Bulletin: Mike Peterson; Judge bars blood experts from remarking on his guilt. WRAL.

STORY: "Blood experts not allowed to remark on Peterson's guilt," published earlier today on WRAL.

GIST: "Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline planned to bring in other blood evidence experts who were hired by the state eight years ago but never testified at Peterson's trial. They believe Peterson is guilty of murder, she said, which backs up Deaver's findings. Rudolf objected to the move, saying their opinion about the verdict is irrelevant. Witnesses should be allowed only to review Deaver's tests and results, he said, not bring in new evidence as to whether the jury was right. "The issue here is," Rudolf argued, "did Duane Deaver mislead the court first of all, so that the court qualified him as an expert and allowed him to give the opinions that he gave based on those tests, and No. 2, did he mislead the jury?” Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson agreed with Rudolf, cutting off what appeared to be Cline's main line of defense against a new trial."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10482820/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

Bulletin: Chana Al-Alas and Rohan Wray: U.K. Shaken Baby Syndrome case; Pair acquitted. defended on basis that Jayden had rickets; BBC News.

STORY: "Pair cleared over Jayden Wray death," by as reported by BBC News on September 9, 2011.

GIST: "The prosecution said the brain damage could only have been caused by the trauma of Jayden having been shaken or his head having been hit against something. But the defence said it was only after Jayden died that it was discovered he had rickets owing to an undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency in his mother. This would have caused him to have weak bones, including a weak skull, and could have caused a series of fractures. The medical condition was also blamed for complications which led to his death.

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16107085

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

"Shaken Baby Syndrome;" Shirlee Ree Smith; "Latest victim of the junk science." Commentary by Michigan lawyer Mark Satawa.

SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME." COMMENTARY: "Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Effective Death Penalty Act: A lethal combination" by criminal defence lawyer Mark Satawa published on December 6, 2011. (Mark A. Satawa practices in the area of criminal defense, specializing in forensic evidence and shaken baby cases. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Criminal Defense Lawyers of Michigan, and is a frequent continuing legal education speaker on shaken baby cases, most recently on April 3, 2009, at the NACDL annual forensic science seminar in Las Vegas. )

GIST: "By all accounts, Shirley Ree Smith was a loving mother and grandmother, just trying to help her daughter raise her young children. Now, she is the latest victim of the junk science associated with shaken baby syndrome, in combination with the United States Supreme Court’s worship of procedure over substance, or legal technicality over true factual innocence. The result? Another innocent person sits in a jail cell, convicted of a crime that she likely did not commit."

THE ENTIRE COMMENTARY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.protectingyourfuture.info/shaken-baby-syndrome-and-the-aedpa-a-lethal-combination

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

Bulletin: Michael Mermel: (Chicago); Lake County prosecutor retiring under fire for comments where DNA did not match the defendant. Chicago Tribune.

STORY: "Under fire, Lake County prosecutor retiring. Michael Mermel loses backing of county officials after string of inappropriate comments," by reporter Lisa Black, published by the Chicago Tribune on December 8, 2011.

GIST: "The sheriff had forced the issue last week, publicly asking for Mermel's dismissal for what Curran called "inappropriate" comments by Mermel to the media. Just days earlier, The New York Times published an article in which Mermel, explaining why DNA from sperm found inside a young murder victim didn't match the defendant, repeated his earlier assertions that the 11-year-old girl was sexually active..."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-michael-mermel-retires-20111208,0,1633906.story

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

Kathleen Folbigg: Australia; Jailed 30 years; Canadian academic says experts misinterpreted repeated unexplained deaths in a single family.

STORY: "Bad evidence convicted Folbigg of killing children - academic" by Stuart Washington published in "The Age" on December 5, 2011.

GIST: "Now, after six years researching the case, a legal academic living in Canada believes Folbigg was wrongly convicted based on unreliable evidence from medical experts And Emma Cunliffe is calling for NSW to introduce the same ''last resort'' mechanism that was used in the Northern Territory to quash Lindy Chamberlain's murder conviction. The attack on the reliability of expert evidence in Folbigg's trial follows a court ruling on Friday allowing Jeffrey Gilham a retrial on his charge of murder, and possibly even an acquittal, after evidence from experts was found to have been flawed. The claims by Dr Cunliffe in her book Murder, Medicine and Motherhood stand against the combined weight of the jury verdict in Folbigg's 2003 trial and two unsuccessful appeals..."

The story can found at;

http://www.smh.com.au/national/bad-evidence-convicted-folbigg-of-killing-children--academic-20111204-1odjg.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

Bulletin: Deborah Madden: She pleads not guilty to federal charge of fraudulently making off with cocaine she was supposed to test; S.F. Chronicle;

STORY: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE;

GIST: "A former San Francisco crime lab technician pleaded not guilty today to a federal charge of fraudulently making off with cocaine she was supposed to be testing, conduct her lawyer said was not even a federal crime..."

THE ENTIRE STORY OF THE PLEA CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/07/BA481M9JE5.DTL

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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

Brenda Waudby: Smith case; Her lawyer alleges official documents show police and prosecutors knew her guilty plea was wrong; Peterborough Examiner;

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: It is clear from the evidence called at the Goudge inquiry that Brenda Waudby - an utterly innocent individual who's baby daughter had been murdered by her babysitter - had been required to plead guilty to a charge of child abuse under provincial legislation before the Crown would withdraw the the second-degree murder charge on the basis of medical opinions which showed she could not possibly have committed the crime. It is also clear that Dr. Charles Smith's opinion that there were injuries which preceded the attack on Baby Jenna - which led to her being wrongfully charged with murder - was also the basis for the provincial charge, along with what the police claimed to be a confession. Instead of receiving the sympathy and compassion she deserved as a grieving mother whose baby daughter had been murdered, Ms. Waudby, a grieving mother, was herself charged with the horrific crime and not surprisingly became a pariah in her community. Brenda Waudby has been given a raw deal by Ontario's criminal justice system. We can only hope that the Court will hurry up and finally and unequivocally clear her name;

HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.

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STORY: "Police may have been aware guilty plea was wrong," by reporter Sarah Deeth published in the Peterborough Examiner earlier today.

GIST: "A lawyer for Brenda Waudby is arguing that police and the Crown's office were aware that Waudby may have erroneously pleaded guilty to harming her daughter. Waudby is trying to appeal a 1999 conviction for child abuse. The case is currently before the Superior Court......... Police had the babysitter's confession and shared that information with the Crown's office, stating that the babysitter believed that he had likely hit Jenna with enough force to break her ribs, documents state. Kirkpatrick is arguing that no one told Waudby that someone else had confessed to a crime she pleaded guilty to six years earlier, or expressed any concern that a miscarriage of justice had taken place. The babysitter was charged with manslaughter in December 2005, and pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2006."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3396182

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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

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