PODCAST: "From The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Trial by Water is an investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit? https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/i-want-to-believe-he-s-guilty-but-i-can-t-listen-to-the-trial-by-water-podcast-20240531-p5jia5.html ------------------------------------------ QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Greg Roberts, a co ..read more

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "After an emotional first day of evidence on Wednesday, Vennells largely maintained her composure as Beer questioned her over the decision not to launch a full forensic investigation into claims of unsafe convictions that had emerged in some media, including Computer Weekly. Vennells repeatedly told the inquiry that she could not recollect events, and denied any knowledge of a conversation recounted by the Post Office’s then general legal counsel, Susan Crichton, on the eve of a board meeting in July 2013. Crichton had told the inquiry she informed Vennells that she believ ..read more

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In the court order dismissing the charges against Jacobs, Turner wrote, "Her comments included her vituperative, sensational and inflammatory opinions of Mr. Jacobs’ character, his credibility, his reputation and his criminal record." Child abuse charges against the other defendant in the case were dropped earlier this year after a different judge ruled that Stanley's comments and actions violated her rights. Charges dismissed in killing of baby after district attorney does TV interview disparaging suspect The judge ruled District Attorney Linda Stanley's a ..read more

PASSAGE ONE  OF THE DAY: "A senior officer said the mother was detained on Saturday morning from the family home.  She was taken to the observation home, where her son was questioned by the investigation team in her presence. A senior officer who is part of the probe said, “The investigation team mainly asked him questions about his visits to bars and his locations before the accident, about him driving the car, about the accident and what happened at Sassoon Hospital.  The juvenile did not give very definitive answers. The mother was later taken to the crime branch o ..read more

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects (especially young suspects)  are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize tha ..read more

Listen now to the podcast. Click!!! ------------------------------------------------------- PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Hear heartbreaking first-person accounts of exonerees Zavion Johnson, who was wrongfully convicted of killing his 4-month old daughter and served 17 years in prison for a crime that should have been treated as a tragic loss of a baby; Angela Garcia, who was bullied into a false guilty plea of arson for a fire that killed her family; Guy Miles and Luis Vargas, who went to prison because eyewitnesses misidentified them; and Marilyn Mulero, who faced the d ..read more

—————————————— Two 'India Today' stories tell a fascinating story of  alleged corruption implicating  a prominent family and high level forensic  authorities.  ——————————————————  FIRST STORY:  India Today: May 24, 2024. The first, published on May 24, 2024,  sets  out the basic facts of  a motor vehicle  incident. On May 19, a 17-year-old teenage boy  was allegedly  driving a Porsch  that rammed into a bike, immediately killing two  people. The teen happens to be son of a prominent real estate developer. The Pune Police Co ..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 opposed to the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) emboldened by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning 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, but agree  totally with the sent ..read more

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“The case cries out for further investigation,” Mitchell, Peterson’s defense lawyer, told the judge during her arguments. “This is an entirely circumstantial case in which no murder weapon was found, no time or date was established, no cause or manner of death was established,” Mitchell said.  “DNA could have changed the outcome” of the trial, she said." STORY: "Scott Peterson strikes out as judge denies nearly all requests for new DNA testing," by Reporter Julia Prodi's Sulk, published by The Mercury News, onMay 29, 2024. Scott Peterson strikes ou ..read more

-------------------------------------------------------- PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY:  "It soon became clear that the heart of the state’s case was the bite mark. Ober’s star witness was Richard Souviron, a suave dentist famed for his role in securing a conviction against serial killer Ted Bundy. A “founding father” in the nascent field of forensic odontology, he’d testified in a handful of bite-mark cases by 1985 and would go on to testify in dozens more. In the DuBoise case, he explained, he’d tried examining the actual bite mark, but the formaldehyde it was preserved in had shrunk it. Inst ..read more