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Truth in Justice
Newsletter - June - July, 2005
RECENT CASES
In October,
2004, Kevin Fox of Wilmington, Illinos was arrested following a 14-hour
interrogation in which investigators said he confessed to molesting and
murdering his 3-year-old daughter Riley in June of the same year.
The prosecutor, just days away from a hotly contested re-election bid
that he ended up losing, vowed to seek the death penalty. A
sheriff's officer called the FBI Lab at Quantico, Virginia in November
and told them to stop working on DNA evidence sent there for
analysis. Kevin's attorney convinced the new prosecutor to send
the evidence to a private lab for testing, and the DNA test results
"absolutely" exclude Kevin. Charges that could have led to his
execution have been dropped. Riley's killer remains free.
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Until
May 19, 2005, Jack Chase was serving a sentence of 14 to 42 years for
arson of his residence in Hampton, New York in 1993. His state
habeas
was granted by Judge John Hall, and Jack is back with his family.
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INNOCENT IMPRISONED
In 1997, Beth LaBatte was convicted of
robbing and killing two elderly women in 1991 in Kewaunee County,
Wisconsin. Her conviction was based on an alleged "confession",
in which police investigators claimed she conceded that an alter
personality, "Bad Beth", may have committed the crimes, and the
testimony of two acquaintances who said she stole from them in
unrelated incidents offered to show an alleged "M.O.". Now tests
show the DNA found on evidence is not LaBatte's, but belongs to someone
else who has not been identified. Of course, the DA says she
continues to believe in Beth's guilt.
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The evidence
seemed overwhelming more than 20 years ago when Bruce was convicted of
killing his mother for grocery money. But did sloppy forensics, a
dishonest detective and a jailhouse snitch account for his conviction,
instead of actual guilt? Even the man who prosecuted Lisker has
come to doubt Bruce's guilt.
Maybe.
Nathaniel Harvey and his lawyer are fighting to
clear Nathaniel as his case winds its way through the post-conviction
process. Prosecutors have been relying on a confession (which was
tossed out of court and never used) to keep Harvey from getting new DNA
testing and so far, the courts have been backing up the
prosecution.
The confession was not recorded or put in writing. In addition to
a
false or fabricated confession, the case involves prosecutorial
misconduct, junk science, and many other sources of error common to
false
confessions.
Microscopic
comparison of carpet fibers -- utterly junk science -- convicted Wayne
Williams of two of the Atlanta child murders that terrorized the city
in 1981, and police blamed Williams for 27 other uncharged
killings. The
newly ensconced Dekalb County police chief who was never convinced of
Wayne Williams' guilt has reopened five of the 1981 "Atlanta Child
Murder" cases. Families of many of the murdered children have
been
unconvinced all these years, too. Williams says he is imprisoned with at
least four relatives of his alleged victims, and that even they believe
in his innocence.
FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF
CHILD ABUSE
This
is a very disturbing case that may give ammunition to those
who fear that juvenile courts, where there is less
advocacy, less investigation, less use of DNA testing, and great
pressure
to plea bargain, may be a breeding ground for wrongful convictions,
particularly false confessions and false guilty pleas.
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WRONGFULLY CONVICTED COPS
John Maloney Update
In an unprecedented move, State Supreme
Court asks for further argument on whether Maloney's conviction should
be reversed "in the interest of justice".
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POLICE/PROSECUTOR/JUDICIAL
MISCONDUCT
California: Kern
County DA Ed
Jagels put two dozen innocent people behind bars on charges that they
molested their own kids -- while ignoring evidence that his friends
were throwing orgies with teenage boys. So why is one of America's most
reckless prosecutors still in power? Mean Justice's
Dirty Secrets
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Virginia: Cisco
A. Olavarria was almost 1,000 miles away when 14-year-old LaBrian
Harris was shot dead in South Richmond in the fall of 2004. Eleven
days
after the Oct. 16 shooting, Richmond police publicly named Olavarria,
then 19, as a suspected accomplice in the killing and distributed his
driver's license photo to the news media. Early
the
next month, a special grand jury began meeting over an intensive
investigation by Virginia State Police into the killing of Olavarria's
older brother, Santanna, by two Richmond police officers the preceding
spring. It's
Time to Set the Record Straight
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JUNK SCIENCE
Justice Under
the Microscope DNA is only as
reliable as the humans testing it. Virginia's once highly touted crime
lab has starkly demonstrated this in an error-ridden death-row case
that was propped up repeatedly by botched DNA studies from the state's
supposed experts.
CSI Effect?
The
argument that "C.S.I." and similar shows are actually raising the
number of acquittals is a staggering claim, and the remarkable thing is
that, speaking forensically, there is not a shred of evidence to back
it up. There is a robust field of research on jury decision-making but
no study finding any "C.S.I. effect."
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RECOMMENDED READING
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Who Killed Sarah?
by Sheila Berry and Doug Berry
Sarah Gonstead
disappeared in the early morning hours of March 15, 1994
in Madison, Wisconsin, after she and Penny Brummer had been out
drinking together. The path she took led her directly to outlaw
bikers, engaged in a turf war and recruiting new members. But
when Sarah's body was found 40 days later, Brummer was the only
suspect. Witnesses with valuable information were criticized,
even humiliated. Leads that went
anywhere else were ignored, as were the classic signs of
innocence. No
physical evidence tied Brummer to the crime; the murder weapon was
never found. Brummer had an alibi -- she was at home 40 miles
away when Sarah was killed. She had no criminal record and no
history of violence. It was enough for the jury to convict
Brummer and send her to prison for the rest of her life. But did
she do it? Or is Penny Brummer a victim of the legal system, just as
Sarah Gonstead was a victim of a cold killer?
Click HERE for more
information |
Courtroom
302: A year Behind the Scenes
in an American Criminal Courthouse
by Steve Bogira
Chicago-based journalist Bogira's first book is an outstanding journey
inside the American criminal justice system that nicely complements
last year's Blue Blood, Edward Conlon's inside look at the life
of a big-city cop. Like that instant classic, this book—centered on the
Cook County Criminal Courthouse, "the biggest and busiest felony
courthouse in the nation"—punctures the popular myths engendered by TV
shows like Law and Order to provide a balanced view of the
realities of the day-to-day, assembly-line grind that marks so much of
the process from arrest to final disposition. The author's ability to
gain the trust of so many different participants in the grim
drama—judges, public defenders, prosecutors, court officers, prison
guards and many defendants—is remarkable, and he often comes close to
presenting a more complete picture of the truth of a particular crime
than emerge in court in the or in the few cases that actually go to
trial. Despite this access, Bogira does not gild the people he
describes; even Judge Daniel Locallo, the book's central figure—whose
courtroom witnesses racial violence, pathetic thievery, the abused and
the mentally incompetent, and who, on balance emerges positively—is
portrayed warts and all. The brilliance of Bogira's insights will lead
many to hope that he will follow this debut with proposals to cure the
many ills he has diagnosed. - Publishers
Weekly
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Constitutional
Chaos:
What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws
by Andrew P. Napolitano
In this alarming book, Judge Napolitano makes the
solid
case that there
is a pernicious and ever-expanding pattern of government abuse in
America's criminal justice system, leading him to establish his general
creed: "The government is not your friend." As an attorney, a law
professor, a commentator, a judge, and now a successful television
personality, Judge Napolitano has studied the system inside and out,
and his unique voice has resonance and relevance. Whether in the big,
headliner criminal cases or in the thousands of small-town trials no
one ever hears about (but should), the police, the prosecutors, the
politicians, the judges, and the machinery of government are inexorably
grinding away at the individual liberties guaranteed to all Americans
by the Constitution. But in this sensational new book, Napolitano sets
the record straight, speaking frankly from his own experiences and
careful, thorough investigation and revealing how government agencies
will often arrest without warrant, spy without legal authority,
imprison without charge, and kill without cause.
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INNOCENCE PROJECTS
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Innocence
Projects provide representation
and/or investigative assistance to prison inmates who claim to be
innocent
of the crimes for which they were convicted. There is now at least one
innocence project serving each state. Most of these
innocence projects are new and overwhelmed
with applications, so waiting time between application and acceptance
is long. Wrongfully convicted
persons should not be dissuaded from applying to Innocence Projects
because
of this, but should have realistic expectations regarding acceptance
and
time lags. Check the list for the innocence project in your area;
we update it regularly.
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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 1,000 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
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