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Truth in Justice
Newsletter - January, 2005
Back in
1988, Texas Department of Public Safety serologist Glen Adams testified
that Brandon Moon was among "15% of the population" who could have
contributed semen in a 1987 rape. Relying on that overstated
testimony, an El
Paso jury convicted Moon and he was sentenced to 75 years in
prison.
It was another win for junk science. In 2004, DNA cleared Brandon.
The Ohio Parole Board has decided Gary Reece, a Cleveland-area man, has spent the last 25 years behind bars for a crime he may not have committed and voted unanimously for his release. His conviction was based entirely on the uncorroborated testimony of alleged victim Kimberly Croft. Reporters and others who have been following the case have noticed that she has made very strange statements in public, to the point of suggesting a lack of sanity. For example, on one television news program, she claimed that Gary Reece actually killed her during the attack in question, but that 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' brought her back to life.
In the 1989 nationally syndicated television program on the case, A Matter of Life and Death, television journalist Ike Pappas noted: ``In 1975, Tommy Zeigler was attempting to clean up corruption right in his hometown of Winter Garden, Florida. He was helpful in shutting down the old Edgewater Hotel, a center of prostitution and drug dealing. But he was also trying to gather information on other illegal activities such as gun running and, most importantly, loan sharking. The loan sharks made a fortune letting [black] migrant workers buy groceries on credit at an interest rate of 520 percent per year. And Tommy Zeigler alleges that certain members of the Winter Garden police force were in on the action.'' On Christmas Eve that year, there was a multiple murder at the Zeigler family furniture store. Zeigler was charged with the murders. Maurice Paul, who openly opposed Ziegler's efforts, was the trial judge who presided over Zeigler's fate. Paul overrode the jury's recommendation and sentenced Zeigler to death. Zeigler has maintained his innocence. Now DNA evidence offers Zeigler the hope of a very different future Christmas. UPDATE: Judge Grants Request for Hearing on New DNA Evidence in Elkins Case
Wisconsin: Everything was hunky-dory at the Department of Corrections when the TV show "Lie Detector" proposed filming a polygraph exam of prisoner Mark Price. But when Penny Brummer and Audrey Edmonds were added to the slate, Deputy Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch pulled the plug, claiming the show is "entertainment", not news. Why the 180 degree switch? Perhaps it's because Raemisch was Dane County Sheriff and at the helm of the Brummer and Edmonds investigations. Conflict of Interest Virginia: Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. of Albemarle County Circuit Court should be removed from office because of his vindictiveness and extremely serious questions about his truthfulness, the state's Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission has recommended. He Got Mad and Got Even
False Allegations of Child Abuse
Shaken Baby Syndrome
In the UK, a
review of nearly 300 cases in
which parents
were convicted of killing their young children has identified 28 where
there was "sufficient cause for concern to warrant further
consideration", the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has told
Parliament. A further 89
cases of "shaken baby syndrome"
will be reconsidered in the light of a judgment from the Court of
Appeal expected in 2005, Lord Goldsmith promised. Three pending prosecutions have already been
abandoned "on the grounds that it was not safe to proceed". SBS: Dubious Diagnosis INNOCENCE PROJECTS
LINKS The links pages at Truth in Justice are frequently updated. Be sure to check them for resources, "must" reading, websites of inmates with compelling innocence claims and more. Start at http://truthinjustice.org/links.htm SITE SEARCH ENGINE There are now over 900 pages at Truth in Justice. The site search engine on the main page can make it faster and easier to find what you seek. And remember, YOU can make a difference! Sheila and Doug Berry Back to Top |
