Back In Action: Danny Davis: Illinois: From our 'Enough to make one weep' department: The Innocence Project reports that police coerced a false confession from him when he was 20 years old -and 33 years later, his murder conviction was dismissed, noting that: "Days after her death, police wanted to talk to 17-year-old Isaac Davis about the murder based on an unfounded tip. Officers took Isaac and his 20-year old brother Danny in for questioning. Danny endured many hours of psychological and physical abuse, including police threats that Isaac was going down for the crime. Police also threatened him with the death penalty, telling him, “Your Black ass [is] going to fry.” Fearing for their lives, Danny and Isaac both signed false confession statements implicating themselves and an acquaintance, DeVoe Johnson, in the crime. With his case going to trial just a few months later and facing the death penalty, Danny was pressured to plead guilty for a life sentence. When he entered his guilty plea in front of the judge, Danny said on the record, “I just want to live. That’s the only reason I’m pleading to it.” He was sentenced to life without parole. Isaac also pleaded guilty."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  "DeVoe went to a bench trial, a trial that does not involve a jury and is conducted by the judge alone. The presiding judge was the same judge who accepted Danny and Isaac’s guilty pleas. The judge found DeVoe not guilty and acquitted him, finding that the confessions  — remarkably the same confessions at the center of Danny and Issac’s convictions — were not credible."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In 2024, after an evidentiary hearing where the evidence of Danny’s innocence was presented, the court vacated the convictions and ordered his release. Then 52 years old, Danny walked out of prison and reunited with his family, including his brother Isaac, who was previously released from prison, after more than three decades of wrongful incarceration."

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RELEASE: "Police Coerced a False Confession From 20-Year-Old Danny Davis — 33 Years Later, His Murder Conviction Is Dismissed," published by The Innocence Project on November 12, 2025.

SUB-HEADING: "Danny returned home in 2024 and was exonerated on Nov. 12, 2025, after more than 32 years in prison for a murder that DNA evidence proved he did not commit."

GIST: The First Judicial Circuit Court of Alexander County, Illinois dismissed murder charges against Danny Davis one year to the day after he walked out of prison after his conviction was overturned. Danny spent more than 32 years in prison for a crime DNA evidence proves he did not commit. 

Last year, he returned home after a judge vacated his convictions in the 1992 murder and robbery of a woman in Cairo, Illinois. The woman was stabbed 38 times in her home, where she ran a small neighborhood store selling soda, snacks, and cigarettes.

Days after her death, police wanted to talk to 17-year-old Isaac Davis about the murder based on an unfounded tip. Officers took Isaac and his 20-year old brother Danny in for questioning. 

Danny endured many hours of psychological and physical abuse, including police threats that Isaac was going down for the crime. Police also threatened him with the death penalty, telling him, “Your Black ass [is] going to fry.”

 Fearing for their lives, Danny and Isaac both signed false confession statements implicating themselves and an acquaintance, DeVoe Johnson, in the crime. 

With his case going to trial just a few months later and facing the death penalty, Danny was pressured to plead guilty for a life sentence. When he entered his guilty plea in front of the judge, Danny said on the record,  “I just want to live. That’s the only reason I’m pleading to it.”  He was sentenced to life without parole. Isaac also pleaded guilty.

DeVoe went to a bench trial, a trial that does not involve a jury and is conducted by the judge alone. The presiding judge was the same judge who accepted Danny and Isaac’s guilty pleas. The judge found DeVoe not guilty and acquitted him, finding that the confessions  — remarkably the same confessions at the center of Danny and Issac’s convictions — were not credible.  

In 2015, the Illinois Innocence Project and Innocence Project jointly took on Danny’s case, with the Exoneration Project later joining the team. In their post-conviction investigation, attorneys litigated for access to evidence for DNA testing and obtained information that had not been turned over to the defense during the original investigation, including critical witness statements and potential alternate suspects who were never investigated. Testing identified male DNA underneath the fingernails of the victim, who tried to fight off her attacker. Danny, Isaac, and DeVoe were all excluded.

Danny Davis

In 2024, after an evidentiary hearing where the evidence of Danny’s innocence was presented, the court vacated the convictions and ordered his release. Then 52 years old, Danny walked out of prison and reunited with his family, including his brother Isaac, who was previously released from prison, after more than three decades of wrongful incarceration. 

On his car ride home, with his first taste of freedom in more than three decades, Danny shared with his lawyers that he hopes other wrongly convicted people will see him and know to keep fighting. 

Danny is represented by Innocence Project Attorney Vanessa Potkin, Illinois Innocence Project lawyers Lauren Kaeseberg and Maria de Arteaga, and Exoneration Project attorneys Lauren Myerscough-Mueller and Karl Leonard. Illinois Innocence Project Staff Investigator Lynn Bagley provided critical investigation work on the case.""

The entire story can be read at:

https://innocenceproject.org/news/police-coerced-a-false-confession-from-20-year-old-danny-davis-32-years-later-his-murder-conviction-is-finally-vacated/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

———————————————————————————————

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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Deputy Gavin St Pier: Guernsey: ITV News reports that, "Families say the debate held to suspend Guernsey's Deputy Chief Minister was a "smear campaign being mounted against someone challenging medical and health services. The debate saw Deputy St Pier avoid suspension after breaking the States' Code of Conduct for talking with a national newspaper reporter about issues surrounding Dr Sandie Bohin." (An expert who has come under fire for her 'expert' testimony and the UK neonatal nurse Lucy Letby trial. HL)

BACKGROUND: From a previous of this Blog: (November 27, 2025): "Dr. Sandie Bohin: Guernsey: The outlandish political attack on Guernsey Deputy  Gavin St Pier for while-heartedly going to bat  for numerous families on the island who had complained about the health care they had received from their health system and doctor (Dr.  Sandie Bohin)  who has since resigned her post - and had given 'expert' evidence for the prosecution against neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, which is now  being questioned by her lawyer - has fortunately failed, as Gavin St Pier's  fellow deputies have voted against suspending him for 25 days without pay. HL:  The story is reported by BBC News Guernsey Political ReporterJohn Fernandez. Quote of the day: (Vice-President Sally Rochester) "I cannot agree that disclosing complaints to journalists was incompatible with the duty to act impartially or in the public interest."

"https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/preview/120008354894645705/8452329133261567225

-------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Before the debate, 17 signatories from the pressure group 'Families for Cultural Change' argued in an open letter that penalising Deputy Gavin St Pier for speaking to the journalist about healthcare safeguarding concerns would set a dangerous precedent. They raised serious allegations against the Medical Specialist Group and the level of care their children received. Speaking to ITV News anonymously, one parent said they felt "medically gaslit" and is highlighting their story "out of desperation". The group said: "As families, we approached Deputy St Pier as an elected representative with the power to highlight this issue. "We did so of our own volition and out of desperation. Our voices were suppressed or silenced.

————————————————————

"STORY: "Medically gaslit': Families say debate to suspend senior Guernsey politician was a 'smear campaign.' published by   ITV  News  (no reporter attribution)  on November 27, 2025.

Families say the debate held to suspend Guernsey's Deputy Chief Minister was a "smear campaign being mounted against someone challenging medical and health services".

The debate saw Deputy St Pier avoid suspension after breaking the States' Code of Conduct for talking with a national newspaper reporter about issues surrounding Dr Sandie Bohin.

Before the debate, 17 signatories from the pressure group 'Families for Cultural Change' argued in an open letter that penalising Deputy Gavin St Pier for speaking to the journalist about healthcare safeguarding concerns would set a dangerous precedent.

They raised serious allegations against the Medical Specialist Group and the level of care their children received.

Speaking to ITV News anonymously, one parent said they felt "medically gaslit" and is highlighting their story "out of desperation".

The group said: "As families, we approached Deputy St Pier as an elected representative with the power to highlight this issue.

"We did so of our own volition and out of desperation. Our voices were suppressed or silenced."

The anonymous parent added: "Our story should have been quite straightforward because my baby was in utero [in the womb] and she was diagnosed with a structural heart anomaly.

"A very clear plan was set out that we were to look out for symptoms.

"When my baby was three months old, we highlighted and spoke at length about these symptoms that had started to show themselves."

But the family later learned that notes suggested their baby was "fantastic, with no symptoms at all".

The parent continued: "Later on, I had allegations that I was difficult to deal with because I was fighting for a referral.

"After a CT scan in Southampton, we found that our daughter did have an issue with her heart. It was actually worse than we thought it would be.

"So in August of 2021, our daughter was operated on in Southampton."

However, the parent explains that whilst returning to Guernsey, their child's breathing worsened.Listen to the baby crying and struggling for breath. Warning: Some may find this audio distressing.

The parent explained: "We felt very strongly that the symptoms really just hadn't abated. So we reported that to Dr Sandie Bohin and she claimed, this was in October, that all of our daughter's symptoms were down to a case of respiratory virus (RSV)."

However, the family did not believe this and kept pushing for more answers.

The parent added: "I was so tired of being gaslit.

"Every time I would take her to the doctor's or to A&E, I would be told she had croup, maybe she had Covid. We were sticking the swabs up her nose, and we knew this had nothing to do with Covid."

The family's worries were confirmed as it was eventually discovered that the baby needed further surgery, following an earlier procedure.

The parent said: "She was originally cut around her ribs, and they went in to the side, but this time they had to cut the front to do a full sternotomy, open up her chest.

"You're so vulnerable. You've got a tiny child, and you know what you're saying, and you've got somebody doubting these symptoms."

After discovering they were correct about their child's symptoms, the parents submitted a complaint to Guernsey's Medical Specialist Group [MSG], which employs Dr Bohin and it was partially upheld.

ITV News has put the parent's claims to the Medical Specialist Group and Dr Bohin, but both said they cannot comment on individual cases.

The States' independent Commissioner for Standards, Dr Melissa McCullough, says independent reviews "have consistently found no wrongdoing related to Dr Bohin's clinical judgement or her actions".

However, more widely, a Health and Social Care report published several years ago found that there is a bias against families who are inclined to seek second opinions and alternative approaches.

In all, 30 parents have come forward to Deputy St Pier, but many say they have not officially complained because they are worried about future support on an island with no other health providers.

Seven of the families ITV News has spoken to shared their concerns about the complaint process itself, claiming it is not uniform for every case and some are not addressed appropriately.

Dr Steve Evans, Chair of the Medical Specialist Group, said this criticism is "unfair".

He added: "We have a joint complaint policy with HSC [Health and Social Care] and MSG, there's a robust process with deadlines, and there's a right of appeal if people are unhappy with the outcome.

"I think in the cases where we've received complaints, they've been investigated thoroughly, appropriately and fairly.

"I think the other thing you have to consider is that if a patient approaches a deputy or a third party or the media, they can share as many details as they want to, whereas as professionals we are duty-bound by a code of confidentiality."

All complaints are dealt with through the MSG and HSC itself; an independent body is only brought in if a complaint decision is appealed after those same organisations decide there are grounds for it.

The parent continued: "It's made me terrified by the thought that my children might end up in that system again.

"We don't have any contact with any paediatricians here.

"We only have contact with Great Ormond Street. And we will do so until my child is at least 18 and possibly longer."

Deputy St Pier said he feels a duty to voice families' concerns.

He explained: "The most significant thing to me is the people I am seeking to represent, which is a largely growing number of families who have had poor experiences of engaging with the health care system and a feeling of not being listened to.

"They have nobody to represent their interest or point of view - that is the most important part of this story that keeps getting forgotten."

He added why he thinks people are scared to complain: "I mean it's easy to point fingers at individuals or at individual organisations, but we need to recognise that this is probably a deep cultural and systemic issue."

When Deputy St Pier is asked whether he believes the issue is continuing and if the organisation has learnt from what has happened, he responded: "No it's not, it's very much ongoing.

"Some of it is historic and indeed watching the social media flurry driven by all the white noise around my Code of Conduct case means I am seeing names and stories that I don't recognise, so there is more out there that I don't know about."

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-11-27/families-claim-smear-campaign-against-senior-guernsey-politician

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

———————————————————————————————

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Tommy Zeigler: Florida: Major (Fascinating) Development): On death row since 1976, starting Monday, a judge will start hearing DNA evidence at the heart of his Tommy Ziegler's 50-year-old murder case The Tampa Times (Former Reporter Leonor LaPeter Anton reports, noting that: "Tommy Zeigler’s last, and probably best, hope to get off death row comes thanks to DNA testing."…"Zeigler, now 80, will return to a courtroom for the first time in decades thanks to DNA testing of the evidence. A jury convicted him of killing his wife, Eunice, in-laws Perry and Virginia Edwards and another man at his family’s furniture store in Winter Garden on Christmas Eve 1975. Zeigler will arrive for the hearing in a wheelchair, an oxygen canister by his side. He has COPD, weighs 122 pounds and has been in declining health for years."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Lined up to testify on his behalf are a veteran Miami Beach homicide detective sergeant and a forensic expert who was the first to get a touch DNA test into a U.S. courtroom. Both say the testing makes clear that Zeigler did not kill his wife or her parents, according to reports filed by his attorneys with the Orlando County Clerk of Court. “It is my professional opinion that police did not allow the evidence to take them to the subject,” former detective sergeant Ibrahim Garcia wrote in his August report. “Instead, the police took their chosen suspect, Mr. Zeigler, to the evidence.”

----------------------------

PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Circuit Judge Leticia Marques, first elected in 2012, will preside over the weeklong hearing that in many ways should resemble a trial. In addition to the DNA results, Zeigler will be allowed to bring up evidence discovered after his conviction. That includes evidence the court had procedurally barred because it had already been brought up or had exceeded a time limit. At the end of the hearing, Marques will decide whether to toss aside the conviction of a man who has been on death row possibly longer than anyone in the country. It’s not clear how soon Marques will rule."

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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "The killings baffled the people in Winter Garden, a town surrounded by citrus groves and a dozen miles north of Disney’s recently opened Magic Kingdom. How could a respected business owner with no criminal record commit a quadruple murder? That question has drawn people to Zeigler’s case for five decades. Over the past 20 years, he repeatedly asked for modern DNA analysis of the evidence. His efforts were the subject of a 2018 Tampa Bay Times series and podcast, Blood and Truth. Florida lawmakers had tried 25 years ago to make DNA testing more available, especially for those on death row. But prosecutors and judges rejected Zeigler’s requests for advanced testing six times, saying that the results would not clearly exonerate him as state law requires."

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PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY: "Terry Hadley, the attorney who represented Zeigler in 1976, has been working with his appeals lawyers for years. He is now 83 and plans to be in the courtroom for the new hearing. “We have waited almost 50 years for this,” he said. “You know, here’s a man who spent a major part of his life behind bars when he shouldn’t have. My hope is that he will have a chance to breathe air as a free man and walk in the sunshine."

------------------------------------------

STORY: "Starting Monday, an Orlando judge will hear evidence in a 50-year-old murder case," by  Former Tampa Times Reporter Leonor LaPeter Anton, published by The Tampa Times, on November 27, 2025.

SUB-HEADING: "Tommy Zeigler’s last, and probably best, hope to get off death row comes thanks to DNA testing."

PHOTO CAPTION: "Tommy Zeigler has been on Florida's death row since 1976.

GIST: "Next week, in an Orlando courtroom, a judge will hear evidence in a 50-year-old murder case. Then she will decide the fate of Tommy Zeigler, the longest-serving death row inmate in Florida.

Zeigler, now 80, will return to a courtroom for the first time in decades thanks to DNA testing of the evidence. A jury convicted him of killing his wife, Eunice, in-laws Perry and Virginia Edwards and another man at his family’s furniture store in Winter Garden on Christmas Eve 1975.

Zeigler will arrive for the hearing in a wheelchair, an oxygen canister by his side. He has COPD, weighs 122 pounds and has been in declining health for years.

Lined up to testify on his behalf are a veteran Miami Beach homicide detective sergeant and a forensic expert who was the first to get a touch DNA test into a U.S. courtroom. Both say the testing makes clear that Zeigler did not kill his wife or her parents, according to reports filed by his attorneys with the Orlando County Clerk of Court.

“It is my professional opinion that police did not allow the evidence to take them to the subject,” former detective sergeant Ibrahim Garcia wrote in his August report. “Instead, the police took their chosen suspect, Mr. Zeigler, to the evidence.”

Circuit Judge Leticia Marques, first elected in 2012, will preside over the weeklong hearing that in many ways should resemble a trial. In addition to the DNA results, Zeigler will be allowed to bring up evidence discovered after his conviction. That includes evidence the court had procedurally barred because it had already been brought up or had exceeded a time limit.

At the end of the hearing, Marques will decide whether to toss aside the conviction of a man who has been on death row possibly longer than anyone in the country. It’s not clear how soon Marques will rule.

In an email Monday, Zeigler wrote that he’s still not allowing himself to get excited.

“I pray for an honest judge and hope for the truth!” he wrote.

Lawyers for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier are fighting Zeigler’s claims of innocence. On Oct. 20, they told the defense attorneys that they would be adding a witness to the hearing, a crime scene and bloodstain expert who once worked at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Marques rejected the state’s request to limit witnesses unrelated to the DNA testing. That includes Felton Thomas, the last person to see one of the victims walk into the furniture store, supposedly with Zeigler. Many of the witnesses, policemen and prosecutors involved in the original case have since died.

Thomas recanted some details of his 1976 testimony during a meeting with Zeigler’s private investigator in 2013. Lawyers questioned Thomas for the first time since the trial this past week.

Zeigler was 30 years old when he walked into the back hallway of his furniture store late that Christmas Eve to make last-minute deliveries. He said someone struck him in the head.

Zeigler told police and later testified at his trial about what he thought was a robbery gone wrong:

He fought with two men inside the dark store, one larger than the other. They threw him against a wall, and he grabbed a Colt .357 revolver he kept in a nearby desk. He may have fired that gun. He felt the burn as someone shot him in the stomach and he passed out. When he woke up, he called police, who found four bodies in the store — his three relatives and an orange grove crew leader named Charlie Mays.

The killings baffled the people in Winter Garden, a town surrounded by citrus groves and a dozen miles north of Disney’s recently opened Magic Kingdom.

How could a respected business owner with no criminal record commit a quadruple murder?

That question has drawn people to Zeigler’s case for five decades.

Over the past 20 years, he repeatedly asked for modern DNA analysis of the evidence. His efforts were the subject of a 2018 Tampa Bay Times series and podcast, Blood and Truth. Florida lawmakers had tried 25 years ago to make DNA testing more available, especially for those on death row. But prosecutors and judges rejected Zeigler’s requests for advanced testing six times, saying that the results would not clearly exonerate him as state law requires.

When Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique Worrell took office in 2021, Zeigler cleared the hurdle. Worrell had studied the case a few years earlier as founder of the office’s conviction integrity unit and felt the state had a moral obligation to allow the testing.

Even so, last July, her prosecutors refused to support Zeigler’s request to set aside his conviction based on the DNA tests. They said the results did not outright exonerate him.

Zeigler’s crime scene experts have suggested that Mays, the orange crew leader, played a role in the killings.

Blood from Zeigler’s father-in-law had soaked into the knee of Mays’ pants, Richard Eikelenboom, the forensic DNA and bloodstain expert, wrote in his report. That could only happen if Mays had been there when Edwards was killed.

Yet prosecutors have always argued that Zeigler lured Mays to the store after the murders to kill and take the blame.

Traces of Mays’ touch DNA were found on Eunice Zeigler’s coat in five locations, Eikelenboom said.

It’s likely Mays moved her body and put her hand in her pocket, Eikelenboom said, before he was wounded. Though the concentrations are low, he said, you would expect them to be with 50-year-old evidence.

“It’s not likely that testing would produce match results with Charlie Mays five times by coincidence.”

The recent testing, he said, found no DNA match to Zeigler on his wife’s coat.

The medical evidence also suggested an altercation between Mays and Perry Edwards, wrote Garcia, the former homicide detective. Mays’ right hand had swelled, and he had a small puncture wound near the knuckle of his right pinky finger, both indicative of someone who had struck another person in the face and made contact with a tooth. Edwards had evidence of trauma around his mouth, Garcia said, including “either a missing tooth or one that has been pushed inward.”

Zeigler had no such damage on his hands.

Arguments beginning Monday will center on where blood was found — and where it wasn’t.

Zeigler’s experts say that if he had killed his family, the blood evidence on his clothes would be overwhelming, since they were all shot at close range.

Garcia said the scene itself points to several people involved — with eight firearms, multiple holsters and bullets lodged throughout the store. One casing did not match any of the firearms in evidence.

Prosecutors, over the years, have defended the police investigation and looked for ways to explain any contradictory evidence or test results.

In the past, they have raised the possibility that Zeigler may have worn a raincoat when he killed his family. An employee apparently had left the coat at the store, and it was never found.

Even if he had worn a raincoat, Zeigler’s experts said, blood spatter would have sprayed the bottom of his pants, socks and shoes and the sleeves inside his cuffs.

At a hearing in August, the judge questioned whether the raincoat theory had ever been raised, and an assistant attorney general agreed that it had not been introduced as part of the prosecution.

Terry Hadley, the attorney who represented Zeigler in 1976, has been working with his appeals lawyers for years. He is now 83 and plans to be in the courtroom for the new hearing.

“We have waited almost 50 years for this,” he said. “You know, here’s a man who spent a major part of his life behind bars when he shouldn’t have. My hope is that he will have a chance to breathe air as a free man and walk in the sunshine.

The entire storey can be read at:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

———————————————————————————————

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

-------------------------------------------------------------------