Sunday, June 28, 2020

Scott Watson: New Zealand: (Flawed microscopic comparison of hair) ...Did the police plant evidence in his boat - two pieces of hair? Aftermath of Justice Minister to refer he case back to the nation's Court of Appeal - Newshub story (Reporters Emily O'Connell, Dan Satherly, and Annabelle Tukia headed: ''Right decision' to send Scott Watson case back to Court of Appeal... "A legal expert says the Justice Minister's call to refer the Scott Watson case to the Court of Appeal is the right move. But victims' advocates are concerned the wounds will be reopened for the families of his alleged victims. Watson, who turns 49 on Sunday, was convicted of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope in 1999. Their bodies were never found. Watson has always denied killing the pair, who were last seen getting off a water taxi and onto a boat early on January 1, 1998. After a former High Court Judge reviewed Watson's application for the royal prerogative of mercy, Justice Minister Andrew Little advised Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy to refer the convictions to the Court of Appeal for further consideration. "It's not without controversy, this case, but I believe that is the right decision - for it to be referred back to the Court of Appeal," Massey University legal expert Chris Gallavin told Newshub."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " Watson has been denied parole every time he's applied.  In a  2015 interview with  North and  South   Watson...
Saturday, June 27, 2020

Robert Julian-Borchak Williams: Michigan: Aftermath 3: Commentator Matthew Walther in The Week: "Facial recognition is for-profit policing."...On a Thursday evening five months ago, one day before his 42nd birthday, Robert Julian-Borchak Williams was arrested in front of his wife and children at his home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Asked what crime he was accused of committing, police refused to say. In response to questions about where her husband was being taken, one officer told Williams's wife that she ought to "Google it."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " This was not police work. Officers in Williams' case played the role of middlemen between two private compan...

Robert Xie: Australia: (Justice minister has granted him an appeal on five murder counts - one family: fascinating forensic analysis from author/blogger Andrew L. Urban (Wrongful Conviction Report) pointing to a very interesting proposition that contradicts the prosecution's case. (It took me by surprise. HL) The post runs under the heading: "Robert Xie exonerated by autopsy evidence." Read on!

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BACKGROUND:  " On July 18, 2009, newsagent Min Lin, 45, Mr Lin’s wife Yun Li “Lily” Lin, 44, their sons Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, and ...

Robert Julian-Borchak Williams: Michigan: Aftermath (2): Topic of the day: "When the police treat software like magic," by NYT scribe Shira Ovide...The arrest of a man for a crime he did not commit shows the dangers of facial recognition technology."

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BACKGROUND: TECHNOLOGY: In the last several years I have been spending considerably more time than usual on applications of rapidly develo...
Friday, June 26, 2020

Scott Watson: New Zealand: Major (Welcome) Development: (After insisting on his innocence for 20 years): New Zealand's justice minister has referred the case to the countries top court "after concerns were raised about the conviction," Stuff.co, reporter Mike White, reports. At the heart of Watson's application was the reliability of two hairs police say were found on his yacht, which were likely to have come from Hope. However the discovery and testing of these two hairs, has always been extremely controversial."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Brian McDonald, who helped lodge Watson's latest legal bid for freedom, said the decision was remarkable.  ...

Billy Joe Wardlow: Texas: As the July 8th execution date draws near..."Burr (his incredibly dedicated counsel HL) is asking the Supreme Court to review new research that shows that because of the way the brain grows – or doesn't – the prediction of future dangerousness in an 18-year-old is scientifically impossible. If the court rules in his favor, the law would no longer be applicable to 18-year-olds, and Wardlow – who, you will recall, was 18 at the time of his crime – could receive a new sentence."

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BACKGROUND:  (Billy Joe Wardklow): "He received his death sentence in 1993 for killing an 82-year old man during a robbery when he wa...