Colin Matchim Newfoundland: "Shaken Baby Syndrome" case. Medical evidence may clear him: Hearing continues throughout this week; VOCM;

STORY: "Hearing may clear Matchim," published by VOCM on October 3, 2012.

GIST: A medical expert testifying in defence of Colin Matchim, has taken the stand in Supreme Court.  Matchim is accused of shaking his infant daughter, causing her to suffer brain injuries. Dr. David Ramsay, a neuro-pathologist, says it's possible there could be other causes that explain the injuries suffered by Matchim's daughter. The hearing will continue all week. Matchim had been accused of aggravated assault in May 2011, but since then his defense has asked to enter some new medical evidence that could clear Matchim of any wrong-doing.

BACKGROUND: Colin Matchim has been convicted and is still to be sentenced on a charge of aggravated assault of his infant daughter, allegedly by shaking her. He has, however,  been given  the opportunity to call expert evidence that there may be other explanations for his daughter's injuries, at a hearing that is proceeding this week.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=27130&popular=1

  PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring these cases. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!

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.

Annie Dookhan: Massachusetts; Woman released half way through sentence; Lawyer says very "productive" lab people set her back. Boston Globe.

STORY: "Roxbury mother freed amid state drug lab scandal." by reporter Brian Ballou, published in the Boston Globe on October 4, 2012.

GIST: "Standing in the administrative offices of the South Middlesex Correctional Center in Framingham, Mylazia Johnson was handed a letter from her attorney. At first, she didn’t quite understand the import of the news it contained: She had a court date Sept. 28. And she could be released. “I read it again, and I was thinking it can’t be true,” said Johnson, of Roxbury, who was halfway through her 3½-year drug sentence. The attorney explained during a telephone call: Annie Dookhan, the former state chemist at the epicenter of a spiraling drug lab scandal, had been involved in testing the drugs in Johnson’s case...........Attorney Kathleen S. Lucey has represented two of those people, Johnson and Joshua P. Fernandes, who was freed last week in Plymouth Superior Court after serving about half of his sentence for cocaine trafficking and drug possession. Fernandes was convicted in March 2011. “Ms. Johnson was dealt a much tougher hand than most of us, but she never, ever gave up on herself, and she’s already doing good things and moving forward despite what very ‘productive’ lab people have done to set her back,” Lucey said."

The entire story can be found at:

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/10/03/mother-released-from-prison-after-revelation-that-state-chemist-annie-dookhan-was-involved-testing-drugs-her-case/2dRxL1tevTkidqslmvviiO/story.html

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring these cases. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!

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.

Annie Dookhan: Justin J. McShane rejects the "rogue chemist excuse" and notes jury deliberations have begun in the Deborah Madden drug lab trial.

STORIES: "The rogue chemist excuse: Just as real as the boogie man in the closet," and "Jury deliberations begin in SFPD crime lab cocaine theft trial," posted by Justin J. McShane, on "The truth about forensic science," on October 3, 2012.

GIST: "Rogue chemist': "The typ­i­cal sce­nario is that there is a press con­fer­ence where all are told that they fig­ured out the prob­lem and it was iso­lated to one per­son and one per­son only. They claim it is not the whole laboratory. This is the Boo­gie Man in the closet excuse. Of course, there is no such thing as the Boo­gie Man who lives in the closet. Just like there is no such thing as the sole, rogue chemist run a muck. It is an insti­tu­tional problem. While a lot has been reported here about Annie Dookhan, she is not the only per­son and not the Mass­a­chu­setts lab­o­ra­tory involved is not the only lab­o­ra­tory rocked by these types of things. It isn’t aberrant. Mark my words: We are going to see more and more and more of these types of cases as the defense bar becomes more sci­en­tif­i­cally educated."

GIST: "Jury deliberations": "A fed­eral jury began delib­er­at­ing today in the case of a for­mer San Fran­cisco police crime lab­o­ra­tory tech­ni­cian whose pil­fer­ing of cocaine led to the dis­missal of hun­dreds of drug cases. Deb­o­rah Mad­den, 62, of San Mateo, is accused in the court of U.S. Dis­trict Judge Susan Ill­ston in San Fran­cisco of a fed­eral charge of obtain­ing cocaine from the lab in 2009 by means of mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion, fraud, forgery, decep­tion or subterfuge. The accu­sa­tion also con­tains a lesser charge of sim­ple pos­ses­sion of cocaine. In clos­ing argu­ments today, Madden’s lawyer, Paul DeMeester, con­ceded that she took small amounts of cocaine and could be found guilty of the lesser charge. But he main­tained there was no proof of the ele­ment of decep­tion or sub­terfuge needed for a con­vic­tion on the heav­ier charge. “Ms. Mad­den had access to drugs that were avail­able to her in the lab­o­ra­tory and she sim­ply took them,” DeMeester told the jury. “There’s noth­ing schem­ing or fraud­u­lent about it. She’s just tak­ing what’s in front of her when she works,” he said. DeMeester ended by telling the jurors, “The state of the evi­dence com­pels a not-guilty ver­dict on the charged offense, but it also com­pels a guilty ver­dict on the lesser charged offense.” The charge of obtain­ing cocaine through fraud car­ries a max­i­mum sen­tence of four years in prison if Mad­den is con­victed. The lesser pos­ses­sion charge has a max­i­mum pun­ish­ment of one year in prison. Pros­e­cu­tors con­tended Mad­den engaged in a series of decep­tions in order to be able to steal cocaine, includ­ing stay­ing late at the lab at night in the fall of 2009 so that she could be alone there.

The entire stories can be found at:

 http://www.thetruthaboutforensicscience.com/

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring these cases. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!

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.

Annie Dookhan: Told police she tested some drug samples by looking at them. Fosters Daily Democrat.

STORY: "Chemist in Mass. lab scandal could see new charges," by reporters Denise Lavoie and Erika Niedowski, published by Fosters  Daily Democrat on October 3, 2012.

GIST:  "Annie Dookhan, 34, of Franklin, was arrested Friday in a burgeoning investigation that has already led to the shutdown of the lab, the resignation of the state's public health commissioner and the release of more than a dozen drug defendants. Many more defendants are expected to be released. Authorities say more than 1,100 inmates are serving time in cases in which Dookhan was the primary or secondary chemist.........Dookhan's supervisors have faced harsh criticism for not removing her from lab duties after suspicions about her were first raised by her co-workers and for not alerting prosecutors and police. However, Coakley said, there is no indication so far of criminal activity by anyone else at the lab. Co-workers began expressing concern about Dookhan's work habits several years ago, but her supervisors allowed her to continue working. Dookhan was the most productive chemist in the lab, routinely testing more than 500 samples a month, while others tested 50 to 150. One co-worker told state police he never saw Dookhan in front of a microscope. A lab employee saw Dookhan weighing drug samples without doing a balance check on her scale. In an interview with state police late last month, Dookhan acknowledged faking test results for two to three years. She told police she identified some drug samples as narcotics simply by looking at them instead of testing them, a process known as dry labbing. She also said she forged the initials of colleagues and deliberately turned a negative sample into a positive for narcotics a few times."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121003/GJLIFESTYLES/120939967/-1/FOSLIFESTYLES

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring these cases. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!

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: Annie Dookhan; Crime lab scientist arrested for allegedly faking thousands of drug test results; Massive number of miscarriages of justice feared; CBS News.

STORY:  "Massachusetts lab tech arrested for alleged improper handling of drug tests," by reporter Elaine Quijano, published on September 30, 2012. (Thanks to the Wrongful Convictions Blog for alerting us to this important story.)

GIST: "Police in Massachusetts on Friday arrested a crime lab scientist and accused her of faking thousands of tests that may have put innocent people behind bars. Annie Dookhan was arrested at her home outside Boston. Police said the former state crime lab chemist admitted that she altered or faked test results of drug cases assigned to her. Prosecutors said she went as far as adding cocaine to samples that were negative. "There was clearly a short cutting of corners," State Attorney General Martha Coakley said. "There was just getting this done as quickly as possible and all of that we're looking at." Officials said during her nine years the lab, Dookhan tested more than 60,000 drug samples. About 11,000 people now in jail were put there in part due to her work. Already more than a dozen have been released because of questions about how she handled evidence. "Everyone who's been convicted in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in the last five to six years, is possibly the victim of a very substantial miscarriage of justice," defense attorney John Martin said. "On the other hand, a lot of very dangerous people might get out of jail." The entire story can be found at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57522834/massachusetts-lab-tech-arrested-for-alleged-improper-handling-of-drug-tests/

See this link for story on special court sessions set up to deal with the influx of Annie Dookhan cases:

 http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/10/01/special-court-session-deal-with-influx-annie-dookhan-cases-suffolk-county/mPaNAuLDhT7xkkqVXTirUM/story.html

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I am monitoring these cases. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!

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.

Adam Scott: UK; "Innocent victim' of avoidable contamination in DNA testing process; Jersey Evening Post;

STORY: "Rape accused was 'innocent victim," published by the Jersey Evening Post   on October 1, 2012;

SUB-HEADING: "A man wrongly acccused and charged with raping a woman was the 'innocent victim' of an avoidable mistake, the forensics watchdog has said;

GIST: "Adam Scott was arrested and held in custody for months after a plastic tray containing a sample of his DNA was re-used in the analysis of a swab from a rape victim in Manchester by private firm LGC Forensics. Forensic science regulator Andrew Rennison said Mr Scott, from Devon, was an “innocent victim of avoidable contamination”. “The contamination was the result of human error by a technician who failed to follow basic procedures for the disposal of plastic trays used as part of a validated DNA extraction process,” he said. “The procedures themselves were not adequate, leading to no records maintained by the technicians and nothing done to mark used trays as such.” Mr Scott was charged on October 23 2011 over the rape of the woman in Plant Hill Park, Blackley, and remanded in custody until the case was withdrawn on March 7 this year, the regulator’s report said. It also emerged that the same error happened at least once before, on October 12 last year, the report added. That alone “should have triggered a more comprehensive response than that undertaken”, Mr Rennison said. “These errors were compounded by the failure at LGC to consider the possibility of contamination despite concerns expressed by the investigating officer about the reliability of the DNA profile.” He went on: “It is unlikely that the case against Mr Scott would ever have proceeded to trial and, in the absence of any further evidence, the case would probably have been discontinued. However, this is of little comfort to Mr Scott who was charged on October 23 2011 and remanded in custody on this case until it was withdrawn on March 7 2012.”

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/uk-news/2012/10/01/rape-accused-was-innocent-victim/

 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. 

False confessions: How they contaminate everything and everyone they touch. Dr. Karen Franklin; "In The News." Must Read.

POST: "The taint of a false confession," by Karen Franklin, posted on "In The News"  on September 30, 2012. Karen Franklyn a forensic psychologist and adjunct professor at Alliant University in Northern California. She is a former criminal investigator and legal affairs reporter.

GIST: "With the recent tidal wave of scholarly research into false confessions, informed forensic psychologists are by now tuned in to the phenomenon. We know, for example, that they played a role in one out of four DNAexoneration cases. We are aware of their compelling nature, and can cite examples such as the Central Park Jogger case in which they produced profound miscarriages of justice. But let's take it one step further. What if, once police elicit a false confession from a suspect, it contaminates everything and everyone in touches -- from the prosecutor, the judge, and even the suspect's own attorney all the way to the fingerprint identification and even, perhaps, the DNA match?

That is the troubling thesis raised by Saul Kassin, a pioneer in the psychological study of false confessions, in an article in the current issue of the American Psychologist.".........All of this suggests that it is essential for courts to allow the testimony of forensic experts who can explain the mechanisms of false confessions, including both what types of police practices are more likely to generate them, and what types of individual vulnerabilities make a person especially prone to cave in under such pressure. More broadly, this line of analysis suggests the need for changes in police practices, for example an end to the routine practice of lying to suspects about incriminating evidence, and greater government oversight and regulation of police interrogations. Moreover, safeguards on the analysis of supposedly independent evidence, such as evidence technicians being blind to a suspect's confession status, must be implemented in order to ensure that corroborating evidence truly is independent."

The entire post can be found at:

http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-tainting-effects-of-false.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.