Texas Senate Bill 1611, known as the Michael Morton Act, has been passed by the Texas legislature, signed by the governor, and will become law on September 1. It requires that prosecutors give defense attorneys any evidence that is relevant to the defense’s case.
This advance is a fitting legacy for Michael Morton, wrongfully convicted of killing his wife, and wrongfully incarcerated for 25 years before DNA exonerated Continue reading
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Legislation
From the NYTimes:
The Timely Justice Act, a grotesquely named bill passed by the Florida Legislature, could get to Gov. Rick Scott as soon as this week for him to sign into law. The measure would require a governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a review of a capital conviction by the State Supreme Court, and the state would be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant.
Also this week, an inmate on Florida’s death row, Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin, presented DNA evidence that could exonerate him. He was convicted in 2006 of murdering two women, based largely on circumstantial evidence. On Monday, he was in court seeking a new trial because the DNA evidence showed that blood at the crime scene — none of it his — was that of a victim’s daughter, who, his lawyers argue, likely committed the murders.
Mr. Aguirre-Jarquin’s case offers good reason for Governor Scott to veto the bill. The state’s indisputably defective death penalty system is made more horrifying by attempts to rush inmates to execution. There is a strong chance that Mr. Aguirre-Jarquin will become the 25th death-row inmate exonerated in Florida since it reinstated capital punishment in 1973. More death-row inmates have been exonerated in Florida than in any state.
As the American Bar Association explained in a scathing 2006 report on the state’s death penalty system, Florida is one of the few states that allows a jury to recommend a sentence of death based on a majority vote rather than a unanimous one. Defendants charged with capital crimes often have woefully unqualified counsel, and are much more likely to be convicted and sentenced to death if the victim is white — a sign of racial disparity that is clearly unconstitutional. The flaws in Florida’s system, which soaks up huge amounts of resources, cannot be fixed. It is long past time to abolish capital punishment.
Jon-Adrian Velazquez has received more attention than most inmates who claim innocence. He’s served more than fourteen years of a 25-years-to-life sentence in prison after being convicted of the shooting of retired New York City police officer Albert Ward during a hold-up at an illegal betting parlor allegedly operated by Ward. The case prompted many lingering questions, but an 18-month official review has apparently not provided a broader consensus that justice has been served, nor that a new review initiative will be effective in addressing possible wrongful convictions. Continue reading
Louis Scarcella, 61, now retired, a gregarious, former New York police detective who was a go-to investigator for the city’s highest profile murder cases, utilized techniques that might euphemistically be called creative or unorthodox. As the New York Times reported (here) on Sunday, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has ordered a review of 50 murder cases handled by Scarcella in light of growing questions concerning his tactics and mounting concerns about the integrity of the resulting convictions. Today, the Chicago Sun-Times has published an editorial urging the Cook County State Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit to pursue a similar review of the cases of another productive investigator, Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara. Continue reading
What financial number would you put on the loss of nine years, nine years of freedom exchanged for nine years in prison? What’s the price of family separation, damaged relationships, stress and anxiety? What’s fair compensation for health ramifications and ongoing required treatment? What about lost wages and impaired future earnings? As mentioned on this blog today (here), Nicholas V. Midey Jr., Judge of the New York Court of Claims, ruled on April 4, 2013, that for Daniel Gristwood, 46, a father of five who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit, the appropriate compensation from New York state is $5,485,394.
Directly from Judge Midey’s 22-page ruling: Continue reading
There will be a significant event in the pursuit of true science in diagnosing shaken baby syndrome (abusive head trauma) on November 15-17, 2013 in Dallas, Texas
The World Congress on Infant Head Trauma will bring together international speakers to find common ground and debate controversial topics in pediatric forensic pathology. This unique congress focuses primarily on the pathology and etiology of head trauma (and its mimics) and not the overarching issue of child abuse.
See the conference website here.
I am hopeful that this will be the start of dragging the majority of the pediatric medical community into an understanding of the true science underlying cause-and-effect relationships involved in infants that present with “triad” symptoms.
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Junk science
Melissa Staas is a staff attorney with the Family Defense Center in Chicago, and has recently made the SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome) defense community aware of a case in Chicago that exemplifies many of the problems with the extant pediatric medical establishment in dealing with medical conditions that are misread by uninformed doctors diagnosing abuse. This is a classic case of what I call “dueling experts.” See the previous WCB post addressing SBS medical expert testimony and “dueling experts” here.
Melissa sent an e’mail describing an appellate court brief recently filed by the Family Defense Center in a so-called “abuse” case in Chicago. That e’mail follows: (posted here with her permission)
Not many wrongfully convicted people will one day play professional football. In fact, so far, just one Innocence Project client, exonerated after wrongful conviction and imprisonment, has been drafted by the National Football League. Brian Banks’s story is inspiring and higher-profile than most, yet, as the 2013 Innocence Network Conference convened last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, attendees were reminded that every exoneration is an inspiring story of determination and indomitable human spirit demonstrated by an unguaranteed quest for freedom and true justice, however delayed. Continue reading
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Events, Reforming/Improving the system
Tagged Innocence Network Conference
The phenomenon of “flashover,” by which any ‘compartment fire’ (ie: a fire in a room) can produce all the traditionally accepted signs of arson, was discovered in 1991. Watch a video of flashover occurring here.
The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), which is the recognized authoritative body on fire science, published the first edition of its standard NFPA921 (Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations) in 1992, and it included a recognition of the phenomenon of flashover. Consequently, it was declaring that all the “rules” and “indicators” that had been used by arson investigators for decades to determine if a fire was arson were wrong. NFPA921 was immediately met with “stonewall” resistance from the US fire inspection community, including the IAAI (International Association of Arson Investigators).
The process of dragging fire investigation into the reality of science has been long and arduous. The IAAI eventually offered a grudging acknowledgement of NFPA921, but it was not until January 12, 2013 (just three months ago) that the IAAI issued a “full” endorsement of NFPA921. Their official position statement follows:
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Forensic controls, Junk science
Witnesses being exposed to retribution for their testimony is not a new thing. After all, the Witness Protection Program was established by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970. But this was primarily an “organized crime” phenomenon. With today’s 24-hour news cycle fanning the flames of public indignation over high profile cases, and the ubiquity of electronic and social media, witnesses, and others involved in high profile cases, face a new kind of threat – harassment and intimidation by electronic media. The Witness Protection Program provides physical security for those witnesses who may be in danger of bodily harm, or even death, and this protection is extremely expensive. As for electronic intimidation and harassment, a solution, so far, evades us.
Electronic harassment has been an unfortunate byproduct of the internet age and social media. The internet provides would-be harassers with a “cloak of anonymity,” which seems to encourage even casual harassers to send intimidating e’mail’s and texts. And sometimes worse than that, hackers will publicly post the personal information of witnesses and others involved in a case whom they view to be contrary to their own beliefs. This can happen both during an ongoing trial and post-conviction or post-acquittal; driving witnesses and even jurors into hiding to escape the onslaught wrought by the electronic blitz.
Things have come to the point where Cook County (IL) Chief Judge Timothy Evans is moving forward with a ban on personal electronics in courtrooms. Starting Monday, the Cook County criminal courthouses begin their ban on electronic devices that include cell phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops and “all other electronic devices capable of connecting to the Internet or making audio or video recordings.” Read the HuffPost article here.
One more example is the fact that Alyce LaViolette, a domestic abuse expert, who testified for the defense in the Jodi Arias trial had to be taken to the emergency room for “for anxiety attacks and palpitations” after an online barrage was launched against her. Read the HuffPost story here.
We have previously decried what we’ve called “trial by media” or “trial by website.” This is when the public forms strong opinions about guilt or innocence of a defendant based upon coverage by news media, or when someone becomes dedicated to the guilt or innocence of a defendant, and sets up a website to try to convince others of their beliefs. Of course, the media and the general public cannot possibly have knowledge of all the facts and details involved in these cases, but these strong public opinions can, and do, have influence on the outcomes of cases. For example, they can force a change of venue for a trial, and who knows how jurors might be influenced.
Two other high-profile cases that have also suffered from abuse of the electronic media are the Casey Anthony capital murder trial, and the Steubenville football rape case.
The justice system is not supposed to be “trial and judgement by public opinion.” One would hope that responsible citizens would understand that this activity is malicious, and produces no net positive end result. But alas, I believe that this is largely founded in “human nature,” and what the solution might be is beyond my ken. Perhaps just public knowledge that this kind of stuff happens may help.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions this country’s criminal justice system has ever known – Gideon V. Wainwright. The case, along with later decisions, cemented the 6th amendment right to counsel for anyone, regardless if they have the ability to pay.But in a quick scan of the media today of monthly magazines to news dailies on the topic, readers will find one unified reflection expressed — half a century after Gideon, we are far from realizing effective representation for all. Keep reading here…
An opinion (here) in The Stateman (Austin) yesterday commended the Texas legislature for pending legislation aimed at reducing wrongful conviction. After some challenge by district attorneys and a resulting amendment that protects witnesses and victims, the Texas Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 1611, known as the Michael Morton bill, which would create a uniform “open file” policy in the state, thus requiring the prosecution to share all files with defense attorneys.
According to the opinion piece, the Senate has also passed a bill “that would give exonerated Texans four years from the date of their release from prison to Continue reading
In 2011 the Better Government Association in Illinois reported that wrongful convictions had cost taxpayers $214 million in settlements. An update (here) indicates that, since the 2011 investigation—which was done with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law—government agencies have agreed to pay another nearly $39 million to settle lawsuits resulting from persons wrongfully convicted, primarily of murder and other serious felonies. And according to an ABC7 report (here), at least ten cases are currently pending in Illinois courts, which could soon move the cost of wrongful convictions to $300 million or more in the state of Illinois alone.
Of course, the settlement costs do not include the cost of incarcerating 85 innocent people for a total of 926 years since 1989, nor the human costs of wrongful incarceration, nor the costs of crimes committed by the real perpetrators who escaped apprehension while innocent persons languished in prison. Continue reading
Chemical & Engineering News has published an update of forensic science reform efforts entitled, “First Steps Toward Forensics Reform – New forensics commission to recommend guidelines, design policies.” The article provides a history of efforts taken thus far in response to the 2009 report by the National Research Council, which alerted the nation to many shortcomings in the reliability of the forensic sciences and their use in the courtroom.
According to the article (here) by Andrea Widener:
“Four years after the NRC report was released—and nearly as long as the White House has been studying it—the federal government has taken its first official steps to address the problem. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) have joined forces to create a National Commission on Forensic Science. That body will recommend guidelines for federal, state, and local forensics laboratories, as well as design policy on ethics, training, and certification for forensics professionals. Continue reading
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Forensic controls, Reforming/Improving the system
Tagged forensic reform
Numerous times on this blog we have bemoaned the inappropriateness of “trial by media.” The press/media cannot possibly have an intimate understanding of all the evidence, facts, affidavits, and testimony in a criminal trial. But to gain readership, they piece together whatever bits of information they can gather, and publish stories that tend to appeal to the sensationalistic interest of the general public. This is no surprise. That’s what they do. It’s unfortunate, however, because this stuff can and does have an influence, both during and, perhaps even more so, after trial.
But nowadays, there is a new internet-age version of trial by media. I call it “trial by website.” This happens when someone becomes personally dedicated to the guilt or innocence of a particular defendant, and sets up a website to proffer their one-sided views. There are both innocence-based websites and guilt-based websites. However, my observation is that the guilt-based websites are much more vitriolic, and generally based upon much unsubstantiated, or downright false, information.
There’s been much recent discussion due to the overturning of the Amanda Knox acquittal, and the websites run by people who have dedicated themselves to her guilt are going great guns. Two of these are the Perugia Murder File (PMF) and True Justice for Meredith Kercher (TJMK).
Nina Burleigh is a journalist who actually went to Perugia, and studied all aspects of the case for over a month. She has recently published an article in TIME in which she talks about these “Knox Hater” websites. And in opining about what the outcome of any new trial will be she states, “In my opinion, the new panel will agree with the last one that the case against the students is fatally flawed.”
You can read Nina Burleigh’s article here.
This is my second stab at responding to an opinion piece (here) in the New York Times written by Leila Schneps, a mathematician and mystery writer, and her daughter Coralie Colmez, who have co-authored “Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom.” (I deleted yesterday’s post to give this more thought and expand on the issues raised in the op-ed piece.) I’ll first briefly address the authors’ troubling and rather contrived tie-in to the Italian High Court’s overturning of the acquittal of Amanda Knox. The NY Times piece otherwise makes a point worth stressing. Continue reading
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Forensic controls, Junk science
Tagged Amanda Knox, forensic science
Nine years ago Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas after being convicted of killing his three children in a fire. Whether or not the tragic fire was a crime or an accident has been a haunting question in light of alternative explanations for the burn patterns once believed to be proof of the use of an accelerant. According to an Associated Press press in the Baylor Lariat (here), next month an ongoing collaboration of the Texas state fire marshall and the Innocence Project of Texas will proceed to it’s next task: reviewing the first six cases of arson conviction that have been identified as potentially problematic due to their dependance on questionable science. Continue reading
The Houston Chronicle reported yesterday (here) that in opening statements in the trial of Mark Alan Norwood, on trial for the 1986 bludgeoning death of Christine Morton, prosecutor Lisa Tanner told jurors that the state will present new evidence connecting Norwood to the crime. Tanner, representing the Texas Attorney General’s Office, said that a .45 Colt pistol that was missing from the Morton home after the murder was located by prosecutors. Norwood allegedly sold the gun, registered to Christine’s husband Michael Morton, to a man who had hired Norwood to work on a home remodeling project. Continue reading
The Los Angeles Times editorial of August 24, 2012, (here) called Daniel Larsen a “victim of a continuing injustice.” According to The Daily Transcript (San Diego) report (here), “U.S. Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal is expected to grant Larsen’s immediate release (from prison) at 2 p.m.” today. This will not fully end his injustice, but it will at least provide Larsen his freedom while the appeals process continues. Continue reading
Posted in Editorials/Opinion, Exonerations
According to a report in the Coloradoan (here), on Saturday Lt. Jim Broderick, 56, resigned from the Fort Collins (Colorado) Police Services where he had worked for 33 years. His career had a dramatic reversal when he was indicted on charges of felony perjury in June 2010 in connection with the grand jury indictment and trial of Tim Masters. Masters, who was fifteen at the time of the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick, was convicted and spent ten years in prison before DNA testing of crime scene evidence prompted the vacation of his murder conviction. Broderick had been the investigator in the case. Continue reading
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