PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Kudos to the scientists around the world  who set aside the privacy of their laboratories  to plunge into the very public, often emotional, confrontational judicial process and defend both their science and people whose convictions, they believe, are seriously in doubt. Kathleen Folbigg, in Australia,  and Lucy Letby, in the U.K.  are cases in point; They remind me  that judicial processes developed centuries ago can prove utterly inadequate when it comes to adjudicating issues involving science.  They also remind me that Robert Roberson sits on ..read more

QUOTE  OF THE DAY:  "Mrinmoy Basak, a junior doctor at the Calcutta National Medical College and  Hospital, asked what happened to CBI’s claims of “destruction of evidence” and “larger conspiracy”. “We still do not know what is the motive behind the crime. The CBI had themselves pointed to a larger conspiracy. Who were the others involved in the larger conspiracy? These questions remain unanswered,” said Basak, who also alleged a “lack of transparency” in the CBI probe." ------------------------------------------------------- STORY: "Questions and gaps remain, say junio ..read more

BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog:  "Schertzer’s nephew was pulling out of licensed recreation facility The Boulevard Club at 11:20 a.m. when he crashed into a light standard on the north side of Lake Shore Boulevard West. Surveillance video shows he’d been waved through to turn left by a private security guard — directing traffic because a marathon was on that day — but had to accelerate to avoid a collision with another car, before losing control of his white pick-up truck. It’s undisputed that Schertzer, who was then in charge of the west-end 11 divisi ..read more

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "It may not be  something that can be tested in a laboratory, like DNA, but the taint of  racism and its ugly consequences (including death) as this monumental case demonstrates, can be recognized and expunged in the courtroom. I learned this after being asked, because of my work on the Charles Smith cases,  to provide some assistance to Rodrick's Crawford, a young Black  man convicted, in Louisiana,    of murdering his young son Rodericus and sentenced to death.  Check out this passage from a  previous post by myself and Marlene Bell ..read more

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "More than five years ago, William Woods stood in another courtroom. He was the defendant, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not believe he was who he said he was. Prosecutors believed he was Mr. Keirans. “There is an issue I need to raise with the court,” a California prosecutor said in 2019, according to a transcript. “As the court knows, this is an identity theft case. We filed it under Matthew Keirans because the named victim in this case is William Woods.” “That’s me,” Mr. Woods called out. “And I understand he’s insisting he’s ..read more

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "I do hope that a full transcript of the whole report will soon become readily available. Although Dr Lee uses medical and scientific terms, he also uses clear, hard, professional English. Any lay person can easily grasp the points he is making. In all the cases so far revealed, he offered a complete explanation for the problems the babies underwent, and for the tragic outcomes of the treatment. Needles were inserted where they should not have been inserted. Antibiotics were not given or were given far too late. Infections were not spotted. Babies were said to be ..read more

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  In recent years, I have taken on the  theme of 'criminalizing reproduction' - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with  flawed science in its myriad forms  - as I am utterly appalled by  the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) emboldened by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning and conducting surveillance on women and their physicians and others who help them secure a safe abortion,  on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). I can’t remember the source ..read more

BACKGROUND:  Since the year 2000 Dr. Robert Moles  and  Prof Bibi Sangha,  both adjunct associate professors at Flinders University in the College of Law, have continued to put pressure on the government of South Australia to own up to its wrongdoing after discovering that Dr Manock, who had been employed as the Chief Forensic Pathologist in South Australia between 1968 and 1995, was not actually qualified for the job. While  in that position he completed 10,000 autopsies and helped to secure over 400 wrongful convictions. Robert and Bibi have uncovered a s ..read more

PASSAGE OF THE DAY:  "Johnson stated that Jasmine had “fallen from a high chair” but prosecutors convinced a jury that “the baby was killed by deliberate abuse resulting in shaken baby syndrome (SBS),” reported The Times, adding in April 2020, 21 years into Johnson’s life sentence, she was granted clemency after pediatric pathologists dismantled the evidence that resulted in her conviction. ---------------------------------------------------------------- STORY: A man may die for non-existant crime?,  by Political Science Major Ellie Reddington, published by The Davis Vanguard, on Fe ..read more

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“I wanted to make sure the police understood the latest technologies that are available today for good DNA testing and research,” he told People magazine. “I guess the takeaway for me was that the police finally have competent leadership in place, and they haven’t had that, in my judgement, for 10, 8, or 28 years. A big improvement in leadership. And that’s encouraging, and that’s really step one, because nothing was gonna happen until that changed. I think they’re committed.” ------------------------------------------------------------------- PASSAGE OF THE DA ..read more