Thursday, October 27, 2016

Victor Rosario: Massachusetts: False confession/arson 'science' case: Boston Globe story by reporter Milton J. Valencia is an excellent backgrounder to hearing set for November 8, at which the Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments on whether Ryan has to retry Rosario in the 1982 fire that tore through a dilapidated three-decker in Lowell, killing eight people, including five young children..."Lisa Kavanaugh, one of Rosario’s lawyers, the head of the Innocence Program for the state’s public defender agency, said that Rosario should be exonerated by prosecutors. His conviction was thrown out in large part because advances in forensic technology cast doubt on whether the fire was deliberately set, raising questions about the accuracy of the confession."..."Within 48 hours of the deadly fire, the worst in Lowell history, investigators zeroed in on Rosario, 24 at the time, as their suspect. Fire inspectors reported that burn patterns in the home indicated the fire was intentionally set. Rosario, then a drug addict and alcoholic, first told investigators he had gone to the apartment next door to buy drugs, and then smelled smoke and heard screams. But after five hours of questioning, Rosario signed a statement that he and two friends had thrown Molotov cocktails into the building as revenge for a botched drug deal. Within a year he was convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. An investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, published in the Globe in 2010, found grave shortcomings in the police inquiry, however, including in witness identification techniques. The most significant development was in advances in forensic science, which found that the burn patterns police took as definitive evidence of arson are now considered a common occurrence of any house fire, whether intentionally set or not. The appeal filed on Rosario’s behalf also raised the question of whether he was suffering from a delirium caused by severe alcohol withdrawal and submitted to a coerced confession, a finding made by a mental health analysts who testified for the defense. In her decision vacating the conviction, Superior Court Judge Kathe M. Tuttman ruled that the questionable evidence of arson, coupled with evidence of Rosario’s psychosis during alcohol withdrawal, raised doubts as to the veracity of his confession."

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STORY: "Freedom remains tenuous for freed prisoner," by Milton J. Valencia, published by The Boston Globe on October 24, 2016. ...

Chris Tapp: Idaho; (False confession case): 'Judges for Justice' - a wrongful conviction group - issues a scathing response to Twin Falls private investigator Stuart Robinson's report on Tapp's conviction...“Statements made by Tapp of his personal involvement in the death of Angie are either tainted, questionable or unlikely,” Robinson wrote. The prosecution-commissioned report also indicated that former Detective Jared Fuhriman, who later served as mayor of Idaho Falls, gave untruthful testimony when he told jurors Tapp had volunteered information only the killer could know. But Robinson, unlike other outside experts, concluded that Tapp must have been a witness to the crime. He didn’t point to many specific pieces of evidence which led him to that conclusion, saying instead it was based on his overall impression. “While dismissing Tapp’s statements as ‘unreliable, tainted’ and ‘unlikely,’ Robinson inexplicably uses those very same statements to attempt to prove Tapp’s presence at the murder scene,” Judges for Justice wrote...“Robinson’s mistaken belief that Tapp was present at the murder scene was based on a false premise, conjecture and inaccurate information, and his report was ultimately unable to authoritatively refute a single conclusion regarding the innocence of Christopher Tapp,” Judges for Justice wrote."

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STORY: "Judges for Justice responds to Tapp report," by reporter Bryan Clark, published by The Post Register on October 24, 2016....

Jose Maysonet: Illinois; White elephant; Alleged beating by former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevero which caused Maysonet to falsely confess to a double-murder - prompts appeal court to vacate the convictions and order a new trial..."Jose Maysonet said Guevara hit him with a flashlight and phone book while he was handcuffed to a wall during his interrogation for the slayings on May 25, 1990. Maysonet, now 48, also said he did not know English when he was forced to confess to the shooting deaths of brothers Torrence and Kevin Wiley. According to a lawsuit Maysonet filed last year against his former attorneys, the only evidence against him at his 1995 trial was a confession obtained by Guevara. Guevara has been accused of framing other murder suspects whose convictions were later vacated." WFLD

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In the years since I started publishing this Blog I have become increasingly disturbed by the 'white elephant' in the room: Sh...

Syna Lim; Florida; The murder conviction and life sentence of this Mandarin babysitter have been vacated in light of new evidence that a 2-year-old St. Augustine child in her care was not beaten to death, but instead died from high blood sugar due to undiagnosed juvenile diabetes..."Lim was convicted and Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper sentenced her to life in prison for the murder and an additional 30 years for child abuse. But according to court records, years after the conviction an Orlando pathologist and a Jacksonville pediatrician re-examined the case and determined that Amara did not die from blunt force trauma at all. They testified that Amara had been suffering from diabetes and a condition called “disseminated intravascular coagulation,” or DIC, that produces uncontrolled internal bleeding. “Uncontrolled bleeding from DIC, the physicians testified, likely caused the bruising and other discolorations on or about the child which were interpreted by the treating personnel as indications of trauma,” Jacobson said in court filings. In other words, the medical evidence suggests Amara may have died from internal bleeding and was never the victim of blunt force trauma, Jacobson said."

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STORY: "Conviction overturned for Jacksonville baby sitter; new evidence shows toddler may have died from diabetic condition," ...

Derek Bromley: Australia; (A discredited pathologist Colin Manock case): 'Network Knowledge' highlights his case in a release related to the announcement today by the Federal Attorney-General that the Australian Law Reform Commission will conduct an inquiry into the incarceration rate of Indigenous Australians..."Derek Bromley, an aboriginal man in South Australia, is still in prison having served some 33 years. He is more than 10 years past his non-parole period of 22 years. He is told that he cannot apply for parole because he will not say that he is sorry for the crime for which he was convicted. Being innocent of this crime he maintains that an apology would be inappropriate. The cost of his incarceration over the last ten years is in excess of $800,000. If he had been guilty he would have been sent home 10 years ago. His claim to be wrongfully convicted is well-founded. The forensic evidence was given at his trial by Dr Colin Manock. The state of South Australia in 1976 gave sworn evidence to a court to the effect that Dr Manock was not qualified to complete an autopsy on his own. The state also said he was not qualified as an expert – which means that he was not entitled to give expert opinion evidence in any court proceedings. Even if his evidence had been correct (which it wasn’t) it would still have been inadmissible. In addition, it was acknowledged in Mr Bromley’s previous appeal that one of the eye-witnesses at Mr Bromley’s trial was suffering from a mental condition and was experiencing hallucinations on the night of the incident. There is a strong argument to say that his evidence also should have been inadmissible."

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The forensic evidence was given at his trial by Dr Colin Manock. The state of South Australia in 1976 gave sworn e...

Christopher Youngkin: Texas; Chris Seaton has a point well made on 'Mimesis Law' - a stimulating, insightful blog published by Lee Pacchia and a cohort of bright, interesting contributors: "Something’s rotten when a state expert takes the fifth."..."With allegedly “thousands of cases” where Youngkin tested blood samples now in question, Christopher Youngkin’s decision to consult with an attorney and invoke his Fifth Amendment rights places doubts in the head of every trier of fact and defense attorney who had Youngkin as an “expert witness” during a trial on edge. If what he said was so egregious he felt it necessary to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, what else does he have to hide? This is a tough hurdle for the State, and Youngkin, to overcome in the current case and others. A three-year-old inconsistency during a blood test, followed by confrontation of inconsistent testimony under oath regarding those tests, led to a “credible” Texas “Forensic Blood Analyst” being shaken so bad he took the Fifth and asked for time to consult an attorney before a misdemeanor DWI trial could proceed."

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POST: "Something’s Rotten When A State Expert Takes The Fifth,"by Chris Seaton, published by 'Mimesis Law' on October 25...
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

LaMonte Armstrong: North Carolina: White elephant: (Police misconduct - causing false confession); He receives 6.42 Million in a wrongful conviction lawsuit, in which, "the charges against him rested on testimony from Charles Blackwell, a police informant who later revealed he was paid $200 dollars for his testimony and later threatened with jail time for the murder if he didn’t testify."..."In 2010, the case crumbled when Blackwell recanted his testimony and admitted to the detective misconduct rampant in the investigation. The Duke Law Wrongful Convictions Clinic took on the case in 2011 and discovered through DNA testing that a palm print found at the scene of the crime did not match Armstrong but a convicted felon who had briefly been a suspect in 1992."

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In the years since I started publishing this Blog I have become increasingly disturbed by the 'white elephant' in the room: Sh...