Major development; René Bailey New York State; A judge has reversed her conviction in the shaken-baby death of a toddler in her care in what is reported as a ruling that could have statewide significance; (Link to decision provided); Reporters Steve Orr and Gary Craig; The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; (Must, must read. HL);

STORY: "Judge reverses shaken-baby conviction," by reporters Steve Orr and Gary Craig, published by the Rochester  Democrat and Chronicle on December 16, 2014;

GIST:  "In a ruling that could have statewide significance, a Monroe County Court judge has reversed the 2001 murder conviction of a Greece woman who was accused in the shaken-baby death of a toddler in her care. In a decision released Tuesday morning, Judge James Piampiano ruled that the science used to convict René Bailey has changed significantly since her trial. The ruling marks the first time a shaken-baby conviction has been overturned in New York on the basis of changing science. Lawyers have won a handful of reversals in other states in recent years. "The newly discovered evidence in this case thus shows that there has been a compelling and consequential shift in mainstream medical opinion since the time of the defendant's trial," Piampiano wrote in his 28-page decision........."This would be the first time in New York that we have a head-on, squarely-facing decision saying that a major change in the science qualifies as newly discovered evidence," said Bailey's attorney, Adele Bernhard......... At Bailey's trial, prosecutors had argued that a fatal head injury suffered by 2¹/₂-year-old Brittney Sheets could only have been caused by abuse at the hands of Bailey, who cared for the girl and several other children in her home day care center. But Bernhard, who represented Bailey pro bono, argued before Piampiano earlier this year that a growing number of physicians and scientists have come to believe injuries such as those that killed Sheets can be caused by other factors, such as accidental falls or certain illnesses. Bailey had insisted to police that Sheets had jumped off a chair and struck her head on the floor.........Starting in the 1970s, physicians developed the scientific underpinnings of what came to be known as shaken-baby syndrome. They concluded that violent shaking, and only violent shaking, could cause certain kinds of injuries to small children's brains and eyes. As the Democrat and Chronicle reported in stories last year that focused on Bailey's cases and on the scientific controversy in general, these views became widely accepted, and people accused in shaken-baby cases were widely reviled. But over the last 10 or 15 years, new research challenged this orthodoxy. Legal appeals based on the new science have cropped up around the nation and the world, and Great Britain and the Canadian province of Ontario engaged in systematic reviews of past convictions.........Bernhard was at Pace University Law School in Westchester County when the case began and is now affiliated with New York Law School in Manhattan. She got involved in the case after Bailey sent a letter to a post-conviction legal clinic that Bernhard ran at Pace. On Tuesday she praised Piampiano's diligence with the decision. "I was very gratified that the judge took the time for such a careful analysis of all the complicated issues that were presented at the hearing," she said. "He took on that task and took it on very seriously and I thought did a great service to everybody." Evidence at the hearing showed that Brittney could have died from a short fall, a rare event but a possible one, Bernhard said. "Unfortunately rare and terrible events do happen," she said."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/12/16/shaken-baby-conviction-reversal-ren-bailey/20479785/

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Back in action: Catch-up (5): Tamara Broomfield; Ontario; Conviction and seven year jail sentence for allegedly giving her 2-year-old son a near lethal dose overturned by Ontario Court of Appeal because of the faulty hair drug science that sealed her fate; Trial evidence of prominent Hospital for Sick Children researcher Gideon Koren comes under fire - as does the Motherisk program at the famed hospital of which he is founder and director. Her lawyer, Daniel Brown, says "Everyone should be concerned that faulty science helped convict (her)...Scientific evidence is often complicated and cloaked in a belief that reputable and experienced doctors providing expert evidence in court can’t be wrong,”

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Six years after Judge Stephen Goudge issued his report into the flawed child death investigations conducted by former Hospital for Sick Children pathologist Charles Smith, the Toronto hospital is under the spotlight once again. This time it's in connection with its Motherisk program - which was set up at the hospital to provide help to conduct research, and provide counselling to mother's on reproductive risk or safety of drugs, chemicals and maternal disease in pregnancy. But a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision - and the decision of prosecutors not to proceed with a new trial against Tamara Broomfield who had been been convicted of giving her 2-year-old son a near lethal dose of cocaine based on hair analysis conducted by Motherisk raise the possibility that shoddy scientific techniques could have  wrongly sent other women to prison be sending other women to prison or caused the  loss of their children to child welfare authorities.  Whether the Broomfield case was an  exception can only be known after a thorough, independent  investigation is conducted of  all hair drug  tests conducted by Motherisk in child protection and criminal cases. Public confidence in the administration of justice in Ontario - and in the Hospital for Sick Children - is once again at risk. 

Harold Levy. Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.

STORY: "'Crack mom' conviction tossed out. Prominent Toronto doctor's findings tossed after challenge by expert," by reporters Rachel Mendleson and Marci Chown Oved, published by the Toronto Star on November 1, 2014.

GIST: "When Tamara Broomfield was convicted in 2009 of giving her 2-year-old son, Malique, a near lethal dose of cocaine, she was branded Toronto’s “crack mom.” Based largely on evidence presented by a prominent Toronto toxicologist, the judge found that, for more than a year, Broomfield had regularly fed her baby doses equivalent to those recorded in adult addicts. She was sentenced to seven years in jail. Malique, who had a heart attack and almost died from a cocaine overdose in 2005, suffered permanent brain damage and behavioural problems.

In October, the court of appeal overturned the cocaine convictions after fresh evidence cast doubt on the science that all but sealed Broomfield’s fate. Gideon Koren, founder and director of the Motherisk program at the Hospital for Sick Children, delivered the findings that are now in question. Toronto criminal defence lawyer Daniel Brown, who tried to get the trial judge to reopen Broomfield’s case in 2010 to re-examine the medical evidence, said “everyone should be concerned that faulty science helped convict (her).” “Scientific evidence is often complicated and cloaked in a belief that reputable and experienced doctors providing expert evidence in court can’t be wrong,” he said. “The public too easily accepts these experts at face value. As the Broomfield case shows, this can result in a miscarriage of justice when the science underlying the opinion is faulty.”........Broomfield was released on bail last year after the Crown cross-examined the expert witness who cast doubt on Koren’s findings. Craig Chatterton, deputy chief toxicologist in the office of the chief medical examiner in Edmonton, challenged the methods used to prepare Malique’s hair sample that Motherisk analyzed as well as the methodology used to analyze it. Chatterton also questioned “the validity of the results as given in evidence at trial,” the appeal court decision states. In a 2012 report filed in court, Chatterton wrote, “It is not possible to determine whether Malique Broomfield had ingested (or been exposed to) cocaine over an extended time period, based on the results of the immunoassay analysis conducted by Motherisk Laboratory.”......... Although the court of appeal ordered that the Crown make Koren available for cross-examination, the Crown instead agreed that Chatterton’s findings should be admitted as fresh evidence and that the cocaine convictions should be quashed.".........About a week after the apparent cocaine overdose, a sample of Malique’s hair was analyzed by Koren and his team at Motherisk, which he said found “extremely high” levels of cocaine and its byproduct. In December 2005, Motherisk did a segmented analysis of Malique’s hair, which Koren said showed chronic exposure to cocaine each month for 15 months in levels that, for an adult, would indicate “a very severe addiction and drug dependence,” the court documents state. The highest levels of cocaine were recorded in early 2005. However, as the appeal court observed in its decision, the question of whether Malique showed “any behavioural signs consistent with chronic exposure to significant amounts of cocaine” before the overdose was “a live controversy” at trial. At trial, the defence argued that because Motherisk’s tests consumed the entire hair sample, there was no chance for an independent assessment, but Justice Tamarin Dunnet was not swayed. “Dr. Koren’s evidence was vigorously challenged and on occasion, his demeanour was abrupt and defensive,” Dunnet wrote in her decision. “Nevertheless, the salient points were unshaken on cross-examination. His evidence was credible and compelling.” In his response to Chatterton’s evidence, Koren defended his findings, which he said have been accepted by experts in the field and a leading scientific pediatric journal. “Acute, one time exposure to cocaine, cannot explain the hair test results,” he wrote in a 2013 letter filed in court. “All evidence indicate at very high medical probability that the toddler was exposed to cocaine chronically as part of an extreme case of chronic abuse and neglect.”.........In 2003, Koren was reprimanded and fined $2,500 by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for writing anonymous, harassing letters to colleagues during a heated fight over research by another doctor. A panel described his actions as “childish, vindictive and dishonest.” “Ironically for this accomplished research scientist, it was only when confronted with irrefutable scientific evidence of his guilt did he admit that he was the perpetrator,” the panel found.........Koren’s resumé in the court file is 147 pages long. According to the SickKids website, he has trained pediatricians from more than 40 countries and published over 1,400 peer-reviewed papers in the area of pediatric pharmacology.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/11/01/crack_mom_conviction_tossed_out.html?app=noRedirect

See also The Toronto Star article on lawyers concerns over the reliability of Motherisk drug testing at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children:  "Toronto lawyers who regularly handle child protection cases involving hair-strand analysis from the Hospital for Sick Children say more information is needed about the reliability of the testing after a court of appeal tossed the 2009 cocaine convictions of a Toronto mother. Lawyer Tammy Law said the Motherisk program at Sick Kids is the go-to place for hair-strand analysis in family law cases where drug use is in question. She wants “to be reassured” the laboratory’s testing can be trusted, she said. “The stakes are so high,” said Law. “To potentially lose your kid, for fairness’ sake, it has to be accurate … You have to have faith in the result. If we don’t believe it, we have a huge problem.”

Sick Kids did not respond to a request on Tuesday for a comprehensive list of cases that have relied on the type of hair-sample analysis performed in the case of Toronto mother Tamara Broomfield, or say whether Motherisk is still using this technique. Motherisk’s hair-strand drug tests are routinely submitted as evidence in courts across the province “almost without question,” according to Anthony Macri, a former lawyer for the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto who now runs a family law firm. In the face of the appeal court decision, Macri said it is “incumbent” on the government to determine the “standard of reliability.

“It shouldn’t just be a question floating in the air. It shouldn’t just be up to lawyers like me to challenge it in every court for the next 20 years,” he said. “The government needs to get ahead of this ball.” Several Toronto criminal defence lawyers are calling for a review of the cases that relied on Motherisk’s hair-strand analysis. The concerns come after fresh scientific evidence prompted a court of appeal to overturn Broomfield’s 2009 cocaine convictions for giving her 2-year-old son, Malique, a near-lethal dose of the drug in 2005."

 http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/11/05/reliability_of_motherisk_drug_testing_questioned.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Leevester Brown; State Supreme Court orders new trial for Mississippi man convicted by testimony citing now-disputed Shaken Baby Syndrome. Clarion-Ledger story by reporter Jerry Mitchell also refers to Death Row inmate Jeffrey Havard and pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne. (Must Read. HL);

STORY: "High court tosses 'shaken baby' conviction," by reporter Jerry Mitchell, published by the Clarion-Ledger on December 15, 2014.

GIST: "The state Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a Mississippi man convicted by testimony citing the now-disputed Shaken Baby Syndrome. Justices concluded the trial judge wrongly denied LeeVester Brown’s request for the funds to hire an expert to review the autopsy conducted by Dr. Steven Hayne, who concluded the child’s death was a homicide consistent with the syndrome. Brown is now serving a life without parole sentence. It’s the second case the high court has tossed in recent months involving the Shaken Baby Syndrome. Since 2000, at least 11 Mississippians have been convicted in such cases with two of them sitting on death row. One of them is Jeffrey Havard, who was convicted in 2002 after Hayne told jurors the death of 6-month-old Chloe Britt was a homicide and that her injuries were consistent with her being shaken to death — a claim he now doubts. “This case does fundamentally recognize if you don’t have an expert, your hands are tied,” said Havard’s lawyer, Graham Carner of Jackson. “The science has changed.” For decades, Shaken Baby Syndrome was widely accepted, diagnosed through a triad of symptoms: subdural bleeding (blood collecting between the brain and the skull), retinal bleeding (bleeding in the back of the eye) and brain swelling. In the years since, medical belief that these symptoms provided proof of homicide has begun to crumble with several studies raising doubts. In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended the syndrome diagnosis be discarded. Hayne told The Clarion-Ledger earlier this year that there was “growing evidence” his shaken baby diagnosis in the Havard case was “probably not correct” because shaking alone isn’t able to generate enough force to cause such injuries. Like Brown, Havard sought funds for an expert in his case. “This case is a trend nationwide and in Mississippi with Shaken Baby Syndrome being placed under the microscope,” Carner said. “The question is how do you handle forensic science in shaken baby cases?” Last week, the state Supreme Court threw out Brown’s 2006 conviction in Coahoma County because the judge failed to provide him funds to hire an expert. Lawyers for the state of Mississippi had argued Brown was too late to challenge the Shaken Baby Syndrome because he failed to bring it up at trial. Justices disagreed, saying Brown “is arguing that the Shaken Baby Syndrome theory is invalid, and he argues he simply had no way to challenge that theory without his own expert.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/12/15/high-court-tosses-shaken-baby-conviction/20461847/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
  Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog

Back in action: Catch-up (4): David McCallum (and the late Willie Stuckey) Finally a free man after 29 years. The 1986 murder and kidnapping convictions based on false confessions made in the absence of any other evidence have finally been vacated.

PUBLISHER'S  NOTE: The late famed boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's dying wish finally has come true.  “My single regret in life is that David McCallum ...  is still in prison,” Rubin (Hurricane) Carter wrote in a Daily News op-ed two months before he died in April, calling for Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson to review the case."

STORY: "Brooklyn DA vacates McCallum's sentence," by reporter Stephon Johnson, published by Amsterdam News on December 1, 2014.

GIST:  "David McCallum is a free man, courtesy of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. Last week, Thompson announced that he will move to vacate murder and other charges against David McCallum and the late Willie Stuckey, both of whom were convicted in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Nathan Blenner.......... The decision follows a review of the case by the district attorney’s Conviction Review Unit. Nathan Blenner, 20, was kidnapped Oct. 20, 1985, in front of his home in South Ozone Park, Queens. His body was found the next day in an undeveloped lot next to Aberdeen Park in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He was shot once in the head. McCallum and Stuckey (who has since died) were only 16 years old when they were charged with the kidnapping and murder of Blenner. They were then arrested and eventually confessed to the crime. McCallum and Stuckey were convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after a jury trial, Oct. 27, 1986. They were both sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life in prison."

The entire story can be found at:

http://t.amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/dec/01/brooklyn-da-vacates-mccallums-sentence/

See Daily News story: "His appeals exhausted, lawyers approached the DA’s Conviction Review Unit with evidence of another suspect who was questioned without the defense getting notified and of DNA from a car used in the abduction, which matched other men. Thompson told The Associated Press Tuesday night that the confessions were false, “in large part because these 16-year-olds were fed false facts.” He said no other evidence tied the two to the abduction or killing."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/man-hurricane-carter-wanted-free-article-1.1974481

  PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog

Back in action: Catch-up (3): Qatar; Matthew and Grace Huang have been freed and permitted to return home to the USA after an appeal judge ruled they were good parents who cared for their children - and questioned the integrity of the forensic report that was the crux of the prosecution's case. New York Times.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  It was a relief to learn that Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles had finally been acquitted by the Qatar judicial system, and permitted to return home to the USA.  This Blog has been following their case. The prosecution had argued that the Huangs had killed Gloria by denying her food. The Huangs said she had an eating disorder, a vestige of her impoverished upbringing in Africa. A precise cause of death was never established. As the  New York Times noted, part of the original murder prosecution rested on suspicion that the Huangs, who are of Asian descent, could not have possibly adopted a black African girl and must have been seeking to sell her or her organs.  Moreover,  the appeal judge said it was clear that the Huangs were good parents who cared for their children, as shown by witness testimony, and that their two other children were not abused. The judge also  questioned, as the Huangs’ defense lawyers had done, the integrity of the forensic report that was the crux of the prosecution’s case.

STORY: "Qatar frees U.S. couple in death  of daughter," by reporter Shabina S. Khatri and Rick Gladstone, published by the New York Times on November 30, 2014.

GIST: "The parents spent nearly a year in prison before their case was heard for the first time last November, when they were released on their own recognizance but ordered to remain in Qatar. Their other two children already had been sent home to the United States in the custody of Mrs. Huang’s mother. In March, the couple were found guilty of a reduced charge, child endangerment, and sentenced to three years in prison. They appealed to have the verdict dismissed, while prosecutors sought a more severe sentence. The Huangs were ordered to remain in Qatar pending the appeals court decision. On Sunday, the appellate judge, Abdul Rahman al-Sharafi, discredited the prosecution’s case point by point in his ruling, a highly unusual development in the Qatari judicial system, where prosecutors and the police are often heavily favored. Judge Sharafi said it was clear that the Huangs were good parents who cared for their children, as shown by witness testimony, and that their two other children were not abused. He also questioned, as the Huangs’ defense lawyers had done, the integrity of the forensic report that was the crux of the prosecution’s case. “The defense offered plenty of proof that they are not guilty,” he said.........The case took on added significance as the State Department repeatedly expressed its concern about the fairness of the prosecution, which originally charged the Huangs with murder in the death of their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, in January 2013, and had suggested that the Huangs were child traffickers."

The entire story can be found at:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/world/middleeast/qatar-frees-us-couple-accused-of-killing-adopted-daughter.html?_r=0

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Back in action: Catch-up (2): The Debra Milke case. Arizona; 49-year-old is freed after 22 years on Death Row. How far will police and prosecutors go to secure a conviction in cases where there is no forensic evidence linkinga person to the crime?

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Back into action; (2):  Debra Milke.  The recent  Arizona Court of Appeal decision freeing Debra Milke is the kind of case which has me wonder how far unscrupulous police officers will go to have people when there is no forensic evidence linking them to the crime? Will they manufacture a confession they claim to have taken? Will they secure the kind evidence of a  "disinterested" cell-mate who just happens  to have heard the cellmate blurt out a confession to the crime?  In Milke's case the  alleged confession was not recorded. There was no witness present during the interrogation even though another  officer was in the immediate vicinity. Defence lawyers were not provided information that the officer who took the confession had a reputation for using underhanded tactics to get confessions. And that's all it took to steal years of Milke's life - until the Arizona Court of Appeal  stepped in with its ruling that barred a further trial. Several safeguards could minimize the possibility of such abominable police behaviour. Safeguard one:  Routinely videoptape confessions as is becoming more and more common in North America; Safeguard two: Tight court restrictions on the use of cellmate evidence; Safeguard three; Real consequences for both prosecutors and officers involved. Oh yes. The Debra Milke case. Just wondering.

Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

COMMENTARY: "Milke should not be retried. Judges got it right," by columnist EJ Montini, published by Arizona Central.com  on December 11, 2014.

GIST: "After all these years, her conviction was tossed out by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because of that tainted confession. At Milke's trial, Phoenix police Detective Armando Saldate testified that during an interrogation in which he was alone with Milke, and there was no recording, Milke admitted taking part in the crime. Milke denies confessing. It turned out that Saldate had a reputation for questionable behavior when it came to such confessions, but Milke's defense never heard about it. The judges of the 9th Circuit expressed outrage in throwing out Milke's conviction, writing in part, "The Constitution requires a fair trial, and one essential element of fairness is the prosecution's obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence. This never happened in Milke's case, so the jury trusted Saldate without hearing of his long history of lies and misconduct. ... All of this information should have been disclosed to Milke and the jury, but the state remained unconstitutionally silent.""

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/ejmontini/2014/12/11/debra-milke-court-of-appeals-murder-christopher/20265903/

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

Back in action: Catch-up (1): Leighton Hay; Ontario; Freed after more than 12 years behind bars following scientific testing of hairs - following a Supreme Court of Canada decision and prosecutor's decision to terminate the case. (Another important victory for the Canadian-based Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. (AIDWYC); HL.)

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: BACK IN ACTION: (1):  The Charles Smith Blog is back in action after your erstwhile publisher spent a glorious two months spent wandering through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Japan. Over the next couple of weeks or so I will update readers on developments which occurred in my absence. I am starting with the Ontario case of Leighton Hay who has been freed after spending  12 1/2 years in prison on  a murder conviction which centered on the  issue as to whether, as the prosecutors argued, Hay had taken a haircut between the crime and his arrest. The best account of the case I have found was published  by The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted shortly before the first degree murder prosecution was to be terminated on November 28, 2014.

Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

STORY: News release published by The Association in Defence of The Wrongly convicted  on November 27, 2014, under the heading "Leighton Hay to be released from court after 12  1/2 years in jail for a murder he didn't commit."

GIST:  "AIDWYC lawyers decided to seek scientific testing of the hairs found in the home to see whether they really came from the supposed haircut. They asked Mr. Tony Tessarolo, the Director of the Centre of Forensic Sciences (the Centre) whether microscopic examination of the hairs could determine if they were hairs from a haircut or hairs from the shave of a beard. Mr. Tessarolo agreed to have the Centre conduct an examination of the hairs. The Crown opposed this testing and refused to allow the Centre to examine the hairs. AIDWYC then brought a motion before the Supreme Court of Canada for an order that the exhibits be released to the Centre. The Supreme Court of Canada made this order on November 18, 2010. The examination was conducted by the Centre’s scientist Ms. Joanne Almer, and was monitored by two outside experts, one retained by the defence and the other by the Crown. The scientists found that the hairs were from a facial shave “to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty” and were not from a haircut. The prosecution theory that Leighton had shaved his head to disguise his appearance evaporated. He could not have been the gunman with the two inch picky dreads described by the Crown witness. Following this scientific consensus, AIDWYC resolved that Mr. Hay was innocent and had been wrongly convicted. Armed with this new scientific evidence, counsel for AIDWYC presented Leighton’s case to the Supreme Court of Canada in April, 2013.
In a lengthy and incisive judgment, delivered on November 8, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada admitted the scientific evidence, quashed Leighton’s conviction and ordered a new trial for him. ”

The entire release can be found at:

http://www.aidwyc.org/hay-exonerated/
  
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
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.

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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;