The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that defendants have the Constitutional right to examine witnesses from forensic labs that provide evidence in their criminal cases.  The cases below underscore how important that ruling was for justice.

CLG News
December 18, 2009

Inquiry Condemns Oversight at State Police Crime Lab -- Analyst, undetected for 15 years, falsified test results and compromised nearly one-third of his 322 cases

18 Dec 2009 -  NYTimes.com - The New York State Police’s supervision of a crime laboratory was so poor that it overlooked evidence of pervasively shoddy forensics work, allowing an analyst to go undetected for 15 years as he falsified test results and compromised nearly one-third of his 322 cases, an investigation by the state’s inspector general has found. The analyst’s training was so substandard that at one point last year, investigators discovered he did not know how to operate a microscope essential to performing his job, a report released Thursday by the inspector general said. -- Access the entire article at this link:  Report Condemns Police Lab Oversight

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/nyregion/18statepolice.html

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Innocence Project – Innocence Blog
Posted:  December 16, 2009

Forensics in the Gates Case

Donald Eugene Gates was freed in Arizona after serving nearly three decades behind bars for a Washington, D.C., crime he didn’t commit. An examination of the forensics behind his wrongful conviction makes a strong case for federal forensic reform to prevent injustices like this in the future.

FBI forensic analyst Michael Malone testified at Gates’ trial in 1982 that hairs found at the scene of the 1981 rape and murder were “microscopically indistinguishable” from Gates’ hairs.  His statements vastly overstated the possible conclusions that could be drawn from a hair comparison. Unlike some other forensic disciplines (DNA testing, blood type testing), hair comparison analysis can only reveal potential similarities between specimens, not the statistical likelihood that two specimens might share common characteristics.

Although Malone’s forensic conclusions have been challenged in other cases and a 1997 Justice Department review discredited his work, no formal review of his convictions has ever been conducted. The Judge who presided over the Gates case recently ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office to conduct such a review.  See more at this link:  D.C. Case Underscores the Need for Forensic Reform  http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/2298.php 

*****************************************

MARY’S COMMENTARY

Scientific testimony can be faulty, unlike one might expect from watching television shows.  Most often, mistakes happen because of poor equipment or human error.  Occasionally medical examiners actually conspire with district attorneys or police to deliberately introduce false testimony at trials.  Invalid scientific evidence has caused some people to be wrongly convicted or sentenced to death like Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas in 2004 for his children’s arson murders when there was actually no proof of arson.  The scientific methodology that was initially used in the fire investigation at Willingham’s home and presented to his jury was faulty.  See the article at this link: Cameron Willingham’s Wrongful Execution – and Others http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/cameron-todd-willinghams-wrongful.html

Another notable case is Philip Workman’s murder conviction in Tennessee. The former chief medical examiner in Memphis, Dr. O.C. Smith, apparently tried to shed doubt on damaging scientific testimony the doctor gave against Workman as the condemned man’s execution date drew near.  Dr. Smith was indicted for staging his own kidnapping.  The medical examiner was found in the stairwell at his office with barbed wire wrapped around his head and with explosives and notes secured to his person with duct tape. The notes read, “Dr. Smith lied about bullet trajectory in the Philip Workman’s case.”  Other witness testimony against Workman also fell apart, but he was executed without a new trial in 2007 despite the doctor’s alleged antics.  Learn more about Mr. Workman at this link:  Philip Workman, Innocent Man Executed?  http://www.nowpublic.com/world/philip-workman-innocent-man-executed

In September 2008, Detroit closed its police lab after an audit found serious errors in many cases that probably caused wrongful convictions.  See more in this article:  Supreme Court’s DNA Deliberations - http://www.nowpublic.com/world/supreme-courts-dna-deliberations-mary-neal

Increasing budgets for indigent defense and investing in better forensic laboratory equipment and highly skilled personnel would decrease wrongful convictions, thereby saving taxpayers wasted money on punishing innocent people with lengthy prison sentences or execution.  According to an article published in Buffalo News by Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., eyewitness testimony, lab tests, and even defendants’ confessions cannot always be trusted.  In fact, Dr. Fraser reports that 50% of wrongful convictions result from invalid forensic evidence.  See more information at this article:  I Didn’t Do It Your Honor!  http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-didnt-do-it-your-honor.html

NYTimes.com offers informative articles about the unreliability of forensic evidence at the link below.  One is entitled: “DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show,” by Andrew Pollack.  He reports, “With fabricated blood or saliva, you can just engineer a crime scene,” said the lead author of a new study.   NYTimes.com forensic science articles - http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/forensic_science/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=forensic&st=cse 

Excerpt from my article, “I Didn’t Do It Your Honor!”   Innocent people will continue to fall through the cracks occasionally and be imprisoned for crimes while the guilty go free. No measures will prevent every single wrongful conviction. But we can stop all wrongful executions very easily. Instead of costing money to do this, it would save around $90,000 per condemned inmate per year: End capital punishment, and no one will be wrongly executed. Just say . . . DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY!

Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

Supreme Court debates Miranda Warnings again
Chicago Law Enforcement Examiner 

On Monday, the Supreme Court began debating on whether the Miranda warning rights should be made clearer for criminal suspects. The case that has brought this debate to the highest court is Florida v. Powell.
It all began with Kevin Dwayne Powell being arrested for having in his possession a firearm that he freely confessed to buying off the street. Powell signed a Miranda statement waiving his right to a lawyer. Powell's lawyer, Deborah Brueckheimer said that the warnings Powell was given from the Tampa, Fla., police was not clearly explained to him.


The Miranda Warnings stems from a landmark case of (Miranda v. Arizona 1966) a 25-year-old man by the name of Ernesto Miranda. He was mentally handicap and arrested for kidnapping and rape. In the police station, he was positively identified as the offender and after two hours of interrogation, he signed a written confession. Miranda was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison and his conviction was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the state's decision (5-4) and established that the Fifth Amendment had been violated because the majority stated that privilege against self-incrimination requires that a criminal suspect in custody or in any other manner deprived of freedom must be informed of his or her rights.
Now the Supreme Court will debate whether the police should be even more clearer in administering The Miranda Rights.

It has been over 43 years since this landmark case was decided and the debate continues today. Maybe the Court should just allow every suspect to have an attorney every time they are arrested, this will alleviate the back and forth nonsense of whether police officers are clear or not clear enough in telling every suspect that they have the right to keep their mouth shut.
http://www.examiner.com/x-10377-Chicago-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2009m12d7-Supreme-Court-debates-Miranda-Warnings-again

More evidence that innocence does not matter enough in criminal justice.

The Conspiracy Charge Traps Women
By Tri-State Defender Newsroom

The cost of incarceration — Part III
By Patrice Gaines
NNPA News Service

“The Cost of Incarceration” is an eight-part occasional series written by Patrice Gaines, former Washington Post reporter; author and co-founder of The Brown Angel Center, a program in Charlotte, N.C. That helps formerly incarcerated women become financially independent.

Charlie Mae Mays is 77. She has been diagnosed with lung cancer but it is in remission.

Of course, that makes her happy. But she measures her life in terms of whether or not she will one day see her daughter walk out of prison free.

[Her oldest daughter Michelle, was arrested on] the policy of charging people with “conspiracy.” ... She is one of thousands of women some call a victim of a law that created the “girlfriend problem.”

“Women romantically involved with drug-involved men often get caught in the conspiracy net cast by the war on drugs, many times receiving harsher sentences than the drug kingpins,” says Nkechi Taifa, senior policy analyst for the Open Society Institute (OSI), a private grant-making foundation that aims to shape public policy regarding issues such as human rights and social reform.

This kind of prosecution of women does not allow a judge or jury to take into consideration the reasons why a woman may remain silent or stay with a drug dealer.  The court ignores factors such as domestic violence, economic dependence, or disability that makes one reliant on someone to provide financial support.

Michelle West was a single mom with a nine-year-old daughter. She once dated and lived with Olee Wonzo Robinson, a man police said was a drug dealer. West and her family say he was physically and verbally abusive to her. Finally, she left and moved in with her mother.

“She was trying to go on with her life,” her mother remembers.

 A couple of years later police came knocking. Michelle says they threatened her with drug charges if she didn’t cooperate in their investigation of her ex-boyfriend. She was petrified because her ex had warned her he would kill her daughter and mother if she ever talked to police, she says.

West was convicted of charges that include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and aiding and abetting in drug-related homicide. Witnesses testified that West did whatever Robinson ordered her to do. She denies having anything to do with a murder or drug dealing. One of the informants who testified against her was the triggerman in the murder and received immunity for his testimony. West maintained her innocence. Still, she received the same sentence as her ex-boyfriend.

The policy of using “conspiracy” charges allows drug laws to punish not only the kingpin but his girlfriend, who may have had nothing to do with his drug business or could have done something as small as drive a boyfriend to drop off drugs. The number of women in prison has increased at nearly double the rate of men since 1985, according to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics. African-American women are incarcerated at a rate eight times that of white women and represent 30 percent of all females incarcerated under state or federal jurisdiction.

A large percent of these women charged with conspiracy in drug cases have histories of physical and sexual abuse and/or untreated mental illness. Court documents show that while West was incarcerated and awaiting trial she reported Robinson sent her threatening letters and made threatening calls. The administrator of the jail testified that he had seen West in tears, expressing great concern over the safety of her daughter.

Today, West, 48, says by email, “The FBI gave me an ultimatum to cooperate with the government – a risk that would have been a death sentence to my daughter – or go to trial and face life.”

In the late 1990s the story of Kemba Smith, a Hampton University college student, grabbed media headlines. Smith had been in an abusive relationship with a drug dealer. When the boyfriend was murdered, the government held her accountable for the $4 million drug ring; although there was no evidence she ever sold, handled or used drugs. In 1994 she was sentenced to 24.5 years in prison.

Smith gave birth to a son while incarcerated and served 6.5 years. In December 2000 President Clinton granted Smith clemency. She has since earned a college degree and is married and living in the Midwest.

“It still troubles me that I know women that were there (in prison) while I was there and they are still there,” said Smith, who is also a motivational speaker who does advocacy work focused around drug policy reform. “My situation is no different than theirs except I had the public outcry.”

There are signs that a change in conspiracy laws could happen during the Obama administration. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) has introduced the “Fair Sentencing Act of 2009.”

 “In addition to focusing on major traffickers as opposed to bit players in the drug trade, the Durbin bill also addresses mitigating factors such as whether the defendant acted on impulse, fear, friendship, or affection,” said Nkechi Taifa of OSI. “This helps to eliminate concerns such as ‘the girlfriend problem’…”

“The thing about conspiracy is it is so un-American in many ways,” said Jennifer Seltzer Stitt, director of Federal Legislative Affairs at Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). “People are being hauled in with no evidence or very little.”

If the legislation passes, it’s long overdue, said Dean Dannye Holley, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University. He remembered that 30 years ago, when he got out of law school, one of his first cases was representing a woman who lived with a drug dealer.

“This (conspiracy charge) is a common practice, especially in minority neighborhoods… where so often drug cartels are gang-related and dominated by males who have females associated with them,” said Holley.

But even a new law may have no affect on Michelle West’s sentence. Still, Miquelle West, the daughter Michelle left behind, believes any shift in attitudes could help her mother.

The recollection of their abrupt separation still makes Miquelle, now 27, emotional.

 “It was May 3, 1993. My mother dropped me off at school and said, ‘I’ll see you later.’ I never saw her on the streets again,” said West, a fashion stylist who lives in New York.

“I remember my mom telling me that when I was born that they used to give babies shots in their foot and she said she felt my pain when they did it,” said Miquelle. “I understand, because now I feel that way. I feel her pain.”

Charlie Mae Mays was so distraught she didn’t even have the strength to walk on the day of Michelle’s sentencing, so her daughter “Pete” insisted she stay home. Now, Mays says, “I want to live to see her walk out free.”

***************************************

How did black women get an incarceration rate that is eight time higher than white women?  The conspiracy charge in the war on drugs is used to arrest girlfriends of drug dealers, regardless of their innocence, and give them same sentence as their romantic partners.  The women are apparently "guilty by association." This helps keep prisons full and provide prison workers - at tremendous cost to taxpayers ($50,000 per woman per year plus foster care costs for children left behind), the women, their children, and their communities.  Children who are separated from their mothers at an early age often develop separation anxiety disorder and feelings of rejection.  This can lead to mental illness.  Therefore, taxpayers keep on paying in future decades for the greed of prison profiteerism.  The prison cost is currently over $50 billion per year, and 2/3 of inmates were not convicted for violent crimes.   In fact, 1.25 million prisoners are actually mental patients who should be in treatment, not prison. 

STOP THE PROLIFERATION OF THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX THAT ROBS SOCIETY OF MONEY NEEDED FOR EDUCATION, JOB AND RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUTH, AND OTHER SOCIAL CONCERNS.  END SLAVERY IN THE U.S.A.  REMOVE INNOCENT WOMEN FROM PRISON. GIVE MOMS BACK TO THEIR CHILDREN AND ELDERLY PARENTS WHO NEED THEM.

Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to comment on and share this
post. Mostly, I write and republish news and videos that reveal human
and civil rights abuses and improvements that have been made or that
are still needed in the justice system from a laywoman's point of view.
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Access more of my articles at my Google profile link below.   
   
Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI 

MARY NEAL GOOGLE PROFILE:
http://www.google.com/profiles/MaryLovesJustice

Below is an email from a woman who needs your help.  Please endorse and share her petition.  These are the facts of the matter as Cynthia relayed them to me:

Cynthia Davis reported a woman for child neglect last year.  The woman retaliated by falsely accusing Cynthia Davis of a crime.  The white police officer who went to Cynthia Davis' home to question or arrest her on the woman's allegations attacked and beat Cynthia, who is an African America.  He caused her to fall, and Cynthia incurred a head injury.  Since that abuse, Cynthia suffers from seizures and PTSD.  She was unable to work, lost her home, and had many other problems - all since her police brutality occurred.  She was so stressed as the day of trial approached that Cynthia had a stroke recently, and now she has impaired speech.  Cynthia is an educated woman and was making an excellent income prior to her brutality which caused her head injury and led to her financial, mental, and physical crisis.

CYNTHIA DAVIS IS IN COURT TODAY.

The police officer who beat Cynthia and caused her disabilities was in the news for beating another citizen.  Cynthia said the Newark D.A. offered her a deal:  If she agreed not to pursue damages for police brutality, and she would not have to stand charges on the negligent mom's false allegations.  This was clearly blackmail, and Cynthia would not accept the deal. 

Unfortunately, court is not going well for Cynthia.  She said that the day a hearing was held, the judge walked in court and asked something to this effect: "Is there someone in here who needs a mental health break," and the D.A. and police officers all laughed with the judge.  Next, the court refuses to allow Cynthia's evidence that her prosecution is the result of blackmail.  They disallow her admitting police phone records from 9/8/08 and police videotape from 9/1/08, 9/2/08, and 9/8/08.  She asks your support on her petition for justice and for your prayers.  Petition for Cynthia Davis to have a fair trial:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/please-promote-and-support-advocacy-for-cynthia-johnson

Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

My Care2 friends and family,
.
I know that I've sent this message to you quite a few times but it's getting down to crunch time and the local government still has not released the police phone records and/or videotape that would prove without a doubt that I have actually been abused and harrassed by one of our finest blues.
.
This cover-up has caused so much harm to my life and I am still to this day trying to recover and rebuild and they are still trying to blackmail me into doing things their way in order not to prosecute me and not release their records.  Yesterday was a nightmare trying to prepare for tomorrow's court date.  Local government officials are shameless and disgusting with their "CODE OF SILENCE" rules and they back each other whether they know each other or not.
.
I thank you all for signing and forwarding this petition but I still need your help.  If there are any that have not signed, please do so and then forward to friends, family, colleagues, and any organizations that might post this petition to their websites.  If any of you have already signed, please forward to friends, family, colleagues, and any organizations that might post it to their websites.  I have a little over 24 hours to get some major interest into this situation or I just might get seriously harmed in court tomorrow.  I don't even feel safe walking into that courthouse full of Newark police officers.  I asked for an escort the last time I was there and was refused.
.
Please help!  The countdown has begun to either my freedom or my incarceration for a crime that I did not commit.  I stood up for myself and this is what I am being prosecuted for.  Nothing more!  All I have left is the TRUTH!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/please-promote-and-support-advocacy-for-cynthia-johnson
CA

PLEASE NOTE AT CARE2 NEWS NETWORK http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1300380

NOTICE:  Prisoner activists and mental health advocates are discussing a class action lawsuit by people incarcerated for mental illness or their relatives and next friends on their behalf.  Mental illness is the only disability treated legally, not medically.  If a diabetic man blacks out at the wheel and injures or kills commuters, he goes to the hospital. If a psychiatric patient kills or injures, he goes to prison.  If a woman has a heart attack in the china store, falls and breaks plates, she goes to the hospital.  If a bipolar sufferer has a crisis and breaks plates, she goes to prison. The suit will be for PSYCHIATRIC PARITY UNDER THE LAW.  People who opt in will need to pay a nominal fee to help raise the legal retainer. 

We will demand that mentally ill people who are imprisoned for violent offenses go to hospitals for their entire sentences and that nonviolent offenders are released under Kendra's law (mandatory treatment and subsistence assistance in their communities). 

Making this change - decriminalizing mental illness - will save billions every year off America's prison budget by putting mental illness back into the health care system where it was before Reganomics.  Taxpayers have not saved a dime by imprisoning our neighbors with mental illness, but many people have suffered inhumane prison sentences for having a common, treatable health condition.  Treating mental illness is cheaper, more humane, and it promotes community safety.  No longer will the mentally ill be left untreated until they PROVE (by smoking guns and dripping knives) to be a danger to self and others. 

Half of U.S. inmates are mentally ill.  In fact, there are 1.25 million incarcerated mental patients, so this will be a large class.  Give me your thoughts.  We're in the planning stage and talking with other prisoner activists.  Invite friends who have mentally ill relatives who are or were imprisoned to eMail me at MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com  or call 770 559 4690.

 

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI   


JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a disability.

Advocacy against wrongful convictions, criminalizing mental illness, the death penalty, and other justice issues is under fire.  Free speech suffers when one works for justice for convicted persons.  I am glad Northwestern is fighting releasing information on the students who have no charges pending against them.  Why investigate the students?


Students who question murder convictions under investigation
By Nicole Lapin, CNN
November 6, 2009 -- Updated 1440 GMT (2240 HKT)

Prosecutors subpoenaed students' records, saying team's motive was good grades; Northwestern won't submit records; hearing scheduled for Tuesday

Editor's note: Nicole Lapin is an anchor and reporter based at the
CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. She graduated from Northwestern
University's Medill School of Journalism.

(CNN) -- It was two-and-a-half days before Illinois Gov. George Ryan
was to leave office in 2003. I sat in a crowded auditorium in
Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago, where Ryan was
expected to make a major announcement on capital punishment.

"Half, if you will, of the nearly 300 capital cases in Illinois have
been reversed for a new trial or for some re-sentencing." he said,
his voice tired but clear.

Wrongful convictions had been all over the papers around that time --
the Anthony Porter case, the Ford Heights Four, Rolando Cruz.

"How in God's name does that happen? In America, how does it happen?"
Ryan continued. "How many more cases of wrongful conviction have to
occur before we can all agree that this system in Illinois is broken?"

On that day, the governor commuted the sentences of all death row
inmates in the state and credited an unlikely source for helping him
make his decision: Professor David Protess' undergraduate
Investigative Journalism class at Northwestern University's Medill
School.

In the previous decade, Medill students had uncovered some of the
most high-profile wrongful convictions in the city. The class had
worked to secure the release of 11 innocent prisoners, five of whom
were scheduled to be executed.

As a wide-eyed journalism student at Northwestern, I remember feeling
proud of my classmates, proud of my school and proud of the
profession I was entering.

Today, six years later, Protess' class is far from the center of the
same praise. Presented with evidence in a new case, the state
attorney's office is questioning the motivations of the messenger --
the class itself.

The students have raised questions about the murder conviction of
Anthony McKinney. In response, the state attorney's office issued a
subpoena for the students' grades, grading criteria, expense reports,
syllabi and e-mail messages -- mine included.
Find out more about the Medill Innocence Project.

The year after Gov. Ryan's speech, I signed up for Protess' class. I
was assigned to the team working on McKinney's case, who was
convicted in 1978, when he was 18, for shooting a security guard in
Harvey, Illinois.

On the night of September 15, 1978, a white security guard named
Donald Lundahl was killed at close range by a shotgun blast while
sitting in his car.

Later that evening, a police officer noticed McKinney, an African-
American, running down the street. He was arrested.

McKinney had no violent criminal history and was not in possession of
a weapon. He was briefly released after telling police he was
watching the Muhammed Ali-Leon Spinx heavyweight championship fight
when the murder took place and was running from "gang-bangers" when
the officer saw him.

Authorities questioned another teenager, who told police that he saw
the murder, claiming he saw McKinney, from 50 yards away, say, "Your
money or your life," and shoot Lundahl.

McKinney was picked up again, and after a second lengthy
interrogation, he signed a confession, typed by police. During his
trial, he recanted the confession, and said it was coerced.

But based on officers' testimony and that of the teenager, McKinney
was convicted of murder.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but because he had no record,
McKinney was sentenced to life in prison. Had his sentence been
death, McKinney would have been executed long before the commutation
of death row cases in 2003. He would have been dead well before
Protess even took up his case.

Since Protess started the course in 1992, his classes have
investigated about 50 cases.

Although the ones that are chosen have major red flags, like lack of
physical evidence, not all convictions are found to be unjustified.

Of the 50, 11 led to exonerations. Two indicated solid evidence of
guilt. The rest are under review by the judiciary or were
inconclusive, Protess said.

Protess made clear to all of his classes that the coursework was
about pavement-hitting journalism, the process behind discovering the
truth -- guilt or innocence. I went into the class to learn that
process.

During the two quarters I took the course, I lived the McKinney case.
My team and I spent nights and weekends doing things I never told my
family or friends because they wouldn't believe me. Some times it was
a matter of staking out a source's house or going to smoky, seedy
bars to fish for information on the decades-old case.

Those times, a professional private investigator and another team
member would be in the car listening for the words "winter wedding"
-- the "safe word" we were supposed say into the cell phones in our
pockets if something dangerous ever went down. (It never did.)

Unlike other Medill classes, this course was hands-on, gritty and
raw. I gained more practical skills in those months than in all of my
other college courses combined. The experience prepared me to do the
work I have done professionally and will continue to do throughout my
career.

In our investigation, we reenacted the crime scene and determined it
was impossible to discern any words spoken or shouted from 50 yards
away.

Later, we tracked down the then-teenage witness who said he saw
McKinney that night. The man recanted his testimony on videotape, and
told us police beat him.

We also found a fire department document that indicated the
paramedics were called to the police station during McKinney's
interrogation, raising the question of whether he was roughed up
during his interrogation as he said he was.

We interviewed the "gang-bangers" who chased him that night. They
acknowledged they chased him after the Ali fight because they were
angry he had damaged their car earlier.

Finally, we identified alternate suspects, one of whom stated on
videotape that he was there when the murder was committed -- and that
McKinney wasn't.

After I graduated, the investigation continued. Once Protess felt
there was enough evidence, after nine teams of student reporters had
worked on the case, the information was shared with the Center on
Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern's Law School and McKinney's
legal team.

The audio and videotaped interviews, affidavits and other on-the-
record interview transcripts we worked on also were presented to the
district attorney's office. Last year, the new evidence was submitted
to the Cook County Circuit Court in an effort to exonerate McKinney.

I am still haunted by the case. I am still haunted by my visit to see
McKinney in prison -- the gentle face of a man who still has hope
after so many years.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, Sally Daly, told me that
we, as students, were "conducting these interviews for a grade in
this class."

She went on to say the "request for the grades goes to explore any
possible bias, interest or motive."

The claim is that we, as students, were motivated to get witnesses to
play into a preconceived thesis of innocence in order to get good
grades. I think I speak for my fellow alums when I say this class was
never about grades.

It has always been about searching for truth and justice for people
whose cases didn't get due diligence from a bogged-down system. This
was about journalism in its purest and most passionate form.

For years, the class has been a check on the work of police and other
law enforcement officials. Protess has seen and dealt with his fair
share of heat for more than a decade, but never anything like this
attempt to investigate the investigator.

Northwestern is not complying with the request for documents. A court
hearing on November 10 will decide if the subpoena will stand. While
we were students at the time, we "took reporting to the Nth degree,"
as the dean of the school told The Chicago Tribune. We functioned as
journalists and should be protected by reporter's privilege laws.

About 50 similar programs across the country are watching to see what
precedent could be set if the state is entitled to these materials.
Will programs like Northwestern's continue if the volunteers are
worried about attorneys' fees to handle requests for documents?

Recently, Judge H. Lee Sarokin, the federal judge who famously freed
Ruben "Hurricane" Carter on a murder conviction that proved to be
unfounded, wrote in support of all former members of "Team McKinney."
"If a reporter hopes to win a Pulitzer or an investigator for the
defense hopes to obtain further business," he wrote, "how can those
motives possibly be relevant to the evidence obtained?"

The focus should be on the evidence, not grades. Student information
is irrelevant to Anthony McKinney's case. Being forced to hand over
private information will not only compromise the integrity of the
program, but create a chilling effect on free speech and
investigative reporting.

I recently went back and watched Gov. Ryan's speech on YouTube. I got
the same chill I did watching it in person that day. I can only hope
that a new generation of students has the opportunity to feel that, too.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/lapin.wrongful.conviction/index.html?eref=rss_us

__._,_.___

Supreme Court appears split on tackling rogue prosecutors
The Supreme Court Wednesday heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by
two Iowa men who spent 25 in prison after prosecutors allegedly
fabricated evidence against them. Justices seemed divided on the
issue of how much immunity prosecutors should enjoy.

By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 4, 2009 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1105/p02s01-usju.html

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Wednesday took up the difficult
issue of what to do about unscrupulous prosecutors willing to induce
false testimony and hide exculpatory evidence to convict innocent
defendants.

At issue in Pottawattamie County v. McGhee is whether two men sent to
prison for life are entitled to sue the local prosecutors in Iowa who
helped arrange false testimony that led to their wrongful convictions.

Both men served 25 years in prison before being released after
investigators discovered the false testimony and uncovered
exculpatory evidence never disclosed to defense lawyers.

The high court has long recognized that prosecutors presenting a case
at trial enjoy absolute immunity from citizen lawsuits seeking
compensation for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.

But the court has also recognized that a prosecutor may not enjoy the
protections of absolute immunity when serving not as a trial advocate
but as an investigator searching for clues and corroboration that a
crime has been committed.

During oral argument on Wednesday, the justices split into three
camps. In one camp were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul
Stevens, and Sonia Sotomayor, who appeared primarily concerned with
ensuring that victims of such prosecutorial misconduct have a
potential remedy through a civil lawsuit.

In another camp were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel
Alito who appeared primarily concerned with the potentially "chilling
impact" on all prosecutors if the court allowed some defendants to
file such citizen lawsuits.

In the center were Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, and
Antonin Scalia who appeared to share the concerns of both other camps.

Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, arguing in support of absolute
immunity for the two prosecutors, said the government's position was
based on important societal concerns that prosecutors feel free to
act as vigorous advocates.

"Absolute immunity doesn't exist to protect a few bad apples," Mr.
Katyal said. If prosecutors know they may be sued by disgruntled
defendants "they will flinch in the performance of their duties."

Paul Clement, a former solicitor general arguing on behalf of the two
wrongly-convicted defendants, said the federal appeals court in New
York has allowed such citizen lawsuits against prosecutors since
2000. "There has not been a flood of these cases," he said. "There
has been a trickle."

Mr. Clement said he had identified 17 cases brought since the 2000
appeals court action.

Chief Justice Roberts said his concerns went beyond just potential
litigation. "We are concerned about the chilling effect on the
prosecutors," he said.

Stephen Sanders, a Chicago lawyer representing the two former
prosecutors, urged the court to maintain an expansive application of
absolute immunity for all prosecutors.

He warned that if the high court ruled for the two wrongly-convicted
defendants, "it would work a radical change in the law of immunity."

A decision in the case is expected by June 2010.

Federal Investigation Requested In Mitrice Richardson's Disappearance From Lost Hills, Ca. Jail

Nancy Lockhart launched a Change.org petition for a federal investigation into the disappearance of a gifted young woman who suffers from depression. Mitrice Richardson was arrested in Lost Hills, CA Jail on September 16 at 10 p.m., then reportedly released after midnight with no money, I.D., food, water, or cell phone. Join petitioners in asking for federal help resolving this mystery. WHAT HAPPENED TO MITRICE RICHARDSON? 

Link for the petition:  http://www.change.org/actions/view/federal_investigation_requested_in_mitrice_richardsons_disappearance_from_lost_hills_ca_jail

Mitrice Richardson is a college graduate from California State University of Fullerton, in Psychology, with a 4.00 GPA. Mitrice Richardson has begun the process of acceptance into the Psychology Professional

Mitrice Richardson is a college graduate from California State University of Fullerton, in Psychology, with a 4.00 GPA. Ms. Richardson has begun the process of acceptance into the Psychology Professional College, Alliant, to pursue her Ph.D. as a Clinical Psychologist.  She is an African American who is openly gay.

Mitrice Richardson is in a crisis and is in danger.  Support is needed to find her. Use the widget below to join petitioners asking for a federal investigation into the whereabouts of Mitrice Richardson to bring her home and to ensure that this does not happen to more people. 

The "take action" button below should also take you to the petition.

or, Create a Petition

People who are experiencing a mental health crisis should not be released from jail after midnight in unfamiliar territory to fend for themselves without money or a means to call for assistance, if that is really what happened.  No woman should.

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a health crisis.

Thanks for your interest. God bless you!

Below are Care2 News Network articles most recently submitted by Mary Neal. The ten (10) articles below are accessible by clicking the "comments" tabs below the articles to reach them at Care2.  Once at Care2 News Network, you can click the title or the "visit site" button to go to the full-length article and any videos, where you can see it full length.  Please use your back arrow to return to my sharebook and read more articles from the list.  Some of the articles below are among the most difficult to post of any that I have ever published.  Thank you for reading them.  Your opinions are invited. 

1

Amnesty International Southern Regional Conference in Georgia - Oct 30 - Nov 1
Society & Culture  (tags: AmnestyInternational, AmnestyInternationalSouthernRegionalConf, MaryNeal, DecaturGeorgia, HumanRights, Dignity:AllRightsForAllPeople )

Mary
- 14 minutes ago - care2.com

Care2 News Link: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1289391
We hope many of you can make it to Atlanta for what promises to be an engaging and inspiring weekend in the fight for human rights! The 2009 conference theme is "Dignity: All Rights for All People." You'll leave with ideas for activism to take home.

1 comment

WHICH Type of H1N1 Vaccine Will YOU Be Forced to Accept?
Health & Wellness  (tags: EnforcedH1N1Vaccines, MassachusettsMarshalLawBill, MaryNeal, H1N1inoculation, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal )

Mary
- 12 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

Germany - The armed forces, according to a newspaper report, has ordered a different vaccine against the swine influenza for Germany's 250,000 soldiers. The vaccine is different than the serum which will be used to inoculate the civil population as planne

14 comments problem?

64

VIDEO - Illinois School Police Attack and Beat Special Needs Student
Society & Culture  (tags: IllinoisPoliceBrutality, assistancetotheincarceratedmentallyill, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal, MaryNeal, AIMI, SchoolBeating, PoliceOveruseOfForce, DecriminalizeMentalIllness, PoliceAttackSpecialNeedsStudent, Tasers, SchoolPolice, MaryNeal )

Mary
- 16 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

One might ask who is brain damaged in the video. Is it the student, who was quietly walking down the school corridor at class change, or is it the enraged officer who deemed the child's shirt tail being out so offensive that the student deserved to possi

22 comments problem?

37

Mary Neal Presents "Steps Toward Justice" Hub3
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: ValleySwimClub, CyrusVanceJr, USDOJ, NativeAmericans, TribalLands, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, ColombiaMassPoliceDept, PoliceSaveSuicidalMan, StepsTowardJusticeHub3, MaryNeal, GoodNews, MLK, AIMI )

Mary
- 30 days ago - hubpages.com

FIVE stories carrying good news for justice! Bigotry against ethnic children punished; Native Americans helped; Cyrus Vance for NY D.A.; Colombia, MA Police save suicidal man; movement to decriminalize mental illness growing. GOOD NEWS with lots of videos

12 comments problem?

48

TASERED: Legless Middle-Aged Man in Wheelchair
Society & Culture  (tags: Handicapped, AfricanAmerican, DogJustice, MaryNeal, DoubleAmputee, Taser, PoliceBrutality, OveruseOfForce, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll )

Mary
- 36 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

Please don't taser legless middle-aged men in wheelchairs, even if they are African Americans. Please. Blessings!

30 comments problem?

48

Help Todd Willingham Rest in Peace - Clear the Name of Wrongly Executed Texan
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: CameronToddWillingham, TexasDeathRow, GovRickPerry, CapitalPunishment, WrongfulExecution, LethalInjection, AbolishDeathPenalty, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, DogJustice, TexasMoratoriumNetwork, TMN )

Mary
- 44 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

STOP THE SLANDER against Cameron Todd Willingham. He was executed in 2004 for arson murders of his own children. Authorities now admit there was likely no arson. Texas Moratorium Network launched a petition to clear Todd's name and remove infanticide from

19 comments problem?

60

POLL - Should Inmates Whose Innocence Is Proved By DNA Tests Be Executed Anyway? The Thomas Arthur Story
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: ThomasArthur, AlabamaDeathRow, InnocenceMatters, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal, TroyWicker, JudgePulliam, BirminghamNews, Post-ConvictionDNA, SupremeCourt, JusticeDenied, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal, DogJustice, Civil )

Mary
- 56 days ago - votingcentral.com

Thomas Arthur, Alabama death row inmate, wanted to avoid his July 31, 2008 WRONGFUL execution so badly that he allegedly got Gilbert to lie and say Gilbert killed Troy Wicker. DNA tests proved both inmates innocent, but Alabama still plans to kill Arthur!

34 comments problem?

89

Abused Mentally Ill Man's Lawsuit Against CCA Private Prison Dismissed
Health & Wellness  (tags: CCA, MentallyIllPrisoners, DecriminalizeMentalIllness, PrisonProfiteers, FrankHorton, NashvillePrisonSystem, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, AIMI, MaryNeal, wrongfuldeathoflarryneal, SolitaryConfinement, PrisonerTorture )

Mary
- 60 days ago - tennessean.com

What happens when a mentally ill inmate is imprisoned naked for nine months living in filth in dark solitary confinement and is so abused and traumatized that he can only speak gibberish when released? Judge dismisses family's lawsuit, of course!

47 comments problem?

100

Troy Davis Gets Hearing, Says U.S. Supreme Court
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: TroyDavis, U.S.SupremeCourt, HearingforTroyDavis, CapitalPunishment, Abolitionists, JusticeForTroyDavis, GeorgiaSuperiorCourt, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, AIMI, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, DogJustice, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal )

Mary
- 72 days ago - ajc.com

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose supporters say is innocent and should be spared from execution for killing an off-duty police officer almost 20 years ago.

59 comments problem?

40

Police Slam 80-Yr-Old Black Woman to the Ground Where She Lay Bleeding
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: 80-yr-oldTakenDownbyPolice, MaryNeal, assistancetotheincarceratedmentallyill, AIMI, PoliceOveruseOfForce, AfricanAmerican )

Mary
- 82 days ago - globalgrind.com

This film depicts a "take down" by police officers in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The citizen is reported to be an 80-year-old woman with completely white hair and on a walking cane.

18 comments problem?