Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Blood splatter series (Part 2): Brad Jennings; Missouri...Another very troubling blood splatter case. "Robert Ramsey, who represents Brad Jennings, says blood-spatter analysis is "almost junk science."..."Jennings and his current attorney, Robert Ramsey, believe the jury got it wrong because key evidence was withheld from Jennings' defense lawyer at trial. Jurors also got it wrong, Ramsey argued in court filings and in an interview with the News-Leader, because blood-spatter evidence presented by Sgt. Dan Nash, of the Highway Patrol, was inaccurate. Efforts to prove Jennings' innocence continue today — eight years after he was sent to prison. Ramsey will be able to present his own blood-spatter expert at a hearing for Jennings on Nov. 7-8 in Rolla. Ramsey wants to do this despite calling blood-spatter evidence in general "almost junk science." Ramsey explained in an interview that his expert had better credentials and more training than Nash. In court filings, he says his expert will expose "numerous glaring errors" in the state's blood-spatter conclusions."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I have been paying considerable attention to the constantly unravelling Joe Bryan case which has been highlighted by ...

Bitemarkers run amuk: Dr. Mike Bowers - of Forensics and Law in Focus - presents a portrait of '"Forensics Canada: Bitemarkers run amok; Courts and DAs (we call them prosecutors!) prefer case precedence over science. (Dr. Bowers cites a Canadian Law Review article to make his point)..."We found 14 cases in which courts relied on a forensic bitemark identification, a number that likely underestimates the use of this practice. Still, in the cases we found, forensic bitemark experts overstated the accuracy and reliability of their practice, and did not appear to disclose the considerable controversy in the field. Furthermore, and despite repeated directions from the Supreme Court of Canada that trial judges should exercise a robust gatekeeper role in the face of invalid science, none of the courts excluded bite mark analysis, nor expressly questioned the scientific validity of the practice."

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POST: "Forensics Canada: Bitemarkers run amok; Courts and DAs prefer case precedence over science," by Dr. Michael Bowers, on his...
Monday, August 27, 2018

James and Edelyn Yhip: California; Shaken baby syndrome case: Major Development: Shaken Baby Syndrome case: Chico Enterprise-Record reports: "Murder charges dropped against Chico doctor, nurse in son’s 2012 death." (Reporter Andre Byik)..." The injuries, prosecutors had alleged, were consistent with “shaken baby syndrome” and abuse. But defense attorneys contended Benjamin was a sick child whose death was caused by underlying medical issues, not blunt force trauma. The Yhips were charged in 2012. A trial was scheduled to begin next month. That trial was canceled Thursday. During the hearing Thursday, the prosecutor, Stacy Edwards, told the judge that the prosecution would not be able to prove the charges against the Yhips beyond a reasonable doubt. Edwards said the lack of sufficient evidence regarded an “extensive disagreement with respect to Benjamin Yhip’s cause of death.” She said the District Attorney’s Office consulted a doctor to “independently” review the findings of the original forensic pathologist in the case, as well as the findings of experts for the defense. That doctor concluded Benjamin’s cause of death could not be determined, which weighed heavily on the prosecution’s decision to seek a dismissal."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " The Yhips in 2010 adopted Benjamin and Benjamin’s twin brother from Taiwan at the age of 1, according to the No...

Blood splatter series: (Part 1): Joe Bryan: Texas: Controversial blood splatter case: Waco Tribune-Herald columnist Bill Whitaker describes how flawed forensics and courtroom bungling took center stage in Joe Bryant's recent hearing: "Mere feet from a pale, nearly immobile figure in black and white prison stripes convicted on that long-ago evidence, Rossi forcefully punctuated her thoughts on the trial transcript: “It’s false and unscientific and it’s the most horrifying thing I’ve ever read in my life.” This is all at the heart of the long-running, much-debated saga of onetime Clifton High School principal Joe Bryan, now 77 and ailing, in prison more than three decades for a murder some argue the criminal justice system bungled through a series of wildly irregular factors, some involving hard science, some involving basic legal ethics. Although two juries in trials in 1986 and 1989 found Bryan guilty of murdering his wife in a breathless prosecutorial narrative conjuring some amazing logistical feats, others say he’s a prime example of chronic failures in America’s criminal justice system."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Asked to examine the Bryan case blood-spatter evidence by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Celestina Ro...

Marcellus Williams: Missouri;The death penalty, the pope, a political defeat, and a terribly flawed, unconstitutional death penalty system: Columnist Tony Messenger says "perhaps" the pope's words, a newly elected prosecuting attorney, a shortage of lethal drugs, and a shifting 'climate' on the death penalty, could make a difference in St. Louis County..."For the next four years, at least, this county will be sending no more men or women to die. In a state that in recent years has been so desperate to send men in prison to their deaths that it bought lethal drugs on the black market using untraceable cash payments, that’s progress."..."Ferguson city councilman Wesley Bell’s defeat last week of longtime St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch. “That’s huge,” Litton said. Bell campaigned on his opposition to the death penalty, which McCulloch long supported. When former Gov. Eric Greitens last year stopped the execution of convicted murderer Marcellus Williams and appointed a panel to examine whether newly discovered DNA in his case could exonerate him, McCulloch was dismissive, saying there was “zero possibility” that Williams was innocent of the brutal 1998 murder of former Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle. That panel will reconvene later this month. Whether or not Williams committed the crime, Pope Francis’ new decree says, he doesn’t deserve to die." and Missouri: Columnist Tony Messenger

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 2012, Thaman was co-chairman of an American Bar Association committee that found multiple constitutional conce...
Sunday, August 26, 2018

Commentator Michelle Malkin takes on "Oklahoma's Wretched Record on Wrongful Convictions" - including her claim that, "The reign of prosecutorial terror and forensic error by the late Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy and rogue Oklahoma City police department crime lab analyst Joyce Gilchrist resulted in at least 11 wrongful convictions, according to the Innocence Project. Those victims included: Exoneree Curtis McCarty, who was sent to death row for a stabbing and strangulation murder after Macy withheld evidence and Gilchrist falsified blood evidence and destroyed hair evidence. Exoneree Robert Lee Miller Jr., another death row inmate falsely convicted of two rapes and two murders based on a coerced confession and atrocious forensic misconduct involving junk analysis of semen, blood, saliva, human hair and dog hair. Exoneree Jeffrey Pierce, who was falsely convicted of rape in 1986 based on Gilchrist's misconduct and won a $4 million settlement from Oklahoma City. Exoneree David Bryson, who was wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and rape and freed after 18 years in prison when Gilchrist's destruction of evidence was discovered and follow-up DNA testing excluded him as the attacker."

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Oklahoma's Wretched Record on Wrongful Convictions Oklahoma's Wretched Record on Wrongful Convictions PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Un...
Saturday, August 25, 2018

Question of the day: Why did the chicken go to the other side of the road? (Just kidding!) Here is the real question in light of the ever-loosening (including legalization) of marijuana laws in North America and elsewhere. A clue: Massachusett's State Police think saliva swabs will do the trick. (See you in court! HL)..."Legal experts say any chemical test is likely to face challenges in court. “We’re hoping the technology catches up and, similar to the Breathalyzer, comes up with some way for us to detect if somebody is under the influence of marijuana,” state police Maj. Rick Ball told the Herald yesterday."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "State police — expecting a surge in drugged driving now that pot is legal, and looking for a way to prove a driv...