it into the dark depths of the Derwent." Meaghan Vass's DNA was found on the Four Winds, but in court she swore she had never boarded the boat. Mr Richter's white paper suggests Chappell was killed when he disturbed Vass and other vagrants, who had boarded the Four Winds planning to steal from it. The dossier names two men with extensive criminal records who may be involved in the murder. Neill-Fraser has maintained her innocence, but was convicted by a jury in 2010, a finding later upheld on appeal. It is the biggest legal story in Tasmania. And Richter, an intense, bearded QC regarded as one of Australia's finest and most forensic trial advocates, had travelled to Hobart to tell the Premier that police may have got it terribly wrong.  The 25-page white paper contained an extract from a secret statutory declaration made by Vass a week earlier in which she admitted to being on the yacht the night Chappell disappeared. Along with other information detailed in the white paper, Richter believed Hodgman would be forced to consider an independent inquiry. Despite years of intense media scrutiny of the case, the contents of the white paper have been a tightly held secret. Richter requested that Hodgman and the others in the room – Tasmania's acting attorney-general Matthew Groom and the solicitor-general Michael O'Farrell SC – not pass it to the Tasmanian police. Hodgman and Groom declined to read the white paper but agreed that O'Farrell should review it. Richter flew back to Melbourne and waited for a reaction. It came this month, although not in the manner Richter expected. Witnesses named in the white paper who helped compile or corroborate aspects of Vass's statement – her associate Karen Keefe, a lawyer Jeff Thompson, and another man who must remain anonymous, Witness X – have all been arrested by Tasmanian police and charged with perverting the course of justice. The police allege they have concocted or coerced evidence to clear Neill-Fraser and support Vass's statutory declaration. The arrests have plunged the small state's criminal justice system into the spotlight and led to claim and counterclaim of cover-ups and witness intimidation.........Independent inquiry:  Despite their obvious credibility problems and the fact their statements have not been verified in any forensic setting, Vass, Witness X and Keefe's comments, combined with the fact of Vass's DNA on the deck of the Four Winds, were enough for Richter to urge the Premier to commission an independent inquiry. Such an inquiry could have the ability to compel witnesses, including Vass, to testify about what they knew about the case. It could also examine allegations made by Witness X that he was told by detectives he would be charged with historic offences if he co-operated with Neill-Fraser's legal team. While Richter's team also hopes the evidence in the white paper may form the foundation of Neill-Fraser's last-ditch legal appeal in the Supreme Court (the appeal has been adjourned indefinitely but could be held as early as October), an inquiry would be able to find and test the white paper evidence in a manner unconstrained by court procedure. The Tasmanian police, though, had other ideas. ..........Series of arrests:  The police activity in the past month suggests the potential evidence Richter hoped would prompt Hodgman into action has instead been used by Tasmanian detectives to make a series of arrests. According to a source working with Richter, rather than being used to outline a case to clear Neill-Fraser, the contents of the white paper has instead been used to demolish it......... But the fight over the white paper may only be starting. Sources have told Fairfax Media that on Wednesday, two other members of Neill-Fraser's legal team, respected criminal defence lawyer Paul Galbally and Tom Percy QC, may flag with the Tasmanian Supreme Court the question of whether police or senior Tasmanian officials are in contempt of court by authorising the charging of the white paper witnesses.Neill-Fraser's appeal is set down for a mention in Hobart. Barrister and Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns, who practices in Melbourne and Hobart and gave some early advice to Neill-Fraser in 2009, says Tasmania's criminal justice system is itself on trial. "The test of the robustness and integrity of any justice system, including that of Tasmania, is how it deals with hard cases such as those in which it is alleged there has been a wrongful conviction," he says.

The entire story can be found at:
 http://www.smh.com.au/national/death-on-the-derwent-secret-file-could-prove-yacht-killers-innocence-20170822-gy1pix.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions war on science/forensics: (Part: 31); Judges nationwide routinely allow disavowed science as evidence..."The case against Steven Barnes in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl seemed circumstantial, at best. So the guilty verdict shocked him. “I was saying, ‘This can’t be happening. You can’t convict somebody on similarities, perhaps or maybes,’” Barnes said. He spent the next 20 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated him, becoming one of hundreds of people convicted in whole or in part on forensic science that has come under fire during the past decade. Some of that science — analysis of bite marks, latent fingerprints, firearms identification, burn patterns in arson investigations, footwear patterns and tire treads — was once considered sound, but is now being denounced by some lawyers and scientists who say it has not been studied enough to prove its reliability and in some cases has led to wrongful convictions. Even so, judges nationwide continue to admit such evidence regularly. “Courts — like scientists — rely too heavily on precedent and not enough on the progress of science,” said Christopher Fabricant, director of strategic litigation for the Innocence Project. “At some point, we have to acknowledge that precedent has to be overruled by scientific reality.”

STORY: "Judges nationwide routinely allow disavowed science as evidence," by Associated Press reporter Denise Lavoie, published by The Times Herald  on August 18, 2017.

PHOTO CAPTION: "In this April 30, 2015, file photo, Kirk Odom pauses during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in southeast in Washington. Odom was convicted of a 1981 rape and robbery after a woman identified him as her attacker and an FBI specialist testified that hair on her nightgown was consistent with hair on Odom’s head. But DNA testing some 30 years later affirmed what Odom long had maintained: The hair wasn’t his, nor was the semen left on a pillowcase and robe. A felony conviction that imprisoned him for decades was overturned in 2012 by a judge who declared it a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

GIST: "Two hairs that looked like the victim’s; some dirt on a truck like that taken from the crime scene; a pattern on the bumper that resembled a design on the victim’s popular brand of jeans. The case against Steven Barnes in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl seemed circumstantial, at best. So the guilty verdict shocked him. “I was saying, ‘This can’t be happening. You can’t convict somebody on similarities, perhaps or maybes,’” Barnes said. He spent the next 20 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated him, becoming one of hundreds of people convicted in whole or in part on forensic science that has come under fire during the past decade. Some of that science — analysis of bite marks, latent fingerprints, firearms identification, burn patterns in arson investigations, footwear patterns and tire treads — was once considered sound, but is now being denounced by some lawyers and scientists who say it has not been studied enough to prove its reliability and in some cases has led to wrongful convictions. Even so, judges nationwide continue to admit such evidence regularly. “Courts — like scientists — rely too heavily on precedent and not enough on the progress of science,” said Christopher Fabricant, director of strategic litigation for the Innocence Project. “At some point, we have to acknowledge that precedent has to be overruled by scientific reality.” Defense lawyers and civil rights advocates say prosecutors and judges are slow to acknowledge that some forensic science methods are flawed because they are the very tools that have for decades helped win convictions. And such evidence can be persuasive for jurors, many of whom who have seen it used dramatically on “Law & Order” and “CSI.” Rulings in the past year show judges are reluctant to rule against long-accepted evidence even when serious questions have been raised about its reliability: A judge in Pennsylvania ruled prosecutors can call an expert to testify about bite marks found on a murder victim’s body, despite 29 wrongful arrests and convictions nationwide attributed to unreliable bite mark evidence since 2000. A Connecticut judge allowed prosecutors to present evidence that a footprint was made by a specific shoe belonging to a man accused of murder, despite a 2016 finding by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology that such associations are “unsupported by any meaningful evidence or estimates of their accuracy.” In Chicago, a federal judge rejected a request to exclude testimony of government experts to describe firearm and tool-mark comparisons they performed on bullets collected at crime scenes in the trial of Hobos gang members. The judge reasoned that defense lawyers were free to cross-examine the government’s experts. Two reports by scientific boards have sharply criticized the use of such forensic evidence, and universities that teach it are moving away from visual analysis — essentially, eyeballing it — and toward more precise biometric tools. But some defense lawyers fear any progress on strengthening forensic science may be lost under President Donald Trump. In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Justice Department would disband the National Commission on Forensic Science, an independent panel of scientists, researchers, judges and attorneys that had been studying how to improve the reliability of forensic practices. Some forensic methods have been questioned by defense lawyers for years, but it wasn’t until 2009 that the National Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit consisting of some of the nation’s most distinguished researchers, released a report that found that with the exception of DNA, many methods had not been tested enough to be considered valid. “The simple reality is that the interpretation of forensic evidence is not always based on scientific studies to determine its validity,” the report said. “That is a serious problem.” The National Registry of Exonerations at the University of California Irvine has documented more than 2,000 exonerations since 1989. Nearly one-fourth list “false or misleading forensic evidence” as a contributing factor. And a report last fall from the President’s Council criticized several “feature-comparison” methods, which attempt to determine whether a sample from a crime scene is associated with a sample from a suspect by comparing patterns. The council said those methods — including analysis of shoeprints, tire tracks, latent fingerprints, firearms and spent ammunition — need more study to determine their reliability and error rates. When the reliability of forensic evidence is challenged through DNA testing or other new evidence, it often results in the granting of a new trial, even if there is other strong evidence against a defendant. “More often than not, it undermines confidence in the verdict, which is enough to get a new trial,” said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Boston’s Northeastern University. In 2015, the Justice Department revealed that FBI agents had overstated the strength of their evidence for decades in many cases involving microscopic hair analysis. The FBI now acknowledges microscopic hair analysis is inconclusive and uses it only in conjunction with DNA testing. Kirk Odom was 18 when he was charged with raping a woman at gunpoint in Washington, D.C. An FBI agent testified that a hair on the woman’s nightgown was “indistinguishable” from Odom’s, a conclusion he said he had reached only eight or 10 times during thousands of analyses. “I just kept saying, ‘They’re lying. That ain’t my hair,’” Odom recalled. Odom spent 22 years in prison but was exonerated after DNA testing of the hair and other evidence excluded him as the rapist. The President’s Council also found that bite mark evidence does not meet scientific standards and is unlikely to ever do so. That didn’t surprise Keith Harward, a former Navy sailor who spent 33 years in prison for the 1982 killing of a man and the rape of the man’s wife in Newport News, Virginia. Forensic dentists testified that his teeth matched bite marks on the woman’s leg. But in 2014, DNA tests matched sperm at the scene to one of Harward’s former shipmates, who had died years earlier in prison after being convicted of a different crime. One of the experts was Dr. Lowell Levine, an odontologist who testified in the case of serial killer Ted Bundy, linking Bundy to the 1978 murder of a college student. “Here he comes waltzing up in the courtroom with these normal, everyday people in the jury — ‘I testified in the Ted Bundy case’ — well, boom! That was the first nail in my coffin,” Harward said. “I was done; the jury was hypnotized,” he said. After Harward was freed last year, Levine said he was “upset and quite disturbed” by the mistake. He told The New York Times that he and another expert had “completely followed” guidelines and that considerable evidence seemed to point to a match with Harward. But, he acknowledged, “This case should persuade all my colleagues to agree with the need for more scientific research and investigation.”........Lisa Wood, who represented a defendant in the Chicago gang trial , argued that prosecutors should not be allowed to introduce firearms identification evidence because of the 2016 President’s Council report. “It can be very powerful evidence, and it doesn’t seem consistent with the principles of justice that we would introduce this kind of evidence without knowing that it’s sound,” she said. In Massachusetts, a judge ruled that prosecutors could present ballistics evidence in the double-murder trial of ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez. He was eventually acquitted but was already serving a life sentence in a separate killing; he hanged himself in prison days after his acquittal.........Critical reports, wrongful convictions and scandals involving unscrupulous lab chemists have sparked discussion at universities and an increased emphasis on the language analysts should use in court. Visual analysis is also increasingly coming under fire, said David Foran, director of the forensic science program at Michigan State University. “The idea is, instead of a person looking at two things and saying they are the same, they’re not, or I can’t tell,” Foran said, “is to actually have computer scans of them, at a digital level, to find out how similar they are.” For Barnes, those similarities added up to convictions in Utica, New York, on murder, rape and sodomy charges. “I said to myself, ‘The jury has to understand; they won’t convict me on this stuff they say is similar,’” Barnes recalled. “I was wrong.”"

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/article/NH/20170818/NEWS/170819830