Sum it Up! #46 is a life-saver today because I am swamped. My editorial calendar was heavily neglected this week. All kinds of post ideas popped up that were not planned. Hehe, back to blogging free style for me! Great news from Jared Bradley, the Colorado Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is the latest to join […]
Wrongful Convictions
False Confessions: why & how?
False Confessions: why & how? This month two extremely important cases are under review. In the USA, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard the State’s appeal in the case of Richard Lapointe. The state is appealing the decision to grant Lapointe a new trial. False confessions (four) and forensic arson detection are key in this […]
Recap #CrimeChat Sept 16, 2013
Recap #CrimeChat Sept 16, 2013. Today’s #CrimeChat was about real CSI. Retrieving DNA from certain surfaces can be done by swabbing and taping but those methods may not work 100% on porous surfaces, brick, concrete or, wet surfaces. The M-Vac is a wet-vacuum sampling system. Jared Bradley, tweeting as mvacsys, said: “think of a medical […]
Recap #crimechat April 4, 2013
Recap #crimechat April 4, 2013: Today we spoke about wrongful convictions with Nancy Petro. A short introduction to wrongful convictions started this crimechat. How do we find out about Wrongful Convictions in general? A: We discover that the victim is alive & well. Examples: India 2003, the Reena Devi case. Reena disappeared, her mother ID-ed her […]
Lapointe: DNA does not match
Who left his DNA behind: Richard A. Lapointe or Frederick Rodney Merrill? We have new developments that could shed a light on the case of Bernice Martin and could once and for all clear up who left his DNA. We already know it wasn’t Lapointe. The Connecticut State Board of Pardons and Paroles decided last week to grant […]
Key evidence lost in Hank Skinner case
Key evidence is lost in the case of Hank Skinner so despite the fact that the state of Texas now backs further DNA testing, we still will not get all the answers we need. There are pictures of the jackets (see here) but the big blood- and sweat-stained tan jacket with snap buttons down the front found near […]
Los Tocayos Carlos
Los Tocayos Carlos … the namesake Carlos … The Guardian has an excellent article about a Texas capital punishment case involving a wrongful conviction, switched identities, an unsolved murder, evidence not tested for DNA, sloppy police procedures and an execution. “Carlos DeLuna was arrested, aged 20, on 4 February 1983 for the brutal murder of […]
The Justice Gap on Wrongful Convictions
Kim Evans wrote an excellent summary for the Justice Gap about the Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association (CALA) conference on Wrongful Convictions from last week. I quote: “At our Justice Gap debate, Francis FitzGibbon QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, kicked off proceedings by asking why should anyone care about the wrongly convicted.” Do we still care or do we […]
Zeigler: evil killer or parent-to-be?
Zeigler: evil killer or parent-to-be? Something has been bothering me immensely in the Zeigler case. I know, many things bother me in this case! But this is something I have not blogged about before. It is about the life term insurance policies and Zeigler’s bank accounts. It has been stated over and over again that […]
Zeigler, Part XX: The False Arrest Report
Zeigler, Part XX: The False Arrest Report is based on the documents filed in Mr. Zeigler case as per the previous post. The documents were sent to me by Mr. Zeigler’s lawyers and I thank them for that. On Dec 29, 1975, Detective Frye from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wrote in his arrest report: […]