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Feb 9, 2012, 6:21 pm
STORY: "Murder trial begins for former Palm Harbor day care owner accused of shaking baby to death," by reporter Curtis Krueger published in the Tampa bay Times on February 8, 2012.
GIST: "Spurgeon, 40, is A former Palm Harbor day care owner accused of killing a 1-year-old by shaking the girl to d... Comment - Like
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Feb 1, 2012, 2:40 pm
Dear readers: A writing deadline has caught up to me! I should be able to begin posting again in about a week. In the meantime keep me up to date on any cases or matters worthy of note at : hlevy15@gmail.com. Best wishes.
Harold Levy: Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog. Comment - Like
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Jan 31, 2012, 3:30 am
STORY: "Call for Vitamin D infant death report," by reporter Andrew Hosken, published on January 26, 2102, on BBC News, Radio Four.
GIST: "Dr Irene Scheimberg and Dr Marta Cohen believe their findings merit further investigation and research. "I think there should be a commission that studie... Comment - Like
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Jan 30, 2012, 3:15 am
... 24, 2012."
GIST: "Last month a young couple walked free from court after being cleared of killing their four-month-old son after it was found he had been suffering from rickets. Rohan Wray and Chana Al-Alas of Islington, north London, fell under suspicion when baby Jayden died suddenly two... Comment - Like
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Jan 28, 2012, 7:46 pm
STORY: Han Tak Lee: "New look at evidence O'K'd in fatal 1989 Pa. fire," by reporter Ron Todt, published earlier today by the Associated Press.
GIST: "A federal appeals court has granted another look at the evidence in the case of a man convicted of killing his daughter in what authorities ... Comment - Like
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Jan 28, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "Prade still waits for DNA testing," published by Akron News Now on January 23, 2012.
GIST: "Former Akron Police Captain Doug Prade got his wish more than a year ago: Additional DNA testing that he says will prove he did not murder his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, in 1998. It's now been 14 ... Comment - Like
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Jan 27, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: Diab calls French terror extradition bid a Kafkaesque nightmare," by reporter Chris Cobb, published in the Ottawa Citizen on January 21, 2012.
GIST: "Justice Robert Maranger, who presided over Diab's two-year extradition hearing, ruled last June that Diab should be committed for extradit... Comment - Like
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Jan 26, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: Dallas Morning News editorial "Texas' arson review revisited" published on January 11, 2012.
GIST: "The abrupt resignation of Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado shouldn’t prevent a good-faith, thorough re-examination from taking place, in conjunction with the Innocence Project of Texas. Every... Comment - Like
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Jan 25, 2012, 7:56 am
'The Colin Matchim case will continue for at least another couple of months. Matchim was convicted of aggravated assault last May, after his infant daughter suffered permanent injuries in 2009. But Matchim's lawyers have made a request to enter new medical evidence that they say could change the... Comment - Like
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Jan 25, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "Henry James: Exoneree profile," published by the New Orleans Innocence Project;
GIST: "IPNO (Innocence Project of New Orleans) staff went through boxes and boxes of old evidence with Jefferson Parish Crime Lab Director Milton Dureau, all to no avail. Months later, Mr. Dureau was searchin... Comment - Like
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Jan 19, 2012, 4:10 pm
PUBLISHER'S VIEW: 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 C... Comment - Like
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Jan 19, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "Shirley McKie case: Fingerprint misidentification," by Jim Fisher published on January 9, 2012 on his blog.
GIST: "In 2011, the Scottish Special Services Authority (SPSA) held hearings on the SCRO fingerprint misidentifications in the McKie and Asbury cases. The proceedings featured 64... Comment - Like
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Jan 18, 2012, 10:16 pm
... dark to register its own protest. I echo the well articulated views of Scott Greenfield in his post noted below.
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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STORY: "Quod approbo non reprobo," by criminal defence blogger... Comment - Like
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Jan 18, 2012, 3:15 am
Close
STORY: "Misfortune Teller," by Nadya Labi published in the January/February issue of Atlantic Magazine.
GIST: "Berk’s expertise is being sought at nearly every stage of the criminal-justice process. Maryland is running an algorithm like Philadelphia’s that predicts wh... Comment - Like
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Jan 17, 2012, 8:18 pm
STORY: Innocence Project press release published earlier today under heading, "The Englewood Four are Exonerated."
Gist: "Saunders, Richardson, Thames and Swift have spent most of their adult lives in prison. They were between the ages of 15 and 18 when they arrested. Based on false confessions and... Comment - Like
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Jan 17, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "Meet your winner," published in the Agitator on January 15, 2012.
GIST: "In this November New York Times profile that I didn’t catch when researching Bradley to nominate him, Bradley actually shows some contrition, going so far as to say the DNA results in the Morton case—which, ag... Comment - Like
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Jan 16, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "The worst judge ever," published in the Urban Politico on January 12, 2012.
GIST: " Last March we wrote a post about a highly controversial Supreme Court decision authored by Justice Thomas where he decided that a Black man (John Thompson) had no right to sue the New Orleans District Atto... Comment - Like
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Jan 15, 2012, 8:02 pm
POST: Ron Unruh, who has fought valiantly to expose the injustice inflicted on the Bayne family - revealed in the excellent CBC Fifth Estate documentary on "Shaken Baby Syndrome" broadcast on Friday January 13, 2012 - has set out his views on the program in a post on his blog.
GIST: "Fifth Est... Comment - Like
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Jan 14, 2012, 8:11 am
THE DOCUMENTARY IS AVAILABLE FOR ACCESS FROM CANADA ONLY AT:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/diagnosismurder/history.html
RESOURCE MATERIALS FOUND ON THIS SITE INCLUDE:
O: AN INTERVIEW WITH REPORTER GILLIAN FINDLEY; (CANADA ONLY);
O: AN EXTENDED INTERVIEW WITH KEITH FINDLEY CO-DIRECTOR OF THE WISC... Comment - Like
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Jan 14, 2012, 3:15 am
STORY: "A far cry from CSI" by reporter A.C. Thompson, co-published by Outfront and the Los Angeles Times on January 11, 2012.
GIST: "Shirley Ree Smith has spent the past 14 years in prison or virtual house arrest while the nation’s two most influential courts have engaged in legal bickering... Comment - Like
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Nov 2, 2011, 2:57 pm
"These failures have had very real consequences. Four defendants who were sentenced to death in Orleans Parish were later exonerated in cases involving violations of the Brady decision; another, who was facing a death sentence, was granted a new trial just last year.
More broadly, a... Comment - Like
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Nov 2, 2011, 3:15 am
"He (Rob McGall) explained that a student in the class at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute in Picton has a family connection to Smith. And while some officials in the school were aware of Smith’s controversial background, others were not, nor was the school board, McGall said.
... Comment - Like
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Nov 1, 2011, 7:56 am
"The Toronto Sun first learned of Smith’s lecture from the father of a teen who attends the school, but who was not part of the class lectured by Smith.
The father said Smith was at the school to give a lecture on “DNA”. He also claimed that students were instructed by the school... Comment - Like
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Nov 1, 2011, 3:15 am
"In Calise’s motion for a new trial, defense attorney Bill Whitaker claimed the state’s own evidence showed a 23-month-old’s body has developed to such an extent, a child of that age cannot be shaken and incur the severe brain injuries alleged by the state’s expert witnesses.
A cha... Comment - Like
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Oct 31, 2011, 8:45 am
"Dean (Burry) is currently working on a new opera for young people and an opera-oratorio based on the story of disgraced child pathologist Charles Smith.........
Dean Burry is a composer, librettist, lyrists, educator and artistic director. In seeking ways to combine his love of theatre and m... Comment - Like
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Oct 31, 2011, 3:15 am
"The new case, Smith v. Cain , is not about punishing prosecutors. It is about whether withholding evidence should mean a new trial for Juan Smith, who prosecutors said was involved in a gangland-style shooting that left five dead. Prosecutors have an obligation under a nearly 50-year-old Supre... Comment - Like
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Oct 30, 2011, 7:02 pm
PUBLISHER'S VIEW: The final report of the Texas Forensic Science Commission drives home the disturbing conclusion that bad forensic science methods were not only in use in Texas for many years - but still may be in use today. The report has understandingly called for a retroactive review of mo... Comment - Like
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Oct 30, 2011, 3:15 am
"Modern fire experts working for the commission and for the New York-based Innocence Project, which is representing Willingham posthumously, have determined that none of the more than 20 "arson indicators" identified by fire investigators in 1991 are reliable evidence of accelerant use. The ... Comment - Like
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Oct 29, 2011, 3:45 am
... to them?", the Huffington Press story by David Protess published on October 25, 2011 ... into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into ... focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog... Comment - Like
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Oct 29, 2011, 3:15 am
The introduction to Lisa Fitterman's powerful article in the current (November) issue of "MORE" magazine, reads:
"The accused: Ask Brenda Waudby what could be worse than the death of your own child. She'll tell you it's having everyone around you, including the police, believe you were responsible.... Comment - Like
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Oct 27, 2011, 6:37 pm
"Executing Mr. Skinner without testing all therelevant evidence would suggest official indifference to the possibility of error in this case and needlessly undermine public confidence in Texas’s criminal justice system."
LETTER FROM PROMINENT TEXAS OFFICIALS INCLUDING A FORMER GOVER... Comment - Like
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Oct 27, 2011, 8:29 am
""Madam Justice Michelle Fuerst ordered that Waudby's lawyer Julie Kirkpatrick is allowed to forward copies of interviews prepared during the Goudge Inquiry to three people interviewed during that inquiry. They include former Crown attorney Brian Gilkinson and Waudby's former lawyer James Haura... Comment - Like
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Oct 27, 2011, 3:30 am
"So the issue is now a relatively tremendous thing in the Criminal Justice world. If police officers were telling prosecutors that the B.A.T. vans had problems and couldn’t be relied on, then why did those cases continue? And what happened? Did a prosecutor ignore the exculpatory eviden... Comment - Like
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Oct 26, 2011, 3:49 pm
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) has built up an extraordinary track record in exonerating wrongly accused individuals in Canada and abroad - often through the use of DNA technology. Indeed AIDWYC has played the key role in the exoneration of the a... Comment - Like
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Oct 26, 2011, 3:30 am
“"A lot of bad science has been applied to arson investigation,” says John Lentini, a renowned fire expert who has given exculpatory testimony in at least 40 arson cases since 2000. His most recent case, now under review, involves a Massachusetts man convicted of arson by Molotov cocktail,... Comment - Like
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Oct 25, 2011, 10:09 pm
An appellate court ruled on Thursday that the grand jury can continue to exclude prosecutors from listening to witnesses testify in secret proceedings in the ongoing investigation.
"Compelling the prosecutors themselves to testify with subpoenas Tuesday is further indication that the gran... Comment - Like
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Oct 25, 2011, 12:54 pm
"Prosecutors wield an enormous amount of power, yet there are no reliable systems in place to keep this power in check. Few offices have internal systems that ensure prosecutorial accountability. While state bar associations are charged with disciplining unethical conduct, recent research has ... Comment - Like
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Oct 25, 2011, 10:43 am
"In September, forensic document examiner Clyde Gayle said in a memo that he'd tried to track down a missing handwriting sample in an assault case but couldn't locate it. He first discovered it was missing in April, which raises questions about why he waited so long to report it.
"Ther... Comment - Like
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Oct 24, 2011, 9:25 pm
"The decision means that Anderson, who's now a state district judge, and Davis must give depositions within the next seven days about the murder case for which they prosecuted Morton in 1987."
REPORTER PAMELA COSEL; KXAN;
BACKGROUND: (Michael) Morton was the victim of serious prosecutorial... Comment - Like
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Oct 24, 2011, 5:10 pm
"Lawmakers passed a measure that expanded access to DNA testing and eliminated the limits that prosecutors have cited in their objections to Skinner's requests. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who helped write the bill, has said that Skinner's case is one the law was designed to affect.
... Comment - Like
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Oct 24, 2011, 12:22 pm
PUBLISHER'S VIEW: September 30, 2008 - the third anniversary of the release of the independent Goudge report into many of the former pathologist's cases - should have been another opportunity for the media to examine how the police, prosecutors, defence lawyers, judges, Chief Coroner's Off... Comment - Like
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Oct 24, 2011, 10:42 am
"You see, Amanda Culbertson kind of embarrassed Pat Lykos and her minions when she pointed out to her superiors in the HPD Crime Lab that the breath test machines in the batmobiles weren't, shall we say, very accurate or reliable. Then, to make matters worse, Ms. Culbertson testified under s... Comment - Like
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Oct 21, 2011, 5:07 pm
"The former prosecutors, District Judge Ken Anderson and Round Rock lawyer Mike Davis, earlier this week filed motions seeking to quash the subpoenas, saying the court and Morton’s lawyers lacked the authority to force their testimony.
Morton’s lawyers responded today with their own motio... Comment - Like
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Oct 20, 2011, 9:09 pm
"Morton's attorneys — John Raley of the Houston law firm Raley & Bowlick and lawyers at the New York-based Innocence Project — allege that the Williamson County district attorney's office intentionally withheld a transcript in which Christine Morton’s mother told a sheriff's investiga... Comment - Like
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Oct 20, 2011, 8:47 pm
"James requested the help of the Innocence Project, which sought to do DNA testing of the rape kit. Although officials at the Jefferson Parish Crime Laboratory were cooperative, the initial searches for the evidence proved fruitless. On May 3, 2010, Milton Dureau, who worked for the lab, w... Comment - Like
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Oct 20, 2011, 3:30 am
"The special prosecutor in the case negotiated the plea deal with Moreno and so knew she was covering up her own abuse of the child; indeed, he told the judge presiding at Moreno’s plea that she had injured the child. But at Velez’s trial, he did nothing to set the record straight. He then p... Comment - Like
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Oct 19, 2011, 11:19 pm
But the twists and turns have revealed an ugly side of Texas justice by unearthing evidence that would have injected reasonable doubt about Morton's culpability, had prosecutors turned it over to Morton's lawyers. That has raised questions about their motives in suppressing key evidence. And... Comment - Like
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Oct 19, 2011, 6:03 pm
"At issue are three interviews conducted as part of the Goudge Inquiry, which looked into the conduct of disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith. Smith's testimony led to Waudby being charged with the death of her toddler, Jenna Mellor, in 1997 — charges that were later dropped.
Jenna's babysi... Comment - Like
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Oct 19, 2011, 9:11 am
"Now a new witness has joined the voices of three others who support Robert Will’s innocence claim and have provided affidavits to the courts. This witness will give testimony to the courts on October 19th that they saw the real killer shortly after the shooting with blood on him. The police never... Comment - Like
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