Questioning the Validity of Arson Science

June 18th, 2010

The well accepted fire science that convicted George Souliotes in 1997 is now coming under question. Souliotes, a Greek immigrant, was convicted of arson that killed three people including two children in Modesto, CA. He was the landlord of the building.

Arson investigations have recently come to the forefront after the execution of Todd Willingham in Texas in 2004. The fire deemed arson in Willingham’s case seems now to be probably accidental. Because of this, many fire scientists have begun to review old cases to see if questionable science is convicting innocent people.

The science started to unravel because of the1992 groundbreaking guide by the National Fire Protection Association. The report is now widely embraced, but some experts still retain their old beliefs. The report shows that some assumptions about arson science are now known to be false. For example, conditions thought only to be present in arson cases have now been confirmed as typical in accidental cases, too: including melted steel and glass etched tiny cracks.

John Lentini, a prominent fire scientist who testified for Souliotes’, says that a sizable number of experts still “don’t want to admit they were doing it wrong.”

Souliotes’ fate rests on the forthcoming decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will soon decide whether to reexamine the case. The Northern California Innocence Project has taken on Souliotes’ case. Souliotes’ sister, Aleka Pantazis, 63 has also helped to bring attention to his case. Souliotes’ lawyers argue that arson investigators misinterpreted the evidence at the scene.

The prosecution claimed that substance on Souliotes’ shoes matched the compound that started the fire. But, Lentini says they do not have a common origin, and now the prosecutors are not disputing this.

In the meantime, all Soulites and his sister can do is wait for the decision to be handed down. Pantazis says, “what I live for is to see the day my brother will walk out. Whatever years he has left, at least he will be free.”

Dolan, Maura. “13 Years Later, an Arson Case Begins to Unravel” Los Angeles Times. May, 31 2010. Read the article.

Rhode Island Legislators Propose Improved Eyewitness Identification Methods

May 19th, 2010

A recent article published in the The Providence Journal discusses the importance of legislation that would improve eyewitness identification methods in the state of Rhode Island. In the wake of a 2007-2008 survey conducted by the Rhode Island Office of the Public Defender, which reported that there have been at least seven cases of wrongful convictions as a result of faulty eyewitness IDs, Rhode Island legislators have proposed a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to follow more stringent eyewitness identification policies. Out of the 42 law enforcement agencies that responded to the survey, only 3 have written policies outlining proper eyewitness ID procedures. The legislation proposes a statewide standard for proper procedures. One of the sponsors of the bill, Sen. Harold M. Metts, (D-Providence) believes law enforcement agencies should implement best practices. “Anything to enhance the process, that’s what we need to do,” Metts said.
Both law enforcement agencies and attorneys understand the persuasive force of eyewitness testimony in the courtroom. Many social scientists, however, are skeptical of such evidence. According to the article, “Social scientists say stress, gaps in memory or the desire to make an identification at all costs can lead to mistakes.” With these factors in mind, the proposed legislation would mandate certain practices, such as live and photo lineups that include “fillers” who fit the suspects general characteristics.

The article also examines the experience of Brown University student Reade Seligmann. In 2006, Seligmann learned the consequences of misidentification firsthand when he and two Duke lacrosse teammates were wrongfully accused of raping an exotic dancer who picked them out of a faulty photo array made up of only Duke lacrosse players. According to data compiled by the New York based Innocence Project, 79 percent of the 252 people exonerated through DNA evidence were convicted on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification. “When you have your life taken out of your hands, it’s terrifying,” said Seligmann.

DNA Access Law Passed in Alaska

May 17th, 2010

Today, the Alaska State Legislature passed legislation granting access to post conviction DNA testing. Additionally, the law will require the preservation of evidence following a conviction. This milestone legislation is a significant step forward for inmates seeking post conviction relief through DNA testing, many of whom did not have the technology available at the time of their trial. The success in Alaska leaves only two states without such laws, Massachusetts and Oklahoma. A link to the legislation is provided below.

Read the article

NEIP Exoneree to speak before the Boston Rotary Club

May 3rd, 2010

NEIP exoneree Dennis Maher will be speaking before the Boston Rotary Club to discuss the many issues involved with wrongful convictions as well as his own 1984 wrongful conviction. Additionally, Mr. Maher is expected to address the problem of Massachusetts’ DNA access laws and the importance of the legislation. The event will be taking place at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, May 12th from 6 to 7:30.

Background:
Dennis Maher was convicted in two separate trials of attacks on three women. In March 1984, he was found guilty of the rape and assault of two women in Lowell on consecutive evenings in November 1983. In April 1984, he was convicted of the August 1983 rape of another woman in Ayer. After the second trial, Maher was sentenced to life in prison. Under Massachusetts law in effect at the time of his convictions, he was also civilly committed to Bridgewater Treatment Center. Maher, a U.S. Army sergeant at the time of his arrest, had always asserted his innocence and wrote to The Innocence Project for help. The Innocence Project tried repeatedly to gain access to the biological evidence collected from the victims, but was told that the evidence couldn’t be found. In 2001, NEIP located long-misplaced evidence from the Lowell trial in the basement of the Middlesex Superior Court. In December 2002, DNA test results excluded Dennis Maher as the source of semen on the evidence. After Maher was excluded as the source of semen in the Lowell case, in February 2003, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office located at the Ayer Police station a slide prepared from the rape kit of the Ayer rape victim. This slide was submitted for DNA testing and Maher was again excluded as the source of semen. Dennis Maher was exonerated in April 2003 after 19 years in prison. He was represented by NEIP attorneys and by the Innocence Project in New York.

Bruce Lisker Freed After 24 Years

August 11th, 2009

Bruce Lisker had his murder conviction overturned on Friday after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He is currently free on bail while the prosecution decides whether they wish to appeal. Lisker was 17 years old when his mother was murdered. Lisker saw his mother on the floor, broke into his parents’ home to help her, and called paramedics. At the time, he was living elsewhere and was battling a drug addiction. He was arrested the same afternoon. Lisker was convicted primarily on four pieces of evidence, including blood spatter on his clothes, a bloody foot print in his parents’ home, and a confession to a jailhouse informant. Evidentiary rulings later cast considerable doubt on the evidence that had been used against Lisker at trial, and the original prosecutor admitted that he now had “reasonable doubt”. At the time of the murder, the police failed to follow a lead on another suspect, who had been to Lisker’s mother’s home the day before and who had lied about his whereabouts at the time of the crime. That suspect later committed suicide.

Congratulation to Bruce Lisker and the California Innocence Project!

The Los Angeles Times: Judge overturns Bruce Lisker’s conviction in 1983 killing of his mother

New England Innocence Project Exoneree Dennis Maher Calls for Massachusetts

January 27th, 2010

Dennis Maher was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for committing three rapes in 1983. In 2003, after spending 19 years behind bars, Dennis was freed because DNA tests proved that he was innocent of the crimes. In a recent editorial in The Patriot Ledger, Maher emphasizes the importance of access to DNA testing for inmates with claims of actual innocence. In Maher’s case, it took an extra six years to get the DNA tested because Massachusetts is one of only three states that lack a post-conviction DNA access law. Maher says, “That needs to change this year.”

Maher also refers to a report released by the Boston Bar Association Task Force to Prevent Wrongful Convictions in December 2009, which is entitled “Getting it Right: Improving the Accuracy and Reliability of the Criminal Justice System in Massachusetts.” The Task Force was composed of police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and former judges, including four New England Innocence Project board members. Along with a variety of other recommendations for increasing the accuracy and reliability of the results the criminal justice system produces in Massachusetts, the Task Force calls for the creation of a statute providing defendants with claims of factual innocence with post-conviction access to and testing of forensic evidence and biological material (and for preservation of biological material).

Boston Bar task force report:
Read the report.

Bermudez Exoneration Brings Hope for the Factually Innocent

November 24th, 2009

Justice John Cataldo of the New York State Supreme Court recognized a judicial basis for claims of actual innocence this month when he overturned Fernando Bermudez’ conviction. The decision, rendered on November 12, moves the state of New York closer to recognizing actual innocence as grounds for appeal. Justice Cataldo wrote, “I find the due process clause of our state Constitution requires a procedural mechanism be provided for an incarcerated defendant to bring a post-conviction motion upon a claim of actual innocence.”

Bermudez was convicted in 1992 of fatally shooting a sixteen-year-old in Greenwich Village. Five witnesses spoke against him at trial. No physical evidence tied him to the crime. In 1993, all five witnesses recanted their testimony, claiming that they were manipulated by prosecutors and police. They have stuck to their recantation ever since, and Bermudez has been petitioning to have the state court re-evaluate the evidence in his case since that time, but to no avail. The justice system seems to view recantations as inherently untrustworthy. A 1995 judge called the five who recanted in Bermudez’ case simply too many to believe. Bermudez has stuck to his original story all along– he did not know the victim, he had no motive to kill him, and he was elsewhere with friends at the time of the murder. Two friends spoke to his alibi, and have consistently maintained their testimony.

Legislation has also recently been brought in the state of New York that would amend the criminal procedure law to include a definition of actual innocence and the grounds by which a judge could vacate a sentence due to actual innocence.

The New York Times, November 22, 2009: Hope for the Wrongfully Convicted
The New York Times, April 13, 2007: Accusers Recant, but Hopes Still Fade in Sing Sing

Dog "Scent Line Ups" Unreliable and Misused

November 4th, 2009

The New York Times today reported on the phenomenon of dog “scent line ups”, in which a dog is exposed to a scent from a crime scene and then walked past vials containing swabbed samples from suspects and non-suspects. The dog indicates to the handler that it has reached a match, by stiffening its back or barking. Using dogs to follow scents has long been a practice of law enforcement officials, and is still employed by the FBI. But even the FBI agrees that dog scent line ups should not be used as the primary piece of evidence against a suspect. Dogs are liable to suggestion by their handlers, smells are often easily mixed and difficult to distinguish, and handlers may misinterpret their dog’s signals. Many states do not accept scent line ups as evidence, but several do, including Texas, Florida, New York and Alaska.

New York Times: Read the article.

Northwestern Law Launches Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth

October 7th, 2009

Northwestern University School of Law has launched a new joint project between the Center for Wrongful Convictions and the Children and Family Justice Center. The Center for Wrongful Conviction of Youth (CWCY) will address the specific concern of exonerating and advocating for children and adolescents who are wrongfully convicted. Children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to police coercion and false confession. A Miranda warning is often not enough for a child or adolescent to adequately understand the ramifications of their words and actions while in police custody.

Media pages for CWCY:

CWCY.org

Facebook

Co-Founder Steve Drizin’s article on The Huffington Post

Kenneth Ireland Exonerated of 1986 Rape and Murder

August 11th, 2009

Kenneth Ireland of Connecticut was released last week after a judge granted him a new trial. The prosecutor is expected not to retry the case. Ireland was 20 years old when he was convicted of the rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey, a mother of four. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. At his original trial, witnesses testified that Ireland confessed to them. Ireland contended that those witnesses lied for a large monetary reward. Ireland was released by means of DNA evidence which proved his innocence, obtained with the help of the Connecticut Innocence Project.

Congratulation to Kenneth Ireland and his family, and to the Connecticut Innocence Project!

The Boston Globe: DNA clears Conn. man of killing after 20 years

DNA Database Solves Cold Cases

August 3rd, 2009

The state of Georgia recently reported that more than 1,500 cases have been solved because of the Georgia DNA database. Georgia began testing DNA in 1991 and began adding samples to the FBI database in 1998. In 2000, the Georgia legislature passed a law requiring that DNA samples be taken from all convicted felons. Previously, samples had only been taken from convicted sex offenders. In the first year after the database was expanded, 70 cases were solved. DNA databases also aid those claiming factual innocence, as actual perpetrators may already be in the database.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Georgia DNA solves 1,500 cases

Texas Reform Creates Office for Capital Appeals

July 29th, 2009

A new law in Texas will create a state office to handle the appeals of death row inmates. The office was created in response to a series of well publicized scandals which brought international attention to the subpar representation of capital offense appeals. Texas, unlike other states with capital punishment, had not used the public defender’s office to handle the habeus corpus writs for their capital offenders, but instead had hired outside attorneys who often missed deadlines or wrote “skeletal writs”. The new office will have a budget of a million dollars and a staff of nine, but its services will not be available to those capital inmates who have already used up their appeals. The Office of Capital Writs is expected to handle approximately ten appeals a year.

The Houston Chronicle: State to handle capital appeals

Estate of Kenneth Waters Settles For 3.4 Million

July 15th, 2009

The estate of the late Kenneth Waters, who was exonerated in 2001 after spending 18 years in prison, has settled their case against the town of Ayer for a total of 3.4 million dollars. The estate, headed by Waters’ sister, Betty Ann Waters, is still in negotiations with one final insurer. Kenneth Waters was convicted in 1983 of first degree murder and armed robbery. He remained wrongfully incarcerated until his sister Betty Ann Waters became a lawyer and fought to free her brother by means of DNA testing. The civil rights suit against the town of Ayer included the charges that police officers coerced false testimony to convict Waters and withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense. Waters died just nine months after his exoneration, and Betty Ann Waters has worked on his behalf for compensation for his time in prison. Waters was represented by the New York Innocence Project and by New England Innocence Project attorneys when his conviction was overturned.

The Boston Globe: Ayer to pay $3.4m for unjust conviction

NEIP Files Supporting Brief in RI Murder Appeal Case

July 8th, 2009

Stacey Barros was convicted in 2008 of murder, and is currently serving two life terms plus ten years. Barros was convicted of killing Deivy Felipe in 2005, in what appears to have been a drug deal gone wrong. Now the New England Innocence Project has filed a supporting friend-of-the-court brief in Barros‘ appeals case. Among the issues raised in the brief is the question of why the police recorded only twelve minutes of a four hour interrogation of Barros. Barros confessed to the crime in that recording, but later claimed he was coerced into that confession. In his confession, Barros got facts of the case wrong, including the number of shell casings and the angle at which Felipe was shot. There is no physical evidence linking Barros to the murder. NEIP filed their brief in part to pressure the Rhode Island legislature to pass a law mandating recording of all police interrogations. Similar laws have been proposed in recent years but have failed to pass.

Troy Davis’ Petition Will Be Heard Next Session

July, 6th 2009

Troy Davis’ habeus corpus petition was not heard by the Supreme Court last week when they ended their session, and will be heard when the Court resumes in the fall. Davis is on death row for murder, even though evidence has surfaced since his conviction which raises considerable doubt as to his guilt. The Court’s decision to delay hearing his petition means Davis receives a stay on his execution through the summer, a small victory for his supporters.

Forensic Experts Must Testify To Results

June 29th, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week in the case of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts that forensic reports qualify as “testimony”, and therefore that forensic experts must be made available for cross-examination. Melendez-Diaz argued that the expert who wrote the report in his case, identifying a substance found on the defendant as cocaine, should be made available for cross-examination so that testing procedures and the custodial history of the evidence could be presented to the jury. This decision comes just days after the Supreme Court decided Osborne v. Alaska, and the disparate rulings mean that defendants will have more tools to fight charges in court, but no new aid in appealing their convictions.

The New York Times: Justices Rule Lab Analysts Must Testify on Results

MA Appeals Court Rules On Remuneration Case

June 29th, 2009

A Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled last week that Humberto Guzman could be eligible for as much as $500,000 after he spent four years in prison for drug charges. At issue before the court was whether the Massachusetts Erroneous Convictions Law of 2004 could benefit those who had not been conclusively exonerated. Guzman’s conviction was vacated in 1994 on the basis of inadequate counsel, and after two Boston police detectives who originally testified against him were indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars during drug raids. The officers were convicted and served three years in prison. In 2006, Guzman applied for remuneration but was denied because the court said he had not actually been found innocent and other evidence implicated him in the crime. The Appeals Court decided that the law does not limit eligibility for remuneration “to those individuals exonerated as a result of compelling or overwhelming exculpatory evidence.”

Read more from The Boston Globe: $500,000 could be awarded in overturned drug case

Troy Davis Case May Be Decided Today

June 19th, 2009

Updates will be forthcoming if Troy Davis’ case is decided by the U.S. Supreme Court today, as is expected. Davis was convicted in the murder of a Georgia police officer in 1991 and is being held on death row. 7 of 9 State witnesses have recanted their testimony and another man has been named as the perpetrator. Davis is seeking an evidentiary hearing, which could free him after more than 18 years in prison.

Davis’ petition is on SCOTUSBlog here: Petition for certiorari

New Findings May Exonerate Many in Shaken Baby Cases

June 24th, 2009

A recent article by Maurice Possley brings to light new evidence about shaken baby-related murder convictions. Over the last thirty years, thousands of parents and caretakers have been charged after the death of a child in his or her care was attributed to Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). A diagnosis of SBS is based on a triad of evidence: retinal hemorhage, bleeding in the brain, and brain swelling. Individuals are generally only charged after the diagnosis of SBS is made. However, new scientific findings show that SBS may not always be a result of violent shaking, but that a short fall may also produce the same symptoms.

Audrey Edmunds of Wisconsin, a day care provider, was charged in 1995 with murder, after a 7-month old in her care died, and prosecuters alleged that she had shaken the baby to death. Last year, with the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, Edmunds was granted a new trial and released. One of the experts who had testified at her trial came forward to say that he was no longer sure Edmunds had harmed the child, and that the damage could have taken place hours earlier than originally believed. An article in the Washington University Law Review by Deborah Tuerkheimer to be published in September seeks to examine recent research into SBS which could free thousands of people who were imprisoned with the help of faulty science.

The case of Louise Woodward, the 19 year old au pair who was charged with second degree manslaughter after she was accused of shaking to death the child in her care, illustrates the point. Experts for the prosecution alleged that the child was shaken violently and his head was hit against a hard surface. Experts for the defense testified that the boy’s injuries could have been sustained days earlier. The most recent scientific findings show that there is no certainty in the medical community that SBS is caused by violent trauma. Indeed, symptoms from the triad of SBS symptoms may be found in children before they are taken home from the hospital for the first time.

In light of the most recent medical research, many of those convicted in SBS cases could receive new trials, and it seems that the burden of proof may be moving in their favor.

Maurice Possley’s article on thecrimereport.org: Mistaken diagnoses of Shaken Baby Syndrome may have sent thousands of innocent people to prison, according to a new study

Washington University Law Review abstract: The Next Innocence Project: Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Criminal Courts

Record Sum Awarded to Chicago Exoneree

June 23rd, 2009

Juan Johnson, a former member of the Chicago gang the Spanish Cobras, was awarded 21 million dollars yesterday by a federal jury, after spending 11 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The court found that Johnson was framed by the arresting officer, Reynaldo Guevara, and that witnesses were coerced into testifying against Johnson at trial. The city of Chicago will pay remuneration. Despite the hardship that Johnson endured while in prison, he says that he only seeks an apology from the arresting officer. None has been forthcoming, so Guevara must pay 15 thousand dollars in punitive damages. No charges have been brought against the arresting officer at this time.

Chicago Tribune: Record verdict: Former gang member awarded $21 million for wrongful conviction