From KFDR: “China’s top court overturned Nie Shubin’s conviction Friday, in a landmark case that exposed deep flaws in China’s criminal justice system.” Nie Shubin was executed by firing squad in 1995 without notifying his parents. He was just 20 years old and had been detained for seven months. Nie Shubin was found guilty of the 1994 […]
The Cold Case of Thomas Chan
This year is the 15th anniversary of Thomas Chan’s murder. There is hardly anything online about this case that why we made it the Case of the Month for December 2016. On December 14, 2001 Thomas Chan (July 11, 1965 – Dec 14, 2001) was killed. Thomas was a computer expert engaged to be married. He was […]
ABA Top 100 Blawgs 2016
Editors of the ABA Journal announced today they have again selected Defrosting Cold Cases as one of the top 100 best blogs for a legal audience. “For 10 years, the Blawg 100 has helped shine a light on the stunning breadth of legal topics and voices to found in the legal blogosphere,” Acting Editor-Publisher Molly […]
Peter Morrone, the Pope who quit
Peter Morrone (1215 – 1296), the Pope who quit, is better known as Pope Celestine V. The book by Jon Sweeney presents us with three powerful men. All skilled and stubborn. We discover how Peter Morrone’s life became entangled with Charles II of Anjou, the King of Naples. The other of course, was Cardinal Benedict […]
The blood on my hands by Shannon O’Leary
“I used pseudonyms in the book in order to protect my family. He was never charged despite the police knowing about his activity. The police investigations were case files and are not available to the public. People outside Australia would not be aware that many of the missing person files in NSW in the 1960s […]
Adam Gray denied new trial
From the Chicago Tribune: “Judge Angela Petrone remained unconvinced that lawyers for Adam Gray had produced enough evidence for a jury to acquit him at a new trial.” Adam Gray’s file was examined by arson experts John Lentini and Gerald Hurst. “At trial, prosecutors focused on two elements — the evidence that the fire had […]
Remembering Larry Anstett
Imagine it is 1974. A young Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper delivery boy is on his rounds through the neighborhoods of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His name is Larry Anstett and he is in grade nine at Wilbur Wright Junior High School. He is 15 years old, and far too young to die. But he did on November 5th. […]
What happened to Amos Mortier?
“How thoroughly did Fitchburg police investigate an allegation that a Madison man confessed to stabbing Amos Mortier and feeding his body to pigs?” That’s quite an opening for a newspaper article. Your thoughts immediately bring up images of a conspiracy, people disappearing, smaller fish taking the heat for the impossible to catch bigger fish, possible […]
Brittney Nicole Wood
If you only Google the name “Brittney Nicole Wood” you will find a story that is too hard to believe. It involves multiple family members, some mature adults and some juveniles, engaged in consensual and non-consensual group sex with or without drugs involved. It involves rape, sodomy, and other forms of sexually deprived behaviour that […]
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read
“A Field of Darkness” by Cornelia Read is a book review by guest blogger Christa Miller. ** It is 2006: the year of the Turin Winter Olympics, creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in Great Britain, beginning of the construction of the Freedom Tower in New York City, and a devastating terrorist attack in […]