Political meddling and apathy in Willingham case has me despondent. A Texas state board said last Friday that arson investigators in the Willingham case used flawed science but were not negligent in an investigation that led to a controversial 2004 execution. The panel also said that investigators did not commit misconduct. Cameron Todd Willingham was […]
Faulty Evidence
Lapointe hearing July 6, 2010
During direct examination on Tuesday, Lapointe’s attorney, Paul Casteleiro, suggested that in his quest for a confession, Detective Morrissey overlooked inconsistencies in Richard’s admission to Morrissey and failed to ask important questions. In his confession, Richard said he had strangled 88-year-old Bernice Martin with his hands, but the medical examiner determined she had been strangled […]
Zeigler, Part XI
Zeigler, Part XI: On Juror Intimidation and Judicial Override You can debate all you want but I have made up my mind; Zeigler is guilty! That was what jury foreman Charles Ashley announced right after he had been elected foreman. According to other jurors, he had made up his mind about two weeks prior … […]
Zeigler, Part IX
Zeigler, Part IX: Let’s talk blood. Pictured here on the website you see the t-shirt Tommy wore underneath a red dress shirt, the night he was shot and, was supposed to die. On the front of the t-shirt you see a big blood stain underneath the left armpit, right? And on the back of the […]
A Chinese Wrongful Conviction
Reuters reports about a Chinese case where a man who was supposedly hacked to death in a fight has reappeared in his hometown after 10 years, raising questions about police torture to extract a confession from the alleged killer. Zhao Zuohai, the supposed killer, was acquitted of the crime and released by a Henan court May 8, […]
Lapointe hearing May 4, 2010
Richard Lapointe could not have killed Bernice Martin. “None of the confessions fit the crime,” Andy Lefebvre, a retired Bloomfield police officer, told Rick Green. He has been following the case and doing his own detective work for years, after his parish priest asked him to look into it. “He should have been examined prior to […]
Lapointe hearing May 3, 2010
Superior Court Judge John J. Nazzaro began hearing evidence on Monday. The first witness was Michael Ludlow, a retired Manchester police detective who led the investigation into the killing of Bernice Martin. Martin, the grandmother of Lapointe’s wife, was raped and strangled in her apartment on North Main Street in Manchester the evening of March […]
A new trial for Richard Lapointe
Rick Green had an interview today with Richard Lapointe. On Monday, a Superior Court judge in Rockville — in response to a ruling in his favor from the state Appellate Court — will take yet another look at this endlessly appealed saga of what is either a wrongful conviction or a very crafty mentally disabled […]
Zeigler, Part VII: The Thompson Report
Vicki Harley Holland has a website about Tommy Zeigler. It is called “Prayers for Tommy.” She commented on my previous posting “This post will be written by you.” In it, she refers to “Fatal Flaw” by Phillip Finch, the book I also recommend. In the middle of her website, near the top, you see “Letters […]
Gummy Fingers, on sale now!
LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Fingerprint identification, which was supposed to be the last barrier to stop forgery in NADRA (National Database & Registration Authority) and the Passport Department, is now being rendered useless by the use of ‘gummy fingers’ (artificial fingerprints) with the cooperation of officials. People claim that by paying Rs 300,000 to Rs 500,000, anyone could get […]