Bulletin: George Leniart; Connecticut; Significant Decision relating to expert evidence on the reliability of jailhouse informants; New trial ordered for convicted murderer accused of raping missing girl in 1996..."The state Appellate Court on Monday ordered a new trial for George Leniart, saying the trial judge improperly excluded key evidence including a videotaped interview of a prosecution witness and expert testimony on the reliability of jailhouse informants."

"A Connecticut court has overturned the conviction of a man serving life in prison for the 1996 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl whose body was never found. The state Appellate Court on Monday ordered a new trial for George Leniart, saying the trial judge improperly excluded key evidence including a videotaped interview of a prosecution witness and expert testimony on the reliability of jailhouse informants. Police said Leniart sexually assaulted and killed April Dawn Pennington, of Montville, in May 1996. Authorities said the girl snuck out of her house to meet with another teenager, Patrick "PJ" Allain and Leniart, who was 30 at the time.........Pennington's body was never found after that night.  Leniart was arrested in 2008 while serving a prison sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl. Authorities said he told other inmates he reaped and killed Pennington.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Convicted-Murderer-Accused-of-Raping-Missing-Girl-in-1996-Entitled-to-New-Trial-382266521.html

Bulletin: Ivan Henry: British Columbia: (Aftermath 1): Exonerated: $8 million recovery in fiercely resisted civil suit: Go to the link below for a photograph of the notorious 1982 Vancouver police lineup photo, showing an officer holding Ivan Henry in a choke hold which was submitted to the B.C. Court of Appeal when it reconsidered Henry's sexual assault conviction in 2010. (And read the excellent CBC account of the court decision);

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ivan-henry-award-wrongful-imprisonment-1.3622588

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;

Keith Kutska: (Monfils Six): Wisconsin; His attorneys say the state “absurdly mocks” the defence's suicide theory..."Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded to that appeal in May, calling the suicide theory “so flimsy and unconvincing that no reasonable jury could have seriously entertained any doubt that he was murdered.” Schimel said, “The mere fact that 20 years after this conviction Kutska has dredged up evidence that was not presented at his trial is not a reason to give him a new trial.” In the response released Tuesday, Kutska’s attorneys say “Kutska has presented compelling evidence pointing toward suicide.” The reply says Dr. Mary Ann Sens rejected trial testimony from Dr. Helen Young, who presented the homicide conclusion that Monfils was beaten before entering the vat. The defense cites dismissed testimony from Dr. Sens, who found that Monfils was “indisputably alive when he entered the vat … There was no evidence confirming that any injury could only have been caused by beating.” Attorneys also argue that Kutska had ineffective counsel during the trial. “The tragic fact remains that Dr. Young’s claim to know what she did not know, combined with the defense counsel’s wholesale disregard of her assumptions, findings, and conclusions, profoundly misled the jury and courts." WBAY:

STORY:  "Kutska attorneys say state “absurdly mocks” suicide theory," by reporter Rhonda Roberts, published by WBAY on June 1, 2016.

GIST: "Lawyers representing a man sentenced to life in prison for a 1992 Green Bay murder have filed a reply with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, saying the State has embellished facts in the Keith Kutska case. Attorneys for Kutska, one of six men originally convicted in the murder of Tom Monfils, say the state “absurdly mocks” the defense theory that the victim killed himself. In 1992, Monfils was found dead in a pulp vat at the Green Bay mill where he worked with the six men who were accused in his murder. They were called the “Monfils 6” as the high profile case was prosecuted in Brown County. During Keith Kutska’s trial, the state made the case that Kutska and the other men beat Monfils and put his body in the vat. Kutska was painted as a ringleader out to get Monfils for reporting Kutska for theft. Last summer, Kutska was granted an evidentiary hearing to present a theory that Monfils killed himself. However, the judge presiding over the hearing found there was not enough evidence to prove suicide and denied Kutska’s request for a new trial. In March, Kutska’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, asking the state to grant a new trial. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded to that appeal in May, calling the suicide theory “so flimsy and unconvincing that no reasonable jury could have seriously entertained any doubt that he was murdered.” Schimel said, “The mere fact that 20 years after this conviction Kutska has dredged up evidence that was not presented at his trial is not a reason to give him a new trial.” In the response released Tuesday, Kutska’s attorneys say “Kutska has presented compelling evidence pointing toward suicide.” The reply says Dr. Mary Ann Sens rejected trial testimony from Dr. Helen Young, who presented the homicide conclusion that Monfils was beaten before entering the vat. The defense cites dismissed testimony from Dr. Sens, who found that Monfils was “indisputably alive when he entered the vat … There was no evidence confirming that any injury could only have been caused by beating.” Attorneys also argue that Kutska had ineffective counsel during the trial. “The tragic fact remains that Dr. Young’s claim to know what she did not know, combined with the defense counsel’s wholesale disregard of her assumptions, findings, and conclusions, profoundly misled the jury and courts.”.........There is no timeline for the Court of Appeals to make a decision in the Kutska case.........Kutska, Rey Moore, Dale Basten, Michael Hirn, and Michael Johnson remain behind bars for the murder of Monfils. Attempts for release on parole have been denied. Michael Piaskowski was released from prison after his conviction was overturned."

The entire story can be found at:

http://wbay.com/2016/06/01/kutska-attorneys-say-state-absurdly-mocks-suicide-theory/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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: Ivan Henry: British Columbia; Major development: B.C. judge awards Ivan Henry $8 million for wrongful imprisonment; (A case in which semen collected from several victims was never sent for testing to see if it matched the suspect - and an infamous lineup occurred in which three police officers are seen putting him into a choke-hold to 'encourge' his participation. HL); "In a ruling released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson concluded that the Crown’s wrongful non-disclosure of relevant information seriously infringed Ivan Henry’s right to a fair trial and demonstrated a “shocking disregard” for his Charter rights. Henry was convicted of serial sex offences in 1983, declared a dangerous offender and ordered jailed indefinitely. “If Mr. Henry had received the disclosure to which he was entitled, the likely result would have been his acquittal at his 1983 trial, and certainly the avoidance of his sentencing as dangerous offender,” said Hinkson in his 130-page ruling. “The Province is therefore liable for Mr. Henry’s wrongful conviction and subsequent lengthy period of incarceration.” Reporter Darryl Dyck; The Canadian Press;

"A B.C. man who spent 27 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted has been awarded $8 million in damages, much less than Ivan Henry was seeking at trial. In a ruling released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson concluded that the Crown’s wrongful non-disclosure of relevant information seriously infringed Ivan Henry’s right to a fair trial and demonstrated a “shocking disregard” for his Charter rights. Henry was convicted of serial sex offences in 1983, declared a dangerous offender and ordered jailed indefinitely. “If Mr. Henry had received the disclosure to which he was entitled, the likely result would have been his acquittal at his 1983 trial, and certainly the avoidance of his sentencing as dangerous offender,” said Hinkson in his 130-page ruling. “The Province is therefore liable for Mr. Henry’s wrongful conviction and subsequent lengthy period of incarceration.” The judge awarded a total of $8,086,691, including $7.5 million in damages to “serve the vindication and deterrence functions” of the Charter, $530,000 in compensatory damages and $56,000 in special damages. At trial, Henry had sought an award of more than $30 million in damages.........The judge dismissed a claim on behalf of Henry’s daughters for emotional distress and loss of guidance. Henry was arrested in July 1982 and charged with three counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault, involving eight different women.In March 1983 Henry, representing himself at trial, was convicted of 10 sex offences that occurred in 1981 and 1982.  His initial appeal to the B.C. Court of Appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution after he failed to come up with the $4,000 he needed to pay for trial transcripts.Henry maintained that he was innocent while serving his sentence and filed numerous appeals, motions and applications from prison, all of which were dismissed."
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-judge-awards-ivan-henry-man-8-million-for-wrongful-imprisonment

See Gary Mason's Globe and Mail  review of writer Joan McEwan's excellent  book on the Henry case  at the link below: "The tale, in all its ugliness, is laid out in a new book, Innocence on Trial: The Framing of Ivan Henry. It’s written by Vancouver lawyer Joan McEwen and is a remarkable undertaking of research. In meticulous detail, Ms. McEwen lays out the grotesquely thin, not to mention corrupt, case that was successful in putting an innocent 35-year-old man behind bars for 27 years. As the book makes clear, spending time in jail as a purported rapist is not a pleasant experience – even prisons have standards. Mr. Henry’s life tale is a pathetic one. Raised in Regina, he quit school in Grade 8 to flee an abusive home. He embarked on a life of crime, first petty and then not so petty. He spent time in prison for robbery and attempted rape. An angel he was not. Out of prison, he settled in Vancouver with a drug-addicted wife and two daughters. In 1982, the city was being terrorized by a serial rapist. Police were under increasing pressure to find who was doing it. One day, Mr. Henry was pulled over at a traffic stop. In quick order, he found himself being interrogated and then charged with assaulting 17 women. Mr. Henry chose to clumsily defend himself when he became convinced his legal aid lawyer was part of a conspiracy to put him behind bars. As was later revealed, Mr. Henry was nowhere near the scene where most of the crimes were committed. Police didn’t check out his rock-solid alibis. Semen collected from several victims was never sent for testing to see if it matched the suspect. Three police officers put him in a choke-hold for the police lineup photo. His prior conviction for attempted rape was erroneously allowed into evidence at the jury trial. And there were other, equally egregious examples of authorities abusing due process to get a conviction under any circumstances. Mr. Henry was ultimately found guilty of 10 sex crimes, declared a dangerous offender and sent off to prison to serve an indefinite sentence. In 1990, his dying wife confessed to a daughter that her husband was innocent. She had fingered him to get a $1,000 reward being offered by police that she used to support her drug habit. But it took 20 more years before an appeal court would recognize the miscarriage of justice and make Mr. Henry a free man. In Canada, the wrongfully convicted are never truly set free. Most are not exonerated by the courts – merely acquitted. Mr. Henry walked out of court with less support for his transition to life on the outside than a paroled murderer would get. And his transition has been difficult – with little financial means, he lives in the basement of his daughter’s home. He faces a fight to get government compensation for the 27 years he lost. Ms. McEwen was shocked when she dove into this case and discovered the extent to which Mr. Henry was railroaded into prison. She is rightfully distressed by the shabby way that people unjustly convicted of a crime, and robbed of a free life, are treated upon their release from prison. Mr. Henry’s tragic story deserves to be included in a gallery of the worst examples of wrongful convictions in our country’s history. Ms. McEwen would like to see him fully absolved of the crimes he didn’t commit, not just cleared. And if there is any justice in our sometimes fallible justice system, he will be."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-wrongfully-convicted-are-never-truly-set-free/article21481822/

Bulletin: Ben Butler: UK: On-going trial: DVD of Peppa Pig played to jury after father's claims girl died watching TV show, The Standard reports..."Butler’s barrister, Icah Peart QC, outlined the theory while cross-examining pathologist Professor Anthony Risdon last month, asking him: “Have you heard of Peppa Pig?” Prof Risdon said he knew the character but had not seen any of the cartoons: “I am a little old for that... my children are in their middle ages now.' Mr Peart continued: “In particular I am interested in a nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Five little Peppa Pigs jumping on the bed. One jumped off and bumped her head. Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said 'Don't let Peppa Pig jump on the bed'.” He said Ellie “was a Peppa Pig fan”, her bedroom was adorned with images of the character, and she had the Peppa Pig DVD that was played today in her room. “What I am talking about is someone jumping up and down on the bed and, as Peppa Pig does, jumps over backwards, falls down and hits her head on the concrete floor”, he said. “That's the kind of momentum I am talking about.”

"A DVD of children’s cartoon Peppa Pig has been played to an Old Bailey jury in the last part of the evidence in a child murder trial. The panel of eight women and four men sat for four minutes watching snippets of the popular TV show, featuring a visit of the fire brigade, a family dinner party, and a game of leap frog. Some of the jurors broke into smiles as the film, edited from a 63-minute DVD, was played in court eight. The cartoon has been played as evidence in the murder trial of Ben Butler, a father accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter Ellie by beating her around the head. Butler, 36, allegedly killed Ellie at his home in Sutton before concocting a plan with partner Jennie Gray, also 36, to cover up the murder. However, he claims the young girl may have suffered fatal injuries in a fall, having been jumping up and down on her bed to Peppa Pig. Butler’s barrister, Icah Peart QC, outlined the theory while cross-examining pathologist Professor Anthony Risdon last month, asking him: “Have you heard of Peppa Pig?” Prof Risdon said he knew the character but had not seen any of the cartoons: “I am a little old for that... my children are in their middle ages now.' Mr Peart continued: “In particular I am interested in a nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Five little Peppa Pigs jumping on the bed. One jumped off and bumped her head. Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said 'Don't let Peppa Pig jump on the bed'.” He said Ellie “was a Peppa Pig fan”, her bedroom was adorned with images of the character, and she had the Peppa Pig DVD that was played today in her room. “What I am talking about is someone jumping up and down on the bed and, as Peppa Pig does, jumps over backwards, falls down and hits her head on the concrete floor”, he said. “That's the kind of momentum I am talking about.” Butler is accused of murdering his daughter on October 28 2013, less than a year after she had been returned to his custody. The trial continues."
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/ben-butler-trial-dvd-of-peppa-pig-played-to-jury-after-fathers-claims-girl-died-watching-tv-show-a3266261.html

Bulletin: Danny Lee Hill: Ohio; Bite-mark evidence: Death row case; A judge has ruled that he can seek a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. Vindy.com.

The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer.
A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible.
Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.
Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later.
Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.
Attorneys for Hill and the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office argued the issue at a hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in December.
Judge Cosgrove’s decision focused on the main issue at the hearing — whether Hill was “unavoidably prevented” from filing a motion asking for permission to seek a new trial by deadline 120 days after his conviction.
- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.BYDtkOo5.dpuf

The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer.
A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible.
Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.
Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later.
Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.
Attorneys for Hill and the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office argued the issue at a hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in December.
Judge Cosgrove’s decision focused on the main issue at the hearing — whether Hill was “unavoidably prevented” from filing a motion asking for permission to seek a new trial by deadline 120 days after his conviction.
- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.YymDX7PO.dpuf

 

"The drawn out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be be getting longer. A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time. Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later. Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one."

http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/

A visiting judge ruled today that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible. - See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/#sthash.73zZCYsQ.dpuis on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later. Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jun/07/judge-killer-danny-lee-hill-can-ask-new-trial/

Louisiana's criminal Justice system under intense scrutiny: "Also real are the two additional problems tainting Louisiana's justice system as borne out by the following stories: The first - Pascal Calogero's commentary in the National Law Journal, headed: 'U.S Supreme Court should undo death-row injustice in Louisiana' - makes the point that Louisiana needs the high court's guidance on handling exculpatory evidence violations. It confronts the disturbing number of cases in the state where the prosecutors have withheld evidence pointing to innocence which, under the law, should have been turned over to the state. Pascal Calogero was an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from January 1973 to April 1990 and was the chief justice from April 1990 to December 2008. Since retirement, he has engaged in the private practice of law in civil cases. The second is an article in the 'Atlantic' headed "On the Defensive," which runs under the sub-heading: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out."..."Louisiana, incidentally, has one of the country’s highest rates of proven wrongful convictions. In Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola, about 20 men serving life sentences have been exonerated since 2001. Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, noted that every Louisianan her office has freed from that prison was black; every one had a trial at which the presentation of evidence lasted for less than one day; and every one was sent to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. A well-resourced defense lawyer, she said, could have prevented most of those injustices before they began."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  The Louisiana criminal justice system has been coming under intense scrutiny. The lightning rod, in recent times, has been notorious  prosecutor Dale Cox's  outrageous comment,  in the Shreveport Times that the state should kill more people.  Cox's obsession with the death penalty  has led to outrageous conduct in the courtroom which, not surprisingly has led to Louisiana's disgusting record of miscarriages of justice.  As reported by the New Yorker, "The autopsy report was sent to the office of Dale Cox, the first assistant district attorney of Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport. After reading the police reports, he decided to seek the death penalty. Cox told me that in the past forty years he had never prosecuted a man between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six who grew up in a nuclear family. “Not one,” he said. He believes that the “destruction of the nuclear family and a tremendously high illegitimate birth rate” have brought about an “epidemic of child-killings” in the parish. At the time that he learned of Crawford’s case, he was prosecuting another young black man accused of killing his infant. After the man was sentenced to life without parole, rather than death, Cox told a local TV station, “I take it as a failure that I was unable to convince the jury to kill him.” (This is so reminiscent as Charles Smith's fundamentalist beliefs in the purity of the nuclear (read 'Christian') law-abiding, church-going  family, which also led to a disturbing number of wrongful prosecutions.) No single parent, no marijuana, no  children from different fathers, no welfare, no family protection proceedings somewhere in the history. No this. No that. No recognition that his job was to follow the evidence objectively  and put all personal prejudice, ideology and bigotry aside. Cox was so committed to killing Rodricus Crawford, a young man, who had hardly had the opportunity to experience  life beyond his teens, that he invoked Jesus Christ and the Bible. The urge to kill Rodicrus  was so, so strong.  Can you imagine, as the Catholic News Service  reported,  the following language in a civilized court of law? "During the trial, in questioning Crawford’s pastor, Cox asked, “Referring to children, Christ said to his followers: Woe unto you, any of that would harm one of these. It would be better … as though you will never born. You will have a millstone put around your neck and dropped into the sea. Do you believe in that concept?” After some back-and-forth with the pastor, who said he believed not only in that passage from the Gospel but also in mercy, Cox asked him, “So, Pastor, then we should just ignore that Scripture from Christ?” Cox used the passage once more in his closing argument. Cox is the acting district attorney for Caddo Parish, or county, which accounts for nearly half of the Louisiana’s death sentences in the past five years." To make matters even worse, Cox took the outrageous, vindictive  step of sending Louisiana's  probation department  a memo "expressing regret that the state only used lethal injection for the death penalty, because “Crawford deserves as much physical suffering as it is humanly possible to endure before he dies.” At this point, as I write this post, I am thinking of Al Pacino's great movie "And Justice for All" - except for the fact that Rodricus Crawford is not a fictional character caught in a fictional, cruel, topsy turvy,  irrational,  justice system. His case is all too real. Also real are the two additional problems tainting Louisiana's justice system as borne out by the following stories: The first - Pascal Calogero's commentary in the National Law Journal, headed: 'U.S Supreme Court should undo  death-row injustice in Louisiana' - makes the point that Louisiana  needs  the high court's guidance on handling exculpatory evidence violations. It confronts the disturbing number of cases in the state where the prosecutors have withheld evidence pointing to innocence which, under the law,  should have been turned over to the state.  Pascal Calogero was an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from January 1973 to April 1990 and was the chief justice from April 1990 to December 2008. Since retirement, he has engaged in the private practice of law in civil cases. The second,is an article in the 'Atlantic' headed "On the Defensive," which runs under the sub-heading: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out." Read on!

STORY 1: "U.S. Supreme Court Should Undo Death-Row Injustice in Louisiana," by  Pascal Calogero, published by the National Law Journal on May 30, 2016.

GIST:  When I served as chief justice of Louisiana in 1990, Associate Jus­tice James Dennis (now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) and I dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court denied review to a death row inmate named Curtis Kyles. Kyles had petitioned the court for relief on his claims that his due process rights were violated when prosecutors suppressed exculpatory evidence at his death penalty trial in New Orleans in 1984. Five years later, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Kyles' conviction and death sentence on those precise grounds in Kyles v. Whitley, an important precedent in the Brady v. Maryland line of cases that governs the prosecution's obligation to disclose evidence that is favorable to the defendant in criminal trials. Of the four cases that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed on Brady grounds in the past four decades, three were from Louisiana: Kyles v. Whitley (1995), Smith v. Cain (2012), and Wearry v. Cain (2016). Just three months ago, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a decision much like the denial in Kyles similarly denying the Brady claim of Louisiana death row prisoner David Brown, this time over the dissent of three justices. As in Kyles' case two decades ago, Brown's case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has an opportunity to both correct the erroneous result in Brown's case and, equally importantly, to provide clearer direction to the Louisiana courts about the rules that govern the discovery rights of criminal justice defendants. Only through such guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court will Louisiana courts begin to enforce these rules meaningfully. Hopefully, such a ruling would ensure that Louisiana prosecutors' distressing pattern of failing to disclose evidence is finally ended.

Like Brady itself, Brown's case was never a whodunit. It was simply a who did what. At Brown's trial, prosecutors, without any direct evidence to prove which defendants actually killed the victim, argued that Brown was the worst of the worst and was personally responsible. At trial, Brown claimed that when he last saw the victim, he was alive. He said that he was unaware anyone had died until informed by law enforcement. Clearly, the jury did not credit Brown's account. They found him guilty and sentenced him to death. However, the jury was never told that one of Brown's co-defendants, Barry Edge, had confessed to an inmate that Edge and another co-defendant had decided to kill the victim on their own, and then they took his life. Prosecutors were well aware of the confession months before Brown's trial. However, the jury never heard this because they failed to disclose it to Brown, disregarding his plea for life and ignoring his constitutional right to any evidence that is favorable to him and could affect the outcome of the trial. It is the duty of prosecutors to adhere to standards set in the state and federal constitutions, especially in cases where they are seeking the ultimate punishment. In this case, the state had an obligation to evaluate the confession for its potential to exculpate any of the five defendants in this case, including Brown. Part of the Brady requirement is that prosecutors may not assess the potential materiality and favorability of evidence in the light most supportive to the state's case. But, what occurred in Brown's case is exactly what happens all too often in Louisiana courtrooms: the state either failed to recognize the value of the evidence or disregarded it, and then acted accordingly. In my time as a justice and then chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, I confronted cases like Kyles and Brown all too often. Brady issues are and have been, for decades, an endemic and persistent problem in Louisiana courts in both capital and noncapital cases. The Louisiana Supreme Court had a chance to address this in Brown, but instead, once again, neglected to do so."

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202758802489/US-Supreme-Court-Should-Undo-DeathRow-Injustice-in-Louisiana#ixzz4ARrGHfIT

STORY 2: "On the Defensive" by  Dylan Walsh, published by the 'Atlantic' on June 2, 2016.

SUB-HEADING: "The right to legal counsel has long been the gold standard of American justice under the Constitution. But what happens when a state refuses to budget for public defenders? Louisiana is finding out."

GIST: "Statewide, public defenders represent more than 85 percent of those who pass through the criminal courts, many of them black and uneducated. Without public defenders available, pretrial detainees awaiting representation will clog the jails, judges will be unable to clear dockets, detention costs will rise, and the state will sink, eventually, into a constitutional crisis for failure to provide adequate counsel. “I fully expect litigation around the state to ignite toward the end of this year or the beginning of 2016,” said Derwyn Bunton, the chief public defender of New Orleans, last October. His office had $850,000 less than its forecasted need, a budget gap of 15 percent. In January, his prediction came true: The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana for “indefinite denial of counsel” and “chronic underfunding of its public-defender system.”.........Criminal-justice reform is having its moment. In mid-October, President Obama embarked on a national tour to discuss reentry after detention and alternatives to incarceration. In January, he announced a decision to ban solitary confinement for juveniles held in federal prison. A handful of judges and cities are pushing for bail reform. Both Republicans and Democrats have advanced legislation to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses. The troubling economics of incarceration, aggressive policing in poor communities, and the wide-ranging discretion of prosecutors are all coming under scrutiny. But strangely absent from this discussion is the role of public defenders. “That’s a fatal omission,” said Jonathan Rapping, president and founder of the advocacy organization Gideon’s Promise. “If we believe in equal justice, then the single most important thing to do is make sure poor people have the kinds of lawyers richer people would have."..."Over the last several decades, as the criminal-justice system industrialized—sweeping people off the streets, processing them through courts, housing them in jails and prisons, and monitoring them with supervised release—this constitutional right has grown more important. “Public defenders are meant to be the friction in a system that’s often focused on efficiency, on whisking people through,” said Rapping. He contends that other reforms will bear little fruit without criminal-defense lawyers to uphold them. Implicit in Gideon is the idea that a client’s lawyer, more than anyone else, is in the best position to uncover abuses of due process. “The right to counsel is the vehicle through which all other rights are realized,” Rapping said. But as public defenders’ workloads climb, their ability to safeguard client rights suffers. A census of 22 states carried out by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that, between 1999 and 2007, the number of public defenders increased by 4 percent while their caseload increased by 20 percent. Until recently in New Orleans, public defenders assigned to misdemeanor courts each had upward of 19,000 cases per year, affording them an average of seven minutes for every client. Unsurprisingly, some detainees end up staying in jail waiting for attorneys for longer than the potential sentences for the crimes they were accused of. “You can’t dig into the details. There isn’t time to uncover the facts, to marinate in them, to do the research necessary,” Carson said about managing his caseload. “It becomes like herding cattle.”..."For public defenders, reliance on these court fees places them in the questionable position of drawing a salary from the guilt of those they represent; defendants who are found innocent pay no court costs. A class-action lawsuit filed in September on behalf of six New Orleans residents alleges that these “financial conflicts of interest have derailed the pursuit of justice.” But questionable ethics aside, this system has proved to be fiscally ineffective year after year. Despite a recent increase in the public defender’s cut of the court fee from $35 to $45, nearly every office operates at a loss. The small chunk of funding that comes from state appropriations—about $16.5 million in 2014—is spread thinner every year to stanch mounting deficits. Districts across Louisiana are firing lawyers and support staff, creating client waiting lists, canceling contracts with basic legal-research services, and dumping more cases on fewer attorneys for less compensation. What’s more, the 2017 annual budget, approved by the legislature, slashes public-defender funding by an additional 62 percent—a cut “that would require additional service restrictions on a scale unprecedented in the history of American public defense,” wrote the president of the American Bar Association in a letter to Louisiana’s governor.In September, the New Orleans office ran a $50,000 online crowdfunding campaign. Recognizing a strain of dark humor in the situation, HBO’s John Oliver called attention to the effort. Donations jumped. The office met its goal. In part, the campaign was needed to avoid immediate cuts in essential services. “But it was also to show that this is what it takes to secure the Sixth Amendment in Louisiana,” said chief defender Bunton. “It’s ridiculous and absurd that one of the original 10 Amendments of the Constitution relies on crowdfunding for its guarantee.”..."Louisiana, incidentally, has one of the country’s highest rates of proven wrongful convictions. In Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola, about 20 men serving life sentences have been exonerated since 2001. Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, noted that every Louisianan her office has freed from that prison was black; every one had a trial at which the presentation of evidence lasted for less than one day; and every one was sent to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. A well-resourced defense lawyer, she said, could have prevented most of those injustices before they began."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/on-the-defensive/485165/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (1):  Many people are asking how they can help  free and exonerate Rodricus Crawford. Crawford himself,  his family, and Marlene Belliveau,  who is advocating for Crawford,   believe that personal pleas directly  to District Attorney James Stewart or  Governor of the State of Louisiana John Bel Edwards to review the case before it is too late could help make a difference -  and would be most appreciated. The pleas can be sent as follows:

DA James Stewart

501Texas St, 5th Floor

Shreveport, LA  71101

Tel: (318) 226.6826

(or) 

Governor John Bel Edwards

Office of the Governor

PO Box 94004

Baton Rouge, LA 70804

John@johnbelforlouisiana.com

For more information with respect to this case, you may also contact Marlene Belliveau at : MarleneABelliveau@gmail.com ( for the Crawford family);

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: THE EIGHT POST SERIES:

Part One: 'TakePart'  tells the compelling  story of a sister's (Vicki Crawford-Sharp) efforts to save her brother from Louisiana's death row  - with the  fervent  support of a Canadian woman (Marlene Belliveau)  drawn to the case  by a horrific personal experience of her own.
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row.html 

Part Two: Marlene Belliveau's compelling   plea to Caddo Parrish's new  District Attorney James Stewart to spare an innocent father's  life and proclaim his innocence.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_28.html

Part Three: The Innocence Network files an Amicus Brief urging the US Supreme Court to reverse his conviction - asserting that the victim’s death resulted not from suffocation, but from a fatal illness.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_29.html

Part Four:  In his own words Rodricus Crawford - through an open letter - tells anyone who will listen that all he asks is for the new DA (James Stewart) "to do the right thing and re-examine the case...There's only one reasonable conclusion."
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/05/rodricus-crawford-louisiana-death-row_30.html

Part Five: Catholics lead calls for court to spare life of death-row inmate; Catholic News Service.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016_05_01_archive.html

Part Six: More on the perverse criminal justice culture in which Rodicrus Crawford - and many others - have been trapped: A recent study conducted by the 'Southern University Law Center’s Journal of Race, Gender and Poverty' which shows that "few Louisiana death row inmates are actually executed, since the majority have their verdicts reversed upon appeal, or are exonerated due to innocence findings".
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana.html

Part Seven: Good news for Rodricus Crawford and the rest of the more than 80 people on death row in Louisiana; It just got more difficult for the state to push forward on executions.
 http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2016/06/rodricus-crawford-death-row-louisiana_1.html

Part Eight: Publisher's view; (Editorial);  "Apart from the factual component of the case which cries out Rodricus Crawford's innocence - after he had been trapped  in Louisiana's  perverse criminal justice culture - we still have to view Rodricus in the context of a father wrongfully convicted of the  murder of his son,  charged with the most horrific offence in the criminal law, and  awaiting a meeting with the state's executioner."
 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=120008354894645705#editor/target=post;postID=3030613652084038518;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=8;src=link

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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.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;