Jonathon Salvador: Crime lab debacles; "Bad Chemistry" graphic compares crime lab debacles in Massachussets, Colorado and Texas. Grits for Breakfast.

STORY: "Cool graphic from Bad Chemistry comparing crime lab scandals in Massachusetts, Colorado, and the DPS crime lab scandal in Houston involving Jonathon Salvador," published by Grits for Breakfast on June 30, 2003.

GIST:  "Nice comparison, and for the most part a good summary, though I'd have said nearly 5,000 tests and "at least" 700 convictions were compromised in Texas - it could be many more."

The entire post can be found at: 

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.ca/2013/06/judicial-lawmaking-tx-cca-to-hold-oral.html

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.


Sent from my iPad

Thomas Smart. UK. Crime scene exhibit mixup led to him being wrongly convicted of possessing a live round; Appeal justice cites "interference with the exhibit number" and says forensic scientist, if called, will have to explain and justify the handling of the exhibits. Wrongful Convictions Blog.

STORY: "Forensic staff investigated following wrongful conviction," by Jasmin McDermott,  (Public Oracle UK) published by the Wrongful Convictions Blog on July 5, 2013. (Thanks to the Wrongful Convictions Blog for drawing this story to our attention.)

GIST: "Forensic Science Service (FSS) staff involved in a crime scene exhibit mix up that resulted in a man being wrongfully convicted of possessing a live round will have to answer for their actions following claims they were aware the exhibit was a dummy.  Officers from Merseyside Police carried out a search of Thomas Smart’s property in Liverpool in January 2008 and discovered what appeared to be a live round.  He was arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing ammunition.  Mr Smart told officers that he bought the round as an ornament and assumed it was not live. However, forensic scientist Philip Rydeard, employed by the FSS, said in a report that it was a bulleted cartridge.  Mr Smart was charged and pleaded guilty. He was given a four-month suspended sentenced and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.  However, following an internal review a a year later in January 2009, staff discovered that there had been a mix up and that the exhibit numbers had been altered.  They apologised for the “quality failure” and admitted that there was the potential for a miscarriage of justice. But they denied that they owed any duty of care and said that Mr Rydeard was immune from any civil proceedings......... Lord Justice Moses sitting in the Court of Appeal ordered a full hearing into the case. He said: “Witnesses, if called by the FSS, will have to explain and justify the handling of the exhibits in this case.  “They cannot be protected from being questioned or from accounting for their actions.”  He added: “It must be recognised that, as a result of interference with the exhibit number, the real bullet was falsely attributed to Mr Smart.  “The effect of interference with exhibit numbers, whether it was designed originally to conceal confusion or ‘mix up’ or not, was the same as planting the real bullet in Mr Smart’s premises. “It is alarming that the course of justice appears to have been perverted by the alteration of exhibit numbers and the failure to disclose that that had occurred or any reason why it occurred.”"

http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/07/06/forensic-staff-investigated-following-wrongful-conviction/

The entire story can be found at:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.


Sent from my iPad

Ed Graf: Douglas Boyington: (Quarter-century-old arson cases): Texas Fire Review Panel finds both investigations "failed to meet the present-day scientific standards of care." Fire Marshall says "they should have been concerned back then." The Associated Press.

STORY: "Texas fire review panel flags work in 2 cases," by reporter Nomaan Merchant, published by the Associated Press on June 26, 2013.

GIST:  "A Texas fire review panel flagged two quarter-century-old arson cases on Wednesday, saying investigators were mistaken in finding that the defendants set intentional fires. The Texas State Fire Marshal's Office convened the panel of fire experts earlier this year to review cases for potential problems, in a rare collaboration with criminal justice advocates who say a significant number of arson-related convictions rest on faulty conclusions. The Innocence Project of Texas conducted a survey of arson cases and referred several to the panel. The two cases identified Wednesday are the murder conviction of Ed Graf, a Waco-area man found guilty of setting a 1986 fire that killed his two stepsons, and the arson conviction of Douglas Victor Boyington for a 1988 fire at a Houston-area apartment building. Both men are behind bars, though an appeal in Graf's case led to the conviction and life sentence being set aside. Prosecutors in McLennan County have acknowledged the original fire investigation is no longer valid, but say they intend to retry him based on other evidence. Graf remains jailed on $1.5 million bond. Boyington is serving a 75-year prison sentence for arson, along with sentences for other charges, according to state records. In both cases, letters sent by Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said the original investigators "failed to meet the present-day scientific standards of care." The panel said the fire investigation did meet today's standards in a third case it reviewed, the 2002 murder conviction of Sadie Proffitt in Brazoria County, in southeast Texas. The panel expects to issue findings on another case in the near future and to review five more cases later this year, Connealy said. "These are older cases and the times were different, but nevertheless, their findings can't be supported by the standards of today and quite frankly, they should have been concerned back then," he said about the two flagged cases."

The entire story can be found at:

 http://bigstory.ap.org/article/texas-fire-review-panel-flags-work-2-cases

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;


I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.

George Souliotes: California; antiquated arson "science" case: Modesto Bee calls it an "unsatisfactory conclusion" for several reasons, let alone that a man now free served 16 years for crimes that he no longer stands convicted of.

EDITORIAL:  "Our view: Unsatisfactory conclusion of Souliotes saga," published by the Modest o Bee on July 4, 2013.

GIST:  "After a winding legal battle, including appeals that upheld his original arson and murder convictions, a federal judge changed the narrative entirely this spring. The judge ruled that tactical errors in Souliotes' defense prevented his client from being adequately represented in the second of two trials in 2000 (the first ended in mistrial the year before). To garner his freedom, Souliotes pleaded no contest to three counts of involuntary manslaughter for not having smoke detectors in his rental home. This plea agreement reflects a dramatic reduction from the original charges of murder and arson. Cited by his defense attorney as a key in this victory, and as the factor that the district attorney's office said "gutted" its case, a Stanislaus County judge excluded the testimony of an eyewitness in the planned trial, as well as excluding the fire science introduced at the original trial 13 years ago. This is not an outcome to celebrate. Souliotes, while now free, served 16 years for crimes that he no longer stands convicted of. The people of Stanislaus County never got the definitive answer they might have gotten from a new trial, whether it resulted in conviction or acquittal. And Michelle Jones and her children, Daniel and Amanda, are still gone, their lives taken in an inferno on that cold January morning. "

The entire editorial:

http://www.modbee.com/2013/07/04/2793603/unsatisfactory-conclusion-ofsouliotes.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.


Sent from my iPad

George Souliotes: California: Original conviction said to be "based on indisputably unreliable fire pattern analysis straight out of the "Todd Willingham playbook." The Arson Project.

STORY: "George Souliotes finds justice but must wait one more night before finding freedom," by Paul Bieber of "The Arson Project," published on July 3, 2013.

GIST:  "What is certain is that Souliotes’ original conviction was based on indisputably unreliable fire pattern analysis straight out of the Todd Willingham playbook.  In an exceptional example of how cognitive bias and poor forensic training can turn an amateurish fire investigation into a full fledged witch hunt, Modesto Fire Department investigators determined the fire to be arson based on “pour patterns”, deep charring and a fire which burned “abnormally hot”.  That the house fire burned beyond flashover for nearly 15 minutes was never acknowledged as a likely cause for any of the burn indicators the fire investigators attributed to an ignitable liquid."

The entire story can be found at:

http://thearsonproject.wordpress.com/about/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.


Sent from my iPad

Bulletin: David Bain: Radio New Zealand reports that the judicial review into Justice Minister Judith Collin's handling of his compensation claim is set to be heard in Auckland on July 31, 2013.

STORY: "Date set for judicial review of handling of Bain application," published by Radio New Zealand on July 4, 2013.

GIST: "A date has been set for a judicial review into the way Justice Minister Judith Collins handled a compensation application by David Bain. .........In a report released late last year, former Canadian Supreme Court judge Ian Binnie concluded Mr Bain was innocent and suggested he should receive compensation. However, a review of that report, commissioned by Ms Collins, criticised those findings as legally flawed. The judicial review is expected to be heard at the High Court in Auckland on 31 July."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/213710/date-set-for-judicial-review-of-handling-of-bain-application

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.

Rene Bailey; Greece, New York: "Democrat and Chronicle" wades in on the case of Barbara Hershey - once thought by her lawyers to be "the perfect opportunity to attack the science of shaken baby syndrome." Prosecutor says "what we used to call shaken-baby syndrome...may now be called inflicted head trauma."

STORY: "Watchdog report: Shaken-baby triad still rules in New York courts," by reporter Gary Craig, published by the Democrat  and Chronicle  June 30, 2013. (Thanks to the Wrongful Convictions Blog for drawing our attention to this story. H.L.)

VIDEO  CAPTION:  "The case of Barbara Hershey: Barbara Hershey was 65 when she was convicted and imprisoned in 2007 for causing the death of an infant in her care."

GIST:  "The case of Barbara Hershey — an Ontario County grandmother convicted of killing a 4-month-old boy — seemed to her appellate lawyers to be the perfect opportunity to attack the science of shaken-baby syndrome. Shaken-baby syndrome — a diagnosis of brain trauma triggered by the vigorous shaking of a child — has come under challenge in recent years. Hershey was convicted of causing the fatal injuries inflicted upon her stepgrandson, Ethan Hershey, by shaking him. “I thought this was a good case to challenge the science and we challenged it as thoroughly and persuasively as we could,” said Rochester lawyer William Easton, who represented Hershey in an appeal of her conviction. However, when Barbara Hershey’s case was heard in 2011 by the Rochester region’s appellate division of state Supreme Court, the judges spent little time discussing the science. That lack of discussion about shaken-baby syndrome is illustrative of a medical diagnosis that has yet to see a robust challenge in New York’s appellate courts, where legal precedents are made. And critics of shaken-baby syndrome — ranks that are growing in number — say that courts can be an ill-suited venue for shifting beliefs in science. “The problem is the legal system moves and changes in terms of decades,” said Dr. Peter Stephens, a North Carolina forensic pathologist and prominent critic of shaken-baby syndrome. “The medical system can change in months, literally.” But believers in the syndrome’s science say that the diagnosis is legally entrenched because it is reliable. The “vast majority of qualified doctors in the fields that deal with this issue are convinced of the existence of what we used to call shaken-baby syndrome and what may now be called inflicted head trauma,” said Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo, who prosecuted Hershey.

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130630/NEWS01/306300060/Shaken-baby

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.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.