Kylese Perryman: Minnesota: Wrongful identification and technology: In a recently filed lawsuit, he claims that facial recognition technology led to his false arrest, MPR News (Reporter Mat Sepic) reports...."In September of 2021, Hennepin County prosecutors charged Kylese Perryman, 21, with a carjacking and the armed robbery of several women at a Mall of America parking ramp the following day. Perryman's attorneys said that investigators using facial recognition technology falsely matched Perryman’s photo with security camera images of another young Black man allegedly seen shopping with the victims' credit cards at a Brooklyn Center Walmart soon after the robbery. At news conference with Minnesota ACLU leaders, attorney Molly Jean Given said if prosecutors and Bloomington police had conducted even a basic investigation, they would have found overwhelming proof of Perryman’s innocence. "While the suspects allegedly carjacked someone, Mr. Perryman was working the night shift at a Target warehouse. And like he did every time he worked that night shift, he clocked in and he clocked out. And he was clocked in when that car was stolen," Given said. Given said Perryman was sleeping at the time of the mall robbery and was at a family member’s birthday party in Andover when the suspects took the victim’s credit cards to Walmart. She added that Perryman is significantly taller and thinner than the suspect in the security video and has different tattoos."

QUOTES OF THE DAY: "Perryman said he spent five days in jail before a judge released him with a GPS ankle monitor. He said it took months to clear his record with the help of a hired defense attorney. “I feel like I had to prove my innocence more than they had to prove I was a suspect, and the system is not supposed to work that way,” Perryman said. ACLU of Minnesota Legal Director Teresa Nelson said facial recognition technology is notorious for misidentifying people of color. “Studies of facial recognition technology show that Black people are up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men. That rate is even worse for Indigenous people,” Nelson said."

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STORY: "In lawsuit, Minneapolis man says facial recognition tech led to his false arrest," by Reporter Matt Sepic, published by MPR News, om June 28, 2023.

GIST: "A Minneapolis man claims in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday that authorities wrongfully jailed and charged him based on faulty facial recognition technology.

In September of 2021, Hennepin County prosecutors charged Kylese Perryman, 21, with a carjacking and the armed robbery of several women at a Mall of America parking ramp the following day.

Perryman's attorneys said that investigators using facial recognition technology falsely matched Perryman’s photo with security camera images of another young Black man allegedly seen shopping with the victims' credit cards at a Brooklyn Center Walmart soon after the robbery.

At news conference with Minnesota ACLU leaders, attorney Molly Jean Given said if prosecutors and Bloomington police had conducted even a basic investigation, they would have found overwhelming proof of Perryman’s innocence.

"While the suspects allegedly carjacked someone, Mr. Perryman was working the night shift at a Target warehouse. And like he did every time he worked that night shift, he clocked in and he clocked out. And he was clocked in when that car was stolen," Given said.

Given said Perryman was sleeping at the time of the mall robbery and was at a family member’s birthday party in Andover when the suspects took the victim’s credit cards to Walmart.

 She added that Perryman is significantly taller and thinner than the suspect in the security video and has different tattoos.

Perryman said he spent five days in jail before a judge released him with a GPS ankle monitor.

He said it took months to clear his record with the help of a hired defense attorney.

“I feel like I had to prove my innocence more than they had to prove I was a suspect, and the system is not supposed to work that way,” Perryman said.

ACLU of Minnesota Legal Director Teresa Nelson said facial recognition technology is notorious for misidentifying people of color.

“Studies of facial recognition technology show that Black people are up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men. That rate is even worse for Indigenous people,” Nelson said.

Spokespeople for Hennepin County and the city of Bloomington, which are both named as defendants, said they are unable to comment on pending litigation."

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/06/28/in-lawsuit-minneapolis-man-says-facial-recognition-tech-led-to-his-false-arrest

-------------------------------------------------

ACLU MINNESOTA ANALYSIS:  (Excellent, detailed release. HL);

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and pro bono attorneys at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP filed Kylese Perryman v. City of Bloomington et al. on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The lawsuit against the city of Bloomington, several of its police including Detective Andrew Risdall, and Hennepin County alleges that law enforcement “carelessly and incorrectly identified him (Perryman) as another Black man,” arresting and detaining him without probable cause.

Law enforcement’s failures alleged in the suit include:

• Not conducting a photographic or in-person lineup.
• Not contacting any of the eyewitnesses to seek further identification.
• Not considering or investigating Perryman’s alibis including cell phone records, all of which showed him miles away when the crimes took place.
• Not noting that Perryman has tattoos on his forearm, while the suspect did not.
• Not comparing Perryman’s height, weight and features with photos of the suspect – who was about 5 inches shorter and noticeably heavier.
• Putting out an alert that he was “known to be armed and pistol whipped a victim,” despite no history of violent crime, putting him at risk for a dangerous encounter with police.
• Not asking to drop charges against Perryman for nearly two months, even though his defense attorney – who was left to investigate in law enforcement’s stead – repeatedly produced new evidence of his innocence.

https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/press-releases/perryman-case

-------------------------------------------------

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

------------------------------------------------------------------

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Alison Dorsey: Iowa: Shaken Baby Syndrome: Her first trial ended in a mistrial (hung jury) on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of an 11-week-old infant in her care; Her second trial recently ended in a conviction, and a sentence of 50 years in prison (with a mandatory minimum of 35 years before she is eligible for parole) and a restitution order for $150,000. Now, however, the Demoines Register (Reporter William Morris reports) that they plan to appeal the conviction, arguing in court filings that the jury ignored substantial evidence in their client's favor..."Attorneys Trever Hook and Bill Kutmus, representing Dorsey for post-trial motions and in her upcoming appeal, argue in court filings the jury ignored substantial evidence in their client's favor. Since there were no witnesses to the alleged abuse, both sides relied heavily on medical experts, with several defense witnesses testifying forensic evidence showed L.H. had signs of a previous head injury sustained well before he was left in Dorsey's care. "(The state's experts) admitted to it, that there was a prior soft injury," Hook told the Register after Dorsey's sentencing. "They admitted there was an injury to the skull, an old injury, before Alison Dorsey even had custody of the baby that day." Although L.H's parents told police their baby seemed healthy before going to Dorsey's, the defense also offered testimony from a nurse who saw the baby prior to going to child care and observed "something was wrong with the child" at that time, Kutmus said."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "According to court filings, L.H.'s parents dropped him off at Dorsey's for his first day of child care Oct. 7, only to get a call from her hours later that the baby was having trouble breathing and eating. Doctors later determined the infant had "severe brain hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages and retinal tearing" consistent with "shaken baby syndrome" and opined that a child suffering such injuries would have obvious, near-immediate symptoms, according to the complaint. Dorsey was tried in May, and the jury convicted her of the reduced charge of second-degree murder, as well as child endangerment resulting in death. On Wednesday, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 35 years before she is eligible for parole. She also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the child's family."

STORY: "Iowa child care provider sentenced to 50 years after infant's brain injuries lead to death," by Reporter William Morris, published by The Sea Moines Register, on July 1, 2023. (William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register);

GIST: "A Cass County child care provider will spend up to 50 years in prison after being sentenced this week for the death of an 11-week-old infant in her care.

Alison Dorsey, 39, was initially charged with first-degree murder in the death of infant L.H., who died Oct. 8, 2019. 

According to court filings, L.H.'s parents dropped him off at Dorsey's for his first day of child care Oct. 7, only to get a call from her hours later that the baby was having trouble breathing and eating.

Doctors later determined the infant had "severe brain hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages and retinal tearing" consistent with "shaken baby syndrome" and opined that a child suffering such injuries would have obvious, near-immediate symptoms, according to the complaint.

Dorsey was tried in May, and the jury convicted her of the reduced charge of second-degree murder, as well as child endangerment resulting in death. On Wednesday, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 35 years before she is eligible for parole. She also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the child's family.

Defense attorneys: child had suffered prior injury

Attorneys Trever Hook and Bill Kutmus, representing Dorsey for post-trial motions and in her upcoming appeal, argue in court filings the jury ignored substantial evidence in their client's favor.

Since there were no witnesses to the alleged abuse, both sides relied heavily on medical experts, with several defense witnesses testifying forensic evidence showed L.H. had signs of a previous head injury sustained well before he was left in Dorsey's care.

"(The state's experts) admitted to it, that there was a prior soft injury," Hook told the Register after Dorsey's sentencing. "They admitted there was an injury to the skull, an old injury, before Alison Dorsey even had custody of the baby that day."

Although L.H's parents told police their baby seemed healthy before going to Dorsey's, the defense also offered testimony from a nurse who saw the baby prior to going to child care and observed "something was wrong with the child" at that time, Kutmus said.

Cass County Attorney Vanessa Strazdas did not return a message Friday seeking comment.

Other recent child care death cases

Dorsey's 50-year sentence is greater than that of several other Iowa child care providers convicted in infant death cases.

Trina Mazza of Johnston was sentenced to 10 years in December after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent person. Prosecutors said a 17-month-old in her care became stuck between two cribs and asphyxiated in 2019 while Mazza, who was caring for more children than allowed under Iowa law, was in another room.

Angela Marxen of Le Claire, who like Dorsey was initially charged with murder, pleaded guilty to child endangerment resulting in serious injury and also was sentenced to 10 years. Marxen had admitted to police she had dropped the 5-month-old victim, and waited four hours to call 911, including 45 minutes after noticing the infant girl was showing signs of distress.

Unlike those cases, Dorsey took her case to trial. If the jury had convicted her of first-degree murder as charged, she would have faced a mandatory life sentence in prison.

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2023/07/01/iowa-daycare-provider-sentenced-in-shaken-baby-death-case/70373456007/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

------------------------------------------------------------------

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Judge H. Lee Sarokin: (Rubin (Hurricane) Carter; John Artis: Tainted witness (long criminal records)/recantation testimony; Prosecutorial misconduct: Judge Sarokin's New York Times obituary. Reporter Joseph Fried notes that during 15 years as a United States District Court judge, "he (Judge Saroca) was perhaps best known for his decision in the (Rubin) Carter case... "That case began when three white people were shot to death in a Paterson, N.J., tavern in 1966. Mr. Carter and an acquaintance, John Artis, both Black, were convicted of the killings by an all-white jury. Mr. Carter was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, and Mr. Artis to 15 years to life. The prosecution had offered no motive, and several people had placed the defendants elsewhere at the time of the killings. But they were convicted, largely on the testimony of two men with long criminal records, one of whom said he had seen Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis leave the tavern with guns in their hands. In 1976, the State Supreme Court overturned the convictions after those witnesses recanted their testimony and evidence of prosecutorial misconduct emerged. In a retrial, the prosecution maintained that the murders had been revenge for the killing of a Black tavern owner, and the witness who had originally placed an armed Mr. Carter at the scene recanted his recantation. Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis were again found guilty. When state court appeals failed, defense lawyers brought the case to the federal court in Newark, arguing before Judge Sarokin in 1985 that the convictions should be overturned because of constitutional violations."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The judge agreed, holding that the prosecutors had based their case on “an appeal to racism rather than reason, concealment rather than disclosure.” Judge Sarokin said that the prosecution had “fatally infected the trial” by invoking the racial revenge theory without sufficient evidence to support it, and that it had improperly withheld information that could have aided the defense.  Mr. Carter was freed after nearly two decades in prison. (Mr. Artis had already been released on parole.) Shortly before he died in 2014, Mr. Carter wrote in The New York Daily News that he had been “freed from a living hell by the brave Judge H. Lee Sarokin.” After Mr. Carter’s death, the long-retired Judge Sarokin revealed that every year, on the anniversary of his ruling, Mr. Carter had telephoned him to chat.  “His calls touched me deeply,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune. In “The Hurricane,” a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington as Mr. Carter, the part of Judge Sarokin was played by Rod Steiger."

STORY: "H. Lee Sarokin, Federal Judge Who Freed Hurricane Carter, Dies at 94," by Reporter Joseph P.Fried, published by The New York Times, on June 24, 2023.

SUB-HEADING: "In his 15 years on the U.S. District Court bench in Newark, he also ruled on high-profile cases involving the tobacco industry and the rights of homeless people."

GIST: "H. Lee Sarokin, who as a federal judge in New Jersey overturned the triple-murder conviction of the star boxer Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, voided a public library’s ban against a homeless man and angered cigarette companies that claimed he had shown bias against them, died on Tuesday in the La Jolla section of San Diego, where he and his wife, Margie, lived in retirement. He was 94.

His son Jeff Sarokin said the cause was pulmonary fibrosis.

Judge Sarokin (pronounced SAR-eh-kin) resigned from the bench in 1996 while sitting on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, where he had served for a little less than two years.

He had gained wide notice long before that, during his 15 years as a United States District Court judge in Newark, where he was perhaps best known for his decision in the Carter case.

That case began when three white people were shot to death in a Paterson, N.J., tavern in 1966. Mr. Carter and an acquaintance, John Artis, both Black, were convicted of the killings by an all-white jury. Mr. Carter was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, and Mr. Artis to 15 years to life.

The prosecution had offered no motive, and several people had placed the defendants elsewhere at the time of the killings.

 But they were convicted, largely on the testimony of two men with long criminal records, one of whom said he had seen Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis leave the tavern with guns in their hands.

In 1976, the State Supreme Court overturned the convictions after those witnesses recanted their testimony and evidence of prosecutorial misconduct emerged.

 In a retrial, the prosecution maintained that the murders had been revenge for the killing of a Black tavern owner, and the witness who had originally placed an armed Mr. Carter at the scene recanted his recantation.

 Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis were again found guilty.

When state court appeals failed, defense lawyers brought the case to the federal court in Newark, arguing before Judge Sarokin in 1985 that the convictions should be overturned because of constitutional violations.

  The judge agreed, holding that the prosecutors had based their case on “an appeal to racism rather than reason, concealment rather than disclosure.”

Judge Sarokin said that the prosecution had “fatally infected the trial” by invoking the racial revenge theory without sufficient evidence to support it, and that it had improperly withheld information that could have aided the defense.

 Mr. Carter was freed after nearly two decades in prison. (Mr. Artis had already been released on parole.)

Shortly before he died in 2014, Mr. Carter wrote in The New York Daily News that he had been “freed from a living hell by the brave Judge H. Lee Sarokin.”

After Mr. Carter’s death, the long-retired Judge Sarokin revealed that every year, on the anniversary of his ruling, Mr. Carter had telephoned him to chat. 

“His calls touched me deeply,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

In “The Hurricane,” a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington as Mr. Carter, the part of Judge Sarokin was played by Rod Steiger.

In another high-profile case, Judge Sarokin ruled in 1991 that a homeless man could not be barred from the Morristown, N.J., library because of his odor. He said that while public libraries could enforce regulations governing their patrons, the regulations used by the Morristown library violated the man’s rights because they were too broad.

“The policy neither contains nor refers to identifiable standards” of hygiene that constitute a nuisance to others, he said, and “affords the library staff and police excessive discretion in its enforcement.”

He added, “If we wish to shield our eyes and noses from the homeless, we should revoke their condition, not their library cards.”

Librarians whose buildings were being increasingly used as refuges by homeless people expressed concern over the ruling.

 An appeals court overturned it, saying that the regulation was valid because “it would be impossible to list all the various factual predicates” of a hygiene nuisance.

Although he was genial in the courtroom, Judge Sarokin could write harshly critical decisions. 

In the tobacco cases, in which companies were the targets of lawsuits accusing them of hiding the dangers of smoking, the companies charged that he should be removed because the language in some of his rulings showed a pro-plaintiff bias.

In 1992, the tobacco companies succeeded in having him ousted from one case after he began a ruling by flatly stating that among those “who believe that illness and death of consumers is an appropriate cost of their own prosperity,” the tobacco industry “may be the king of concealment and disinformation.”

An appeals court ruled that, since whether the companies had hidden the harm of smoking was to be decided by a jury, Judge Sarokin had to step down because he had violated standards on the “appearance of impartiality.”

Two years later, when Judge Sarokin was nominated to serve on the same appeals court, he acknowledged at a Senate hearing that his language in that ruling might have been “unduly strong.” He added, “I accept that I have been irrepressible at times.”

Long after he retired, he returned to the subject as electronic cigarette companies fought the scrutiny of the Food and Drug Administration. “Not much has changed,” he wrote in a letter to The New York Times in 2016.

”I presided over the first tobacco litigation for about 10 years,” he continued. “At my Senate hearing for elevation to the Court of Appeals, I conceded quite reluctantly that my language may not have been appropriate for a judicial opinion. I now wish to retract that concession and declare that it wasn’t harsh enough.”

Haddon Lee Sarokin was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., on Nov. 25, 1928, to Samuel and Reebe Sarokin. His father published small local newspapers and a state industrial directory, and his mother worked for the newspapers.

He graduated from Dartmouth College and, in 1953, from Harvard Law School. He was a lawyer for Union County, N.J., in the 1960s but was primarily in private practice until, appointed by President Jimmy Carter, he joined the federal court in Newark in 1979.

His nomination to the Court of Appeals in 1994, by President Bill Clinton, had a tough time in the Senate, with Republicans accusing him of being an irresponsible, soft-on-crime liberal, but it was ultimately approved. 

Those criticisms surfaced again in 1996, when Judge Sarokin was among several judges who became campaign fodder for Republicans when Mr. Clinton ran for a second term.

He announced that June that he was resigning from the bench. “I see my life’s work and reputation being disparaged on an almost daily basis,” he said at the time, “and I find myself unable to ignore it.”

He denied judicial colleagues’ speculation that his decision was also related to their rejection of what a court administrator called his “extremely unusual” request that he be allowed to move to California, where his children and grandchildren lived, and to commute to the Philadelphia court as needed.

Settling in the San Diego area, Judge Sarokin became a private mediator and arbitrator and wrote commentary on legal and political matters for his own blog and later for HuffPost. 

He also wrote several plays, staged by a local repertory theater. which addressed issues of social justice and civil rights.

In addition to his wife and his son Jeff, Judge Sarokin is survived by another son, Jim; a daughter, Abby Mantini; two stepchildren, Ted Schlein and Kathy Schlein; and 11 grandchildren.

In a 1989 interview on the public television program “The Open Mind,” Judge Sarokin told the host, Richard D. Heffner, that when a judge was called an activist, as conservative critics often labeled him, “it means that somebody does not agree” with a decision. “If they agree,” he added, “you’re a supporter of the Constitution.""

The entire story can be read at:

h-lee-sarokin-dead.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

------------------------------------------------------------------

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

-------------------------------------------------------------

Adnan Syed murder conviction: Maryland: Bulletin: 'The Hill (Staff Writer Jarad Gans) reports that the court Court will review the reinstatement of his murder conviction..."The Maryland Supreme Court will review the reinstatement of Adnan Syed’s murder conviction this fall to determine whether the conviction should be upheld. ' State Supreme Court Senior Justice Shirley Watts issued the ruling Wednesday, setting arguments to be scheduled for Oct. 5. Briefs from Syed’s attorney and the attorney for the family of Hae Min Lee, the 18-year-old who Syed was convicted of killing in 2000, are due in August. Responses are then due in September."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "After Syed’s conviction, his case received renewed attention with the popular podcast “Serial” in 2014. Prosecutors reviewing his case eventually filed a motion saying they uncovered new evidence that called Syed’s conviction into question, and a Baltimore judge overturned the conviction in September after Syed spent more than 20 years in prison.  The judge ruled the state did not comply with its obligation to share evidence with Syed that could have helped his defense. Prosecutors were given 30 days to decide whether to request a new trial or dismiss the case, and they decided the next month to dismiss the case. But his conviction was reinstated in March by the Maryland appellate court after it ruled that the Baltimore judge did not give Lee’s family enough notice to appear at the hearing. The top court in the state decided last month to pause the reinstatement of his conviction and not order Syed  back to prison immediately while it considered whether to take up the case.  Erica Suter, an assistant public defender representing Syed, said in a statement that they are pleased with the court’s ruling and hopeful about their chances of the conviction being struck down again."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Court to review reinstatement of Adnan Syed murder conviction," by Staff Writer Jared Gans, published by 'The Hill',  on June 29, 2023. (Jared Gans is a breaking news reporter for The Hill, covering a wide range of policy and political issues.) 

PHOTO CAPTION: "Adnan Syed, center, the man whose legal saga spawned the hit podcast “Serial,” exits the Cummings Courthouse a free man after a Baltimore judge overturned his conviction for the 1999 murder of high school student Hae Min Lee, Monday, Sept, 19, 2022, in Baltimore."

GIST: "The Maryland Supreme Court will review the reinstatement of Adnan Syed’s murder conviction this fall to determine whether the conviction should be upheld. '

State Supreme Court Senior Justice Shirley Watts issued the ruling Wednesday, setting arguments to be scheduled for Oct. 5.

Briefs from Syed’s attorney and the attorney for the family of Hae Min Lee, the 18-year-old who Syed was convicted of killing in 2000, are due in August. Responses are then due in September.

After Syed’s conviction, his case received renewed attention with the popular podcast “Serial” in 2014. Prosecutors reviewing his case eventually filed a motion saying they uncovered new evidence that called Syed’s conviction into question, and a Baltimore judge overturned the conviction in September after Syed spent more than 20 years in prison. 

The judge ruled the state did not comply with its obligation to share evidence with Syed that could have helped his defense. Prosecutors were given 30 days to decide whether to request a new trial or dismiss the case, and they decided the next month to dismiss the case. 

But his conviction was reinstated in March by the Maryland appellate court after it ruled that the Baltimore judge did not give Lee’s family enough notice to appear at the hearing. 

The top court in the state decided last month to pause the reinstatement of his conviction and not order Syed back to prison immediately while it considered whether to take up the case. 

Erica Suter, an assistant public defender representing Syed, said in a statement that they are pleased with the court’s ruling and hopeful about their chances of the conviction being struck down again.

“We are very pleased that the Supreme Court recognized the importance of reviewing the legal issues raised by the Appellate Court’s decision, and we are optimistic that we will prevail,” Suter said. “The legal team and Adnan’s family are also grateful that the Court extended the stay so we can be assured that Adnan will remain free while this appeal is pending.” 

The Hill has reached out to an attorney for Lee’s family for comment."

The entire story can be read at:

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4073386-court-to-review-reinstatement-of-adnan-syed-murder-conviction/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

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Eric DeValkenaere: Missouri: Police use of deadly force: From our 'Something is wrong in this picture' department: The current Attorney General of a state which is notorious for resisting the release of innocent people such as Lemay Johnson and Kenneth Strickland is seeking reversal of a former detective's conviction in a black man's death, The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint (Reporters Margaret Stafford and Summer Ballentine) reports..."In an unusual legal move, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is asking a state appeals court to reverse the conviction of a white former Kansas City police detective who shot and killed a Black man three years ago. In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere’s conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019. Bailey asked the court to reverse DeValkenaere’s conviction or order a new trial. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office secured DeValkenaere’s conviction, said the motion by the attorney general — the state’s top law enforcement officer — to challenge a conviction was “unprecedented” and an affront to the people of Kansas City. In a news conference on Monday, she accused Bailey, a Republican who was appointed to the attorney general’s office in January, of “attempting to expand his power to that of a judge.” “I can’t say in my time, 25 plus years of being here, that I’ve seen anything like this before,” Baker said. Cameron Lamb’s father, Aqil Bey, said at the news conference that Bailey’s actions were a miscarriage of justice. He said DeValkanaere had been given every legal advantage, including not having to serve a day in jail since his conviction."

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Bailey’s predecessor, Eric Schmidt, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, strongly opposed efforts by Baker and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to release two men — Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — who they believed were jailed for murders they didn’t commit. Both men were eventually released from prison."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Rumors had swirled in the last month that Republican Gov. Mike Parson was considering pardoning or granting clemency to DeValkenaere, prompting Baker to send him a letter urging him not to do so. Civil rights advocates warned that releasing the former detective could cause unrest in the city and damage an already tense relationship between police and Kansas City’s minority community."

--------------------------------------------

STORY: "Missouri Attorney General Seeks Reversal of Former Detective's Conviction in Black Man's Death," by Associated Press Reporters Margaret Stafford and Summer Ballentine, published by  The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, on June 26, 2023.

SUB-HEADING: "In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere's conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019."

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GIST: "In an unusual legal move, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is asking a state appeals court to reverse the conviction of a white former Kansas City police detective who shot and killed a Black man three years ago.

In a brief filed Monday, Bailey said the evidence presented at a trial in 2021 did not support Eric DeValkenaere’s conviction for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019.

Bailey asked the court to reverse DeValkenaere’s conviction or order a new trial.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office secured DeValkenaere’s conviction, said the motion by the attorney general — the state’s top law enforcement officer — to challenge a conviction was “unprecedented” and an affront to the people of Kansas City.

In a news conference on Monday, she accused Bailey, a Republican who was appointed to the attorney general’s office in January, of “attempting to expand his power to that of a judge.”

“I can’t say in my time, 25 plus years of being here, that I’ve seen anything like this before,” Baker said.

Cameron Lamb’s father, Aqil Bey, said at the news conference that Bailey’s actions were a miscarriage of justice. He said DeValkanaere had been given every legal advantage, including not having to serve a day in jail since his conviction.

“We don’t feel good about it. But we are going to continue to let the legal system run its course, and we’ll see what happens,” Bey said.

Ben Trachtenberg, a University of Missouri School of Law professor and expert in criminal law, agreed that Bailey’s decision was unusual, noting the state’s attorney general’s office has a history of vigorously defending convictions, even in cases where the local prosecutor is trying to overturn a conviction.

Bailey’s predecessor, Eric Schmidt, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, strongly opposed efforts by Baker and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to release two men — Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — who they believed were jailed for murders they didn’t commit. Both men were eventually released from prison.

Still, Trachtenberg said Bailey was within his authority in not defending DeValkenaere’s conviction.

“The attorney general’s office does have broad responsibility for dealing with criminal appeals,” he said. “But lawyers don’t have to defend every single case. The attorney general’s office’s highest duty is to pursue justice. If they think somebody is innocent, they don’t have to defend the conviction.”

DeValkenaere was convicted in November 2021 of killing Lamb, who was shot as he backed his truck into his garage. Police said DeValkenaere and his partner, Troy Schwalm, went to Lamb’s home after reports that Lamb was involved in a car chase with his girlfriend on residential streets.

Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs, who convicted the former detective after a bench trial, sentenced DeValkenaere to three years for involuntary manslaughter and six years for armed criminal action, with the sentences to run consecutively.

But Youngs later ruled that DeValkenaere could remain free while his conviction is appealed.

In his motion, Bailey said Lamb’s death was “tragic” and shouldn’t have happened. But he argued that DeValkenaere used reasonable force because he believed Lamb was going to shoot Schwalm. The motion, which includes several pages reiterating the police department’s version of events, said officers believed they saw Lamb with a handgun inside the truck, and a handgun was found near the truck after Lamb was shot.

“DeValkenaere’s use of force was reasonable in light of Mr. Lamb’s use of deadly force against Schwalm, and the court erred as a matter of fact and law in determining that Schwalm and DeValkenaere were the initial aggressors,” Bailey wrote. “DeValkenaere also was not criminally negligent.”

Prosecutors and Lamb’s family had alleged the handgun was planted after the shooting. But Youngs did not address that issue when he convicted the detective.

Instead, the judge said the officers had no probable cause to believe that any crime had been committed, had no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and had no search warrant or consent to be on the property. He said police were the initial aggressors and they had a duty to retreat, but DeValkenaere illegally used deadly force instead.

Rumors had swirled in the last month that Republican Gov. Mike Parson was considering pardoning or granting clemency to DeValkenaere, prompting Baker to send him a letter urging him not to do so. Civil rights advocates warned that releasing the former detective could cause unrest in the city and damage an already tense relationship between police and Kansas City’s minority community.

Parson said last week that he had not yet decided what action to take and criticized Baker for using the case for political purposes."

The entire story can be read at:

https://sdvoice.info/missouri-attorney-general-seeks-reversal-of-former-detectives-conviction-in-black-mans-death/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

------------------------------------------------------------------

YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

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