Bulletin: George Souliotes: Decision "expected soon". Case called "textbook example of bad fire science leading to wrongful conviction."

STORY: "Arson and 'junk science'," by reporter Paul Bieber, published in The Crime Report on April 3, 2012.

GIST: "U.S. Magistrate Michael Seng, U.S. District Court, Eastern Court of California, is expected soon to announce his ruling in an appeal of a case that is a textbook example of bad fire science leading to a wrongful conviction. His decision, and the testimony that led to it, will shine a light on a national travesty of justice, where arson evidence that has been discredited for 20 years has been used to misidentify accidental or undetermined fires as arson. The case involves a defendant named George Souliotes, who was sentenced to life without parole in 1997 for what now appears to have been an accidental fire. During hearings presided over by Seng, fire experts testified that the evidence used to gain his 1997 arson conviction was utterly unreliable and largely based on “junk science.”.........Nationwide, 5,405 people were in prison for arson in 2002, the latest year for which statistics are available, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Corrections Reporting Program. Yet, in 2004, a dozen years after the fire investigation community acknowledged that arson must be proven by science, not mythology, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas for setting a fire that killed his three young children. His conviction, like so many others, was based on exactly this type of unreliable burn pattern analysis. Fire experts nationwide now agree that the fire that killed Willingham’s children and led to his execution was almost certainly accidental, not arson. Such “voodoo science” is so prevalent in old arson convictions that the Texas Forensic Science Commission recently recommended that all arson convictions in Texas be reviewed in order to determine which of the convictions are based on unreliable forensic evidence. This followed the passage of state resolutions supporting judicial review of arson cases in Arizona, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Texas is on the right path in reviewing all of its arson convictions in order to identify the small number of cases hidden amongst them where innocent people have been convicted of setting what were really just accidental fires. This review should serve as a model for other states to conduct their own arson case reviews. Without such a proactive review it is nearly impossible for the wrongfully convicted to have his day in court."

Paul Bieber is a criminal defense investigator for the San Mateo County (CA) Private Defender Program and the director of The Arson Research Project. His blog and more information about the research project can be found at www.Thearsonproject.org. He welcomes comments from readers.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thecrimereport.org/viewpoints/2012-04-arson-and-junk-science

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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.

Gareth Williams: (DNA debacle); UK spy's family demand answers over puzzling death; The Associated Press;

STORY: "UK spy's family demand answers over puzzling death," by reporter David Springer, published by the Associated Press on March 30, 2012; Photo-caption: "This undated file image made available in London Wednesday Sept. 1, 2010, by the Metropolitan Police, shows British intelligence official Gareth Williams. The family of the British codebreaker Gareth Williams whose naked and decomposing body was found inside a padlocked sports bag in August 2010, believe the country's intelligence agencies may have interfered with evidence that could explain the spy's puzzling death, their lawyer Anthony O'Toole said Friday, March 30, 2012. The 31-year-old cryptology expert worked for Britain's secret eavesdropping service GCHQ and was attached to the country's MI6 overseas spy agency at the time of his death."

GIST: "The family of a British codebreaker whose naked and decomposing body was found inside a padlocked sports bag believes the country's intelligence agencies may have interfered with evidence that could explain the spy's puzzling death, their lawyer said Friday.Lawyer Anthony O'Toole told a hearing that relatives of Gareth Williams, who was discovered inside the bag in the bathtub of his central London home in August 2010, do not accept a claim by British authorities that his death was unconnected to his work.........Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who has led the police investigation, also told the hearing that DNA evidence officers believed they had recovered inside the spy's home turned out to be from a scientist sent to the scene."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/uk-spys-family-demand-1402208.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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; Willie Grimes: Convicted rapist maintains innocence in 1987 case. Hair analysis plays crucial role; North Carolina Innocence Inquiry; WRAL;

STORY: "Convicted rapist maintains innocence in 1987 case," published by WRAL on April 3, 2012;

GIST: "Raleigh, N.C. — A Hickory man serving a life sentence in prison for a rape he says he didn't commit testified Tuesday before a special state panel that will decide whether his conviction should be reconsidered.Willie J. Grimes, 65, told the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission that he had no idea why police wanted to arrest him in the fall of 1987 and that he offered to take a lie detector test when he found out he was the suspect in the rape of a 69-year-old woman. But police didn't take him up on the offer. Grimes said he also wanted police to collect hair samples from him for testing against a rape kit. "I knew I was innocent, and I knew that if they had something, mine wouldn't match whatever they had, because I didn't do anything," he said. Grimes was convicted less than a year later on two counts of first-degree rape and one count of second-degree kidnapping in the Oct. 24, 1987, crime. He is serving his sentence at Gaston Correctional Center, a minimum security prison in Dallas, N.C. The eight-member panel of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement officers and other individuals reviews claims of innocence from convicted criminals and considers new, credible evidence that might justify a new verdict. If it determines that Grimes' case merits further review, it will refer it to a three-judge panel to decide whether his conviction should be overturned......Investigators did find a hair that was "microscopically consistent" with Grimes', Troy Hamlin, a former hairs analyst for the state, testified Tuesday. But he said he couldn't say for certain that the hair – the only piece of physical evidence linking Grimes to the crime – matched him. Hair science has changed drastically since the advent of DNA technology, Hamlin said, and hair analysis is now used as a screening technique before DNA analysis – the only way to prove identity. Max Houck, an expert in microscopic hair comparison, testified that he would have likely recommended to prosecutors not to use the hair if there were no strong circumstantial evidence in the case. Today, he said, he would recommend a microscopic examination and then have DNA testing on it. But the hair cannot be tested again. All of the evidence, with the exception of the fingerprints on the banana, was inexplicably destroyed several years after the trial, a staff attorney investigating the case for the Innocence Commission said."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10939755/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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: Gareth Williams; U.K. DNA debacle. Calls for public inquiry into 'astonishing' DNA error: The Independent;

STORY: "Calls for inquiry into 'astonishing' DNA error," by reporter Paul Peachey, published in the Independent on March 31, 2012;

GIST: "The major blunder that sent detectives on the Gareth Williams inquiry down a blind alley for more than a year is the second embarrassment admitted this month by Britain's biggest private forensic science laboratory. The latest error – described as "astonishing" and which led to a public apology from the company to the Williams family – has raised questions over systems and practices at LGC, which handles half a million samples a year. Critics called for a public inquiry to try to discover if private providers were fit for purpose following the final closure today of the state-run Forensic Science Service. "This simply should not happen," said Professor Peter Gill, a founding father of DNA profiling in the 1980s. "Surely there is sufficient evidence to open a public inquiry because we are now getting regular reports of widespread system failure."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/calls-for-inquiry-into-astonishing-dna-error-7604130.html?origin=internalSearch

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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.

Forensic testing in Britain: Privatisation is a catastrophe, warns godfather of forensics - The Independent; (Must read! HL);

The privatisation of forensic testing in Britain is leading to catastrophic failures and potential miscarriages of justice, the pioneer of mass DNA profiling has warned.

STORY: "Privatisation is a catastrophe, warns godfather of forensics," by reporter Paul Peachey, published in the Independent on April 2, 2012; Sub-heading: "Abolition of Forensic Science Service has led to miscarriages of justice, says DNA pioneer.

GIST: "In a damning indictment of the new system of forensic testing, Professor Peter Gill said the "wheels were already falling off" following the switch to private providers and police labs from the loss-making Forensic Science Service (FSS), which closed its doors for the last time at the weekend. He has called for thousands of criminal cases to be reviewed following high-profile blunders by the country's biggest private testing centre, LGC. The mistakes have also led to calls for a public inquiry. The FSS, which carried out 60 per cent of forensic work in Britain when the Government announced its closure in December 2010, finally shut down at the weekend with only its archives retained for historic reviews. The Government blamed monthly £2m losses but its closure leaves Britain as the only major country without a national forensics service. Professor Gill, who co-wrote the first scientific paper on uses of DNA for forensic science and led the work which set up the national database, quit the FSS in 2008 in protest at the agency's increasing commercialisation.

Professor Gill and other critics claim the changes over the past decade led to:

* the loss of niche technical skills including fibre analysis;

* forensic material from the same crime split between different providers;

* the end of expensive, ground-breaking research that contributed to some remarkable breakthroughs;

* the outsourcing of cases because private companies cannot cope with the surge in cases.

The LGC errors included the contamination between two samples in a lab. In one rape case it led to a false finding linking an innocent man to the crime scene. It was revealed last week the company also accidentally created a non-existent suspect during the inquiry into Gareth Williams, the MI6 worker whose body was found inside a bag at his London flat – leading police up a blind alley for more than a year. The forensic science regulator said it had checked 26,000 samples after the rape-case error and said it found no other problems. But Professor Gill expressed doubt over the inquiry's findings. "The only way forward is for the courts individually to reconsider the affected cases via the appeal procedure... otherwise it seems to me that there is a significant possibility of miscarriage of justice in the cases that comprise the affected batch of samples," he said."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/privatisation-is-a-catastrophe-warns-godfather-of-forensics-7606789.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this 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.

Dr. George Hibbert: Telegraph report on "The doctor who took my baby away."

STORY: "The doctor who took my baby away," by Patrick Sawer, published in The Telegraph, on April 1, 2012; Sub-heading: "As Dr. George Hibbert, an 'expert' child care pathologist, faces being struck off, we talk to one mother who was labeled unfit, while a whistle-blower gives an insight into his unconventional methods." Photo-caption: "Dr Hibbert faces being struck off by the General Medical Council following claims that he misdiagnosed many of his patients with mental disorders and tailored his conclusions to suit the view of the relevant social services departments."

GIST: "Maria’s story raises disturbing questions about the power one man could exercise over those he judged to be unfit parents. Between 2000 and 2010 he was commissioned by social services departments throughout England (who paid him around £6,000 per case a week) to determine whether the parents referred to him were fit to keep their children. As a result of his reports, dozens of children were separated from their mothers or fathers. But in a sudden turn of fortune, Dr Hibbert, 59, now faces being struck off by the General Medical Council, following claims that he misdiagnosed many of his patients with mental disorders and tailored his conclusions to suit the view of the relevant social services departments. And it is indicative of the doubts being raised over Dr Hibbert’s methods that his assessment that Maria was suffering from mental health problems – which led to custody of her child being given to the father – was later contradicted by an eminent psychiatrist, who concluded that there was no evidence she was an unsuitable parent. “If it wasn’t for Dr Hibbert, I could still be with my baby,” says Maria. “It has been terrible. Being without her, and only seeing her for short periods, is very upsetting. I feel so sad whenever I have to say goodbye. I miss her very much.”"

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9178021/The-doctor-who-took-my-baby-away.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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.

Gareth Williams; DNA error mars investigations into death of M16 spy; Scientists apologise to family;

STORY: "Scientists apologize to family of M16 spy Gareth Williams for DNA error," by Guardian staff and agencies, published on March 21, 2012;

GIST; "Forensic scientists have apologised to the family of the GCHQ codebreaker Gareth Williams, whose body was found inside a holdall in the bath of his London flat, after it emerged a DNA error had dashed a key line of inquiry into his death. LGC said one of its staff members made a "typographical error" while inputting code, leading Scotland Yard to spend more than a year trying to trace a non-existent suspect. It was confirmed last month, when LGC carried out a review, that the partial DNA profile belonged to a scientist involved in the case. "Having made further checks, LGC identified the partial profile as matching that of a Metropolitan police scientist who was involved in the original investigation of Mr Williams' home," a LGC spokeswoman said. "The Metropolitan police service was immediately notified. We are sorry for any pain this error may have caused Mr Williams' family."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/30/gareth-williams-death-dna-error

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring this case. 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;