Andy Malkinson served 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of a 2003 rape.
After the CCRC failed to properly investigate, Appeal, a specialist legal charity dedicated to investigating miscarriages of justice, uncovered DNA evidence leading to the conviction being overturned.
When I first wrote about the Jeremy Bamber case, it was not clear to me whether the forensic evidence used to convict him was simply a mistake, or whether it was fabricated. New evidence has since come to my attention which shows it was both – a mistake led to Jeremy being suspected by police, and then fabricated evidence was manufactured to ensure a conviction.
First, I want to make some brief observations on the source of some of the most important new evidence. A search for “Dr Michael Naughton” beings up this page from the website of Bristol University, https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/michael-naughton which states that “Dr Michael Naughton is a leading scholar on miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions, activist for innocent victims of wrongful convictions and writer. He has received numerous awards and prizes for his work” and “Michael is the Founder and Director of Empowering the Innocent…
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Paul Brock has been accused and convicted of killing three people, one who was pregnant even though there was no evidence connecting him to the murders of the women. There is DNA evidence that was found under one of the women’s right-hand fingernails which was the same side that she was hit on the head and shot at close range.
The DNA belonged to the man who has a history of violence and abuse toward his wife who was shot too. This man tried to kill Paul but Paul killed him first.
Michael Chapel was convicted for the 1993 Armed Robbery and Murder of a Sugar Hill Grandmother, Emogene Thompson.
Officer Chapel had been profiled by Internal Affairs due to a rash of dirty cops in south metro Atlanta shortly before the murder occurred.
Chapel was eventually cleared of any involvement related to the dirty cops and the circumstantial case against him literally fell apart. However, he had already been arrested and the District Attorney and Brass at PD had gone out and declared him a horrible murderer.
One of the dirty cops in his department, who was likely involved in the murder, killed himself immediately after an investigation was triggered by statements Michael Chapel and his Defense Attorney made in connection to his wrongdoings.
Another officer went into the suicide scene, to secure what the Chief Detective said was a suicide note, and others believed to be a confession. Instead he deleted the note, and what would later be described as two hard drives full of incriminating evidence against multiple officers.
An Open Records request has revealed that the Chief of Police and numerous other leaders in the Police Department were present when all this evidence was destroyed. Most of the same leaders, including the Chief and under Chief were present when the lead Investigator on the case wrote in his case notebook that “We may want to manufacture witnesses”.
The record proves that evidence was illegally withheld by the DA, and evidence was “lost,” destroyed, manipulated and manufactured to convict Officer Chapel.
Part of Scott Peterson‘s habeas appeal is that Laci Peterson walked the family dog McKenzie AFTER Scott left home on the day Laci Peterson vanished.
Firstly there were multiple witnesses who believe they saw Laci walking the dog, who never testified at trial, notably Diana Campos, who states in a sworn declaration:
Sometime close to 10:45 a.m. — not long before my 11:00 a-m. start time — a barking dog caught my attention in the park below. I saw a very pregnant woman holding the barking dog’s leash. The dog looked like a golden retriever with a white marking down the front of his chest. I noticed two men who looked homeless near her who told her to “shut the fucking dog up.”…I am 99% certain that I saw Ms. Peterson walking a dog on December 24, 2002.
Frank Aguilar states in a sworn declaration
On December 24, 2002, my wife Martha and l were driving from our home up La Loma Avenue, away from Yosemite Blvd., and towards downtown Modesto. As we were driving, we saw a pregnant woman walking towards us with a dog on a leash. We passed her on the passenger side of the car. l was driving. it was cold out and the woman caught our attention because she was not wearing a jacket. She was only wearing a white blouse and black pants. ….. Based on the pictures l saw in the news, l am sure that the woman l saw walking a dog on December 24, 2002, was Laci Peterson.
Bill Mitchell states in a sworn declaration that his wife Vivian believed she saw Laci:
Vivian never doubted that she had seen Laci Peterson that morning. The dog that I saw also matched the description of Laci’s dog. Vivian and I both have good eye sight; we use glasses for reading but could see objects at a distance with no trouble.
Secondly, Russell Graybill, the mailman, states in a sworn declaration:
I testified at Scott Peterson’s trial in 2004. Neither the prosecutor nor the defense asked me whether or not the gate was open or McKenzie barked on the morning of December 24, 2002. If I had been asked, I would have testified in accord with my statements to police on December 27, 2002, and with this declaration. The side gate was open and McKenzie was not barking.
Since a neighbour testified she put the dog back in the yard at 10:18a.m., and Graybill was at the Peterson home sometime between 10:35 and 10:50 a.m., the only reasonable explanation for the gate being open and McKenzie not barking is that Laci took the dog for a walk and left the side gate open.
None of the witnesses who believe they saw Laci walking the dog testified at trial, Mark Geragos, Scott’s lead attorney has stated in a sworn declaration:
74. Had I been aware of the handwritten police report describing Graybill’s Observations —— which supported the theory that Laci left the house after 10:18 a.m. — I would have made a different evaluation of the credibility of the witnesses who claimed to have seen Laci walking the dog later than 10:18 am. I therefore would have called these witnesses to testify as promised in my opening statement.
Finally, there is evidence suggesting that the burglary of the Medinas, the house opposite Laci Peterson’s home started on the 24th of December and not the 26th of December as the burglars claimed, and that one of the burglars saw Laci alive ( this is known as the Aponte tip ).
(A) Trial testimony from Detective Grogan:
GERAGOS: Okay. And specifically it’s a sheet that was phoned in at, looks like 4:10, looks like from Sergeant Ed Steele; is that right?GROGAN: Yes.
GERAGOS: And who is he?
GROGAN: He’s a sergeant with the Modesto Police Department. He was assigned to go –JUDGE: Detective Grogan, you’re talking away from the microphone. I’m not sure they can hear you.
GROGAN: Assigned to go to the volunteer center after it was opened at the hotel.
GERAGOS: Okay. And he talked to Diane Jackson, who, the woman that we had pointed out, lived on this Edgebrook Street in that La Loma neighborhood; is that correct?
GROGAN: I’m not sure if he talked to her directly when, when she called in, or if he received that information and then just passed it on.
GERAGOS: Okay. And then he said that, what was on the call sheet was that she witnessed a burglary on Covena, correct? 459 is a Penal Code Section for burglary?
GROGAN: Yes.
GERAGOS: On 12:24 at 11:40 a.m.?
GROGAN: That’s what it says.
GERAGOS: Okay. And she said she saw the van and the safe being removed from the house, correct?
GROGAN: That’s what it says.
(B) A statement by Adam Tenbrink, from State’s response to the Habeas appeal, page 131:
Defense investigator Jensen located Adam Tenbrink who stated that he and Todd were close friends and that Todd approached Adam on the evening of December 24, 2002, about helping him with a burglary that “was already started.” (20CT 6255)”
(C) Todd was clearly lying in his statement to police when he stated he saw mail in the Medina’s mailbox on the 25th December, when in reality mailman Graybill collected the outgoing mail on the 24th December ( only outgoing mail could be seen ). From the testimony of Michael Hicks:
GERAGOS: And then he told you that on Christmas, 12/25, that he was riding from his mom’s house to his place at the airport district; is that right?
HICKS: Yes.
GERAGOS: And he says that at that point when he road by he noticed, and this is on Covena, he says I’m riding my bike on Covena, right?
HICKS: Yes.
GERAGOS: Okay. Then he says on Christmas day when he road by he noticed that 516 Covena appeared to be empty; is that right?
HICKS: That’s correct.
GERAGOS: And 516 Covena is the Medina’s house, right?
HICKS: Yes.
GERAGOS: Okay. And he says he noticed it because there was only one car in the driveway, right?
HICKS: Yes.
GERAGOS: Which he described as being either a Mercedes or a ne 4 BMW, right?
HICKS: Correct.
GERAGOS: Okay. And he said he also noticed that the mail in the mail box; is that right?
HICKS: Yes.
GERAGOS: And he could see when he’s riding his bike down the street, not only the car, but that he could see mail in the mail box, right?
HICKS: Yes.
In addition, there was a large toolbox that could not have been carried by bicycle, and Ted Rowlands has stated in a documentary that the safe that was stolen could not have been removed on the 26th, as he was outside Laci’s home early that morning with a TV crew reporting on the case. See here for more details.
(D) A sworn declaration by Shawn Tenbrink ( Adam Tenbrink’s brother ):
Adam said someone told him that Laci had seen Todd rob the house
(E) Lt. Aponte heard that Laci saw Todd breaking in, from a monitored telephone conversation. From the Habeas response:
the jury never heard from Officer Xavier Aponte, a correctional
officer at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, California. In January 2003 — only weeks after Laci disappeared — Officer Aponte monitored a telephone conversation between an inmate named Shawn Tenbrink and his brother Adam Tenbrink. Adam was a friend of burglar Steven Todd; during the conversation, Adam revealed that Todd confessed “Laci witnessed him breaking in.”
There is ample evidence that Laci Peterson walked the dog the day she vanished, after Scott left home, meaning that Scott could not have killed her, as his movements are accounted for.
Joseph Ray Daniels,31, was found guilty of murdering his five year old son. After initially saying his son had escaped, after being interrogated by police he gave a confession, and apparently believed he had killed his son but had no memory of it. Joseph made several statements where he had put the body, but no body was found in any of the locations.
According to a news report:
The state’s case lacked thoroughness and the confession was coerced, said defense attorney Matt Mitchell, who argued that Joe Clyde did leave that home through an unlocked door. He maintained prosecutors did not even prove the ostensible reason why Joseph Ray allegedly beat Baby Joe: for peeing on the floor. They literally tore out the carpet but did not prove it, Mitchell said. As described by the defense, this was representative of a investigation that did not cover every base it could have, with authorities ignoring other leads after they got the confession. This included someone reportedly seeing a child in muddy pajamas, or authorities failing to confirm whether a spot on the carpet was bleach.
According to the defense, the confession was coerced, with Daniels taking the fall for Alex after it was suggested that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would investigate the boy, who was then age 8. Mitchell, however, explicitly said he was not going to call Alex a liar, describing him instead as a child who presented the facts he was given. The boy’s story changed over time and that’s in large part because of Joseph Ray Daniels, the defense maintained.
Public Defender Jake Lockert spoke to the media after the verdict was announced and said they would be filing an appeal for a new trial. Lockert, who’s retiring soon, said he would not be leading that effort.”In a case like this where your client confesses multiple times and makes admissions against interest multiple times, it’s a difficult case to defend,” said Lockert.Lockert said the testimony of Joe Clyde’s half-brother, Alex, made the difference in the case.When asked if he would have done anything differently, Lockert said he would have put on more proof for the defense. He said they had an “eyewitness” who was in the house and would have testified that what Alex said happened did not happen.”In hindsight, we would have gone ahead and put on more proof, but at the time, we thought the best strategy was to cut the DA off so they couldn’t put on 28 more witnesses and the jury listen to phone call after phone call of our client confessing and saying things he shouldn’t be saying,” Lockert added.Lockert also said he still believes Joseph Daniels’ confession was coerced.
From a news report on on the testimony of Alex:
The child said he went through around 50 of the investigative interviews and therapy sessions at the Child Advocacy Center.
“I told the other story, but this one’s obviously a lie. To be 100 percent honest, I just wanted to get out of there,” he testified Monday.
Discussion | Proposal Post
Michael Goodwin was convicted of the 1988 killing of racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife.
Mickey Thompson received death treats by phone. The prosecution claimed they were from Michael Goodwin. But they weren’t. They were from the Cali Cartel. Mickey was laundering money for them with his stadium race events.
In 2011, Bulos (Paul) Zumot was convicted of the first-degree murder of his girlfriend Jennifer Schipsi, and of setting fire to their shared cottage in Palo Alto, California on October 15, 2009. Paul was arrested two days later, but not charged until July 22, 2010, about nine months later.
At trial, the prosecution claimed that Paul’s testimony was not to be believed. The National Center for audio and video forensics assisted with Paul’s appeal. In September 2020, a Federal judge overturned the conviction. A retrial is scheduled for November 2021.
Paul had an alibi – that he was at his café when the cottage was set on fire,
John Eckland, who rented the cottage to Paul and Jennifer and lived in another house on the property, passed the cottage at 6:25 and 6:35 and did not see Paul’s car at either time. Eckland testified that “everything looked fine” when he passed at 6:35 p.m.
Another witness passed the cottage at 6:25 on the way to Eckland’s house for dinner and testified that nothing was amiss. The shades in the cottage were drawn when both individuals passed. At 6:39 p.m., a witness called 911 after he observed smoke pouring out of the cottage. When no one answered the door at the cottage, the witness knocked on Eckland’s door. Firefighters found Jennifer’s body on the bed with a red melted gas container lying near her.
Thus, there is clear evidence that the fire was started sometime between 6:35 and 6:40pm. The cottage is 1.2 miles from café.
Café employee Ahmed Alaghabash, who was interviewed by police at the time of the murder, testified that Paul called before he arrived at the café, asking Jehad to make a tea and hookah for him. He testified that Paul arrived at the café sometime between 6:30 and 6:40 p.m., about ten minutes before the fire truck went by the café. Paul went outside when he heard the fire truck and then returned inside for his tea and hookah.
There was video evidence showing Paul entering the cafe at 6.47pm.
What was never pointed out to the jury, is that the video also showed Paul inside the café before he entered at 6.47pm.
After trial, the State conceded that the video surveillance showed Paul inside the café before 6:47:38, at both 6:45 and at 6:47:12.13, having argued at trial that Paul first entered the café later, on the basis of the video evidence, meaning he would have had time to start the fire at the cottage and drive to the café.
Thus the video actually contradicted the prosecution case, rather than supporting it, and supported the testimony of Paul and Ahmed Alaghabash, rather than contradicting it as the prosecution claimed!
The relationship between Paul and Jennifer was unstable. There were text messages in which Paul called Jennifer a “cancer” and told her that he needed to get her out of his life “at any price”, however in other texts, Paul told Jennifer that he loved her and begged for her forgiveness. Paul had pleaded guilty to making harassing phone calls ( including calls fabricated by Jennifer, see below ), and attended a DV class shortly before the fire started.
This history of conflict made Paul an obvious suspect.
The evening before the murder, they had fallen out and then made up ( in fact the prosecution theory at the preliminary was that Paul had strangled Jennifer on returning home, however it’s clear they made up, as there was a video on her phone showing them having sex early in the morning ).
What was crucial, to Paul’s credibility, and also to Jennifer’s credibility, were number-withheld threatening phone calls, which Paul denied making. After trial, Roy, a close friend of Jennifer, admitted that Jennifer had asked him to make these calls to portray Paul as abusive to police.
You might wonder why Jennifer’s credibility was an issue, given she was dead and could not testify. The answer is that all kinds of hearsay statements Jennifer had made were heard by the jury, even though she could not testify. Thus there was no way to know if the statements were made-up or true, no way in which she could be even asked if the statements were true, or cross-examined. Thus evidence that Jennifer was making false accusations to police about Paul is crucial.
There was also evidence that Jennifer was abusive as well as manipulative. On the day when she made up the threat call, Paul left her, went to the office and told her he no longer wanted to be with her. Jennifer went to the office, kicked and broke the door, and hit him with keys, gashing his face, and then called police. Paul did admit to verbal retaliation, and even spitting at Jennifer after he found her making out with her boss, but there was no evidence he was physically abusive.
Susie Schlopp – was a totally non-credible witness for multiple reasons. Her testimony conflicted with both other evidence and her own testimony. For example:
Q. Okay. So you waited three months till you saw a
picture in the paper of somebody who had been arrested, and
then all of a sudden, you remembered you had this vivid
memory; is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, the — then why did you tell the officer if he
was — “If I told you he was driving a sports car that day,
then it must not be him”?
and
Q. So you’ve got a fraction of a second to see the
person as they’re driving very fast. Did you know the street?
A Correct.
Q Okay. And then three months later, you see a
picture in the paper and the light bulb goes off, it must be
the same person; is that correct?
According to the appeal ruling overturning the conviction “Scholpp had initially told police that she saw nothing unusual on the night of the fire, but said that she came forward three months later after recognizing Zumot’s picture in the newspaper. Cell phone evidence at 6:16 p.m., four minutes before Scholpp testified to seeing Zumot near the cottage, showed that he was four miles away from the cottage”.
Has to be one of the worst witnesses ever.
Rosie the dog – alerted, but scientific tests showed no trace of gasoline on Paul’s clothes.
Deputy Sheriff Joseph Martinez, Paul’s friend, was interviewed soon after the murder, then again much later on November 6. In this second interview, Joseph said that very early in the morning ( 5am to 7am ) Paul called him a second time, and made statements apparently inconsistent with what Paul told him the day before, and what Paul told police. Joseph claimed Paul said that he visited the cottage after the DV class. However when he testified as follows:
Q. Did that strike you as different from what he had told you the day before?
A. Later on, it did. At the time, I wasn’t really focused on that part of the conversation.
Given that Joseph “wasn’t really focused on that part of the conversation”, and didn’t notice any discrepancy with what Paul told him the day before even when interviewed by police, it’s likely he did not properly understand what Paul said to him. He also was quite vague about even the time of the call, suggesting his memory was not good several weeks later, when he first told police about the second call.
Paul did go back to the cottage but that was earlier in the day after he stopped at the police station to get the documents for another case. Apparently Joseph didn’t understand this was earlier in the day.
There was also extensive mobile phone testimony that was totally discredited ( and I will say no more about this ).
Paul had no trace of gasoline on his clothing, making it very unlikely he could have set the fire. He also had no scratches or signs he was involved in a struggle, unlikely if he strangled Jennifer. The prosecution suggested his motive was that Jennifer was demanding money, however her threats were not credible, and her demands were based on a false claim Paul damaged her vehicle.
To summarise, Paul has a very strong alibi supported by both witness and video. The prosecution have no case at all, other than Paul being a suspect due to his unstable relationship with Jennifer, and a witness who likely misunderstood or mis-remembered what Paul said in an early morning phone call.
Appeal ruling
Appeal brief
Jodi Jones, age 14, was brutally murdered in Dalkeith, Scotland on 30 June 2003. Police at once focused on Luke Mitchell, Jodi’s boyfriend.
Luke was arrested and charged eight months later, after a media storm, and was ordered to serve at least 20 years in prison.
However, he is blatantly innocent, the victim of trial by media.
According to a report on a documentary broadcast on February 24, 2011
Investigators John Sallens and Michael Neil found another person of interest to the crime who “turned up with scratches on his face” the day after the murder. Mark Kane was an alleged drug user studying at Newbattle Abbey College in Dalkeith, who was “untraceable” during the murder hunt. He bares a striking resemblance to Luke, and lived very close to the murder site. He’s described as “a very, very disturbed boy who carried a knife” and was on methadone at the time, as well as cannabis and lager. Mark says he obtained the scratches by “falling in a bush”.
At the age of just 18 years old, Mike Crump was arrested and wrongfully convicted of the tragic murder of 21-year-old Eric “Nike” Jones in Virginia after an eyewitness misidentified Mike due to his hoodie.
There was NO other evidence against Mike, no fingerprints, no DNA, just the word of one eyewitness who initially said it was too dark to see anything and she did not see the killer’s face, only the hooded sweatshirt that the killer wore.
Despite the lack of solid evidence against Mike, he was shockingly convicted by a single judge at a one day bench trial in 1996. Mike was sentenced to a total of 40 years for a crime he did not commit and for which he continues to maintain his innocence.
Again and again in Mike’s case, evidence of his innocence has been disregarded.
See this petition for details.
[ Case description taken from petition ]
In 1993, at 19 years of age, Wilson Rivera was arrested, charged, and eventually convicted of two counts of murder. During the sentencing phase of his case, Wilson addressed the sentencing judge maintaining his innocence. Wilson asserted that his conviction was a consequence of perjuriously obtained testimony and fabricated evidence.
1. There were no eyewitness testimony identifying Wilson as one of the perpetrators of the crime. The sole eyewitness for the prosecutor testified that the perpetrator was 5’3″-5’5″, sounded white, and was wearing a poncho and a dark ski mask. Wilson is 5’10” with an accent.
2. Detroit Police failed to brush for fingerprints at the scene, although 5-6 shell casings were recovered and there was evidence that the perpetrator had touched the door jamb of the front door before forcing it open and gaining entrance to the house.
3. No murder weapon was ever recovered
4. Wilson never implicated himself. On the contrary, Wilson’s statement to the police contained his whereabouts during the hours that the crime was taking place.
5. Although various caliber ammunition was found where Wilson was arrested, none matched the caliber of the weapon used to commit the offense.
6. Wilson was placed under arrest a few hours after the homicides, he was never administered a gun-residue test, however, one was administered to the sole eyewitness.
7. The perpetrator left a clear shoeprint at the scene of the crime, but Detroit Police failed to look for a match once Wilson was arrested in his home.The Detroit Police suborned perjury
The prosecutor indulged in prosecutorial misconduct, which deprived Wilson of a fair trial
Detroit Police indulged in multiple acts of misconduct in order to ensure the charges against Wilson would stick
Defense counsel and appellate counsel proved ineffective.
If you are looking for an alternate suspect in a potential wrongful conviction, the first place you should start is the prosecution’s star witness. For example, the infamous case of Pam Hupp, who not only framed Russ Faria for a crime she committed herself, but tried it again, murdering an innocent man in the process.
This post is about a slightly different kind of false accusation, my premise is that the Zodiac Killer (Edward Wayne Edwards) was actively generating false leads, or accusations about the identity of the Zodiac Killer, and some of these falsely accused people are still considered by some to be suspects,
Donald Lee Bujok
This is a case when the evidence is very clear. Edward Wayne Edwards accused “Richard” at Deer Lodge prison of being the Zodiac, whose biographical details match Bujok : Bujok did murder a Sheriff’s Deputy, and also worked as a car mechanic at Deer Lodge. He also was a good resemblance to the drawing of the Zodiac made following the murder of Paul Lee Stine. See here for a transcript of the news report. Both Kay ( Edwards’ wife) and the journalist confirmed that he was the anonymous source, the “37-YEAR-OLD convict” from Akron who served time in Deer Lodge prison.
Edit: January 2023 – it turns out Bujok did indeed swallow bullets as Edwards mentioned! See here.
Xenophon Anthony
Edwards pretended to be retarded when talking to an 8-year-old boy who then accused Anthony. Edwards brought a Xylophone with him to emphasise the name to Margot Burns ( a witness who was terrorised by Edwards). Other musical clues he used are here .
Richard Gaikowski
There appear to be all kinds of clues in the Zodiac ciphers and letters, pointing to Richard Gaikowski. Whether these were intended to suggest Gaikowski as a suspect is unclear to me, but it seems quite possible.
Donald Harden
I have seen it suggested that the DH in the “bus bomb” diagram referenced Donald Harden, who solved the 408 cipher.
Lawrence Klein
The Scotch Tape letter and the Atlanta Child Killings
Scotch Tape and the voice of Lawrence Klein were found at the scene of one of the Atlanta Child Killings, following the publication of the Zodiac “Scotch Tape” letter.
Cheryl Jo Bates’s Killer
The Zodiac fingered the killer of Cheryl Jo Bates (CJBK) when he referred to “riverside activity”. The linkage with CJBK was repeated in the “Zodiac Killer Leads” article in which Edwards accused Donald Lee Bujok. Edwards was in prison at the time of Bate’s murder, so the linkage gave him an alibi. Theory is Zodiac wasn’t CJBK, rather he adopted CJBK’s identity. Edwards previously adopted the identity of his adoptive brother (born 1933), he was born Charles Edward Meyers in 1928.
Charles Manson
Manson was a member of the Sierra Club, the Zodiac Pines Card has “Sierra Club” in it. In addition, BRINGO in the 340 cipher references Bonanza ( B side of Ringo ), which was filmed at the Manson ranch. There is also a “Zodiac Car”, possibly Edwards sprayed shortly before he was arrested in 2009.
Note: this may not have been an accusation, so much as a “I taught Charles” reference.
In a 1993 letter to the FBI found in his papers, Edwards requested his criminal and history records for cities in 19 States, claimed that J. Edgar Hoover “more or less gave me permission to proceed” with his 1972 autobiography “after I assured him there was nothing in it bad about the FBI” and he was writing a new book about criminals he met while incarcerated, such as Tony Provenzano, Charles Manson and Jimmy Hoffa.
George Hodel
On April 11, 2003 Steve Hodel’s theory that his father murdered the Black Dahlia in 1947 was announced, on April 13 further rumours in the Black Dahlia case were announced, the very same day that Conner’s body was found. See here.
Could Edwards have planted the bodies of Conner and Laci to “steal” Steve Hodel’s thunder? Was this no strange coincidence, even a clue? See here for the extensive evidence that it was Edwards that murdered the “Black Dahlia” ( Elizabeth Short ) in 1947.
Edwards referred to George Hill Hodel Jr as “Over The Hill Hodel” in 1971, according to Margot Burns.
[ In this instance, I don’t have evidence Edwards actively tried to frame George Hodel, just a curious coincidence ]
Eric Anderson was wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit! His conviction was due to “Outrageous Government Misconduct” that goes beyond Prosecution Misconduct! He has been sitting on San Quentin’s Death row for the past 15 years! He is still on a waiting list just to be appointed a State Habeas Appeal lawyer.
The Prosecution (through crime stoppers) paid the first witness, a female $10,000, which $9000, came from the victim’s family, before Preliminary Hearings. Then after this reward was paid, this same witness not only changed her story 7 times, but also failed the polygraph exam, beyond that there’s the evidence given to show she was lying. We believe once it became clear she was lying, it was too late for the Prosecutor to say “oops, we made a mistake”, and explain to the victim’s family they gave away $9000 of their money to a liar, and on top of that, hamper any case going forward on the others. They doubled-down on her lies and it is why they gave a self admitted guilty co-defendant a Plea Deal, even after knowing this second witness was lying. The prosecutor had multiple sources of evidence to know he was lying!
The prosecutor also lied in closing arguments, to the Jury the facts of a second witness Plea Deal, and claimed he was free to say “Martians came down and did it, and he would still get his deal-when the facts were he was locked into his statement he gave in his “Free Talk”.
The Prosecutor’s Investigator got on the stand to lie about evidence that doesn’t exist. Two weeks later a Stipulation was forced to recant, but the purpose and importance of this Stipulation-clearly was missed by the Jury.
The same Prosecutor’s Investigators also show the first witness a “Photo line up” which all 6 photos were of Eric Anderson and had his parole information on them. Then she claims to identify Eric by his prison issued glasses, which were replaced 2 years beforehand. There were other issues with her claim of identifying Eric as well.
The victim before dying gave his description of the shooter: Salt and pepper hair, with a full beard. Age about 45! No mention of glasses. Eric wears glasses and was in his 20’s, with dark brown hair!
The Prosecution’s Investigator changes witness’s statement reports and when these same witnesses testified, this isn’t what they said, they were pressed into agreeing what was written on a report and when at least 4 witnesses didn’t agree, the Prosecutor Impeached his own witnesses, in order to get in false statements found in these reports.
Eric Anderson’s cell phone records alone prove both of the State’s main witnesses perjured themselves, and that whole stories about what Eric did was false, because it shows he was somewhere else, in a different city, then where they claimed he was.
[ Case description taken from this petition: https://www.change.org/p/gavin-newsom-eric-anderson-needs-your-help-to-fight-against-his-wrongful-conviction-and-win-his-freedom ]
In 2002, Wayne Grimes was a rural alderman in Grundy County TN, who stood up against drug thugs taking over the board and the region. He was soon indicted for a five-year-old murder that most knew the wife had done, even the prosecutor and State investigator who admitted to this.
The trial was stunning, had no evidence, just the fabricated and changed story by the wife, coerced by the state.
On April 13, 2003, the body of Conner Peterson was found on a mud-flat about one mile North West of Brooks Island, the island Scott Peterson visited by boat on December 23, 2002.
The prosecution case is that Conner washed ashore, however a careful consideration of the tide levels proves that this is not possible.
First, it’s necessary to understand that not every high tide is equal, and in fact the highest high tides are about a foot higher than the average high tide.
The following chart shows the tide level around the discovery of Conner’s body:
The height of the high tide which might have washed Conner ashore is 5.88 feet. The following image shows the site when the high tide was slightly more than that ( 5.94 feet ):
Clearly, Conner could not have reached the position of the balloons, even with this slightly higher level.
However, the jury were shown this picture, taken on January 10, 2004, when the high tide was 6.39 feet, six inches higher:
It’s obvious that the additional six inches in the water depth makes a big difference. The whole area is nearly submerged, and it becomes plausible Conner could have floated to the position where he was found. But this is not the high tide level on the day Conner could have washed ashore!
Finally, Conner was found ABOVE the debris line which is formed each time the tide comes in. This is confirmation that Conner could not have floated to the location he was found. Instead, he was either moved after floating ashore ( which seems unlikely ) or someone placed his body where it was found, possibly using a boat to access the location.
Credit: the tide levels and images for this article have been taken from http://pwc-sii.com/Research/connerdidnotwashashore.htm which has a great deal of extra information on this subject.
Jeffrey Abramowski was convicted for the murder of Cortney Crandall in 2002.
According to an article in Florida Today ( December 2019 ):
“Abramowski’s fingerprints were not found at the crime scene. There was no blood evidence found on his clothing, despite copious amounts at the murder scene. The only thing tying Abramowski to the murder scene is a trace of DNA apparently found under Crandall’s fingernail.”
and
“Jeffrey Abramowski’s first trial ended in a mistrial when one of the state’s jailhouse snitches changed his mind and said he had been coerced by the state. ”
According to a Federal Appeal brief filed in 2016:
Quote
On May 1, 2008 Richard and Brenda Kowalski were found dead at their Livingston County home in rural Michigan. Both had been shot. In the 911 call, their adult son named his uncle, Jerome Kowalski, as a suspect.
Jerome was addicted to alcohol, and after being questioned by police began to think it was possible he committed the crime but didn’t remember. When he was told the murder weapon was a 0.38 gun rather than the 9mm gun he owned, he realised he couldn’t have done it.
Lead detective Sean Furlong started accusing Jerome’s sons of committing the murders. Jerome denied it. Furlong then threatened to bring them in for questioning.
Jerome claimed he didn’t want his sons to go through what he was going through, so he finally gave police a signed confession.
At trial, forensic pathologist Werner Spitz testified the time of death was in the middle of the night, when Jerome was working security at a military base.
Jerome’s attorneys expected to get the confession thrown out, but this was denied by Livingston County District Court Judge Theresa Brennan, who also refused to allow an expert on false confessions to testify, calling the expert witness “unreliable and irrelevant.”
However, Brennan was having an affair with the lead detective, failed to recuse herself and lied about the affair. She has now been removed from office by the Michigan Supreme Court, and pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury ( other charges were dropped ).
Jerome’s attorneys have requested a false confession expert be allowed to testify at the new trial, scheduled to take place in January. Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Stewart will rule on the motions on December 17, 2019. The retrial is set for January 20, 2020.
Excellent 3-part documentary ( with transcripts ) here: https://truecrimedaily.com/2017/06/07/judge-detective-love-affair-could-derail-double-murder-conviction/
On June 25, 2015 two-year-old Bella Bond’s unidentified body washed up on shore in a trash bag, on deer island in Boston Harbor.
Bella was the third child of Rachelle Bond, who had a lengthy criminal history. Rachelle’s first two children had been removed from her care, but the Department of Children and Families (DCF) nevertheless deemed Rachelle fit to care for Bella.
In July, police set up a tip line, and a woman called in who told them that the washed up child was Bella, and Rachelle had been behaving in a psychotic fashion when Bella was last seen, however there was no follow-up on the tip.
In September after Bella’s father Joe confronted Rachelle, police called to question Rachelle, but she jumped out of a window and fled. She then told Joe that Michael had killed Bella, and held her hostage for four months. When Joe became upset, Rachelle said “shut the F–K up, they are on to me, you’re going to get me bagged.”
When finally questioned by police, Rachelle told yet another bizarre story claiming Michael had killed Bella and “I couldn’t call the police or anybody after that as he held me hostage and had hitmen waiting outside of my house that would shoot me if I called 911.”
In spite of the changing, bizarre and impossible stories from a woman who was apparently mentally ill, police decided to charge Michael with murder, even though there was nothing to corroborate Rachelle’s impossible story.
At trial, Rachelle’s testimony was contradicted by the Medical Examiner. In spite of the obvious credibility problem, and no independent evidence to link Michael to the crime, the jury convicted Michael of 2nd degree murder after deliberating for just over four days.
Michael Doolin, a Dorchester criminal defense attorney who followed the case closely said he was very surprised by the verdict.
Jonathan Shapiro, defense attorney, said the verdict was a travesty of justice and incomprehensible.
News report and video on the verdict:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/26/jurors-bella-bond-murder-trial-resume-deliberations/CNxd2oc4Mlaj2lsubYjbEO/story.html
Paul Skalnik learned about the benefits of being a jailhouse informant when he was in the Harris County Jail in Texas in 1978 for passing bad checks.
Skalnik had drained his wife’s checking account, used her good credit to buy a Lincoln Continental and a customized Dodge van, and opened credit cards in her name, according to a New York Times Magazine investigation with ProPublica.
Skalnik was in jail when police began asking inmates for information on the “Moody Park Three,” anti-police-brutality activists who were charged with inciting a riot. Skalnik called the DA’s office and said he could help.
In court, Skalnik told jurors that one of the defendants had confessed to him in prison that his plan all along was to “incite the Mexican American youngsters.” The defendant and his two co-defendants were convicted.
Skalnik soon learned how his information would benefit him in Florida, where he had been convicted of grand larceny and sentenced for violating probation. Prosecutors recommended he that Skalnik be moved from jail to work release.
Since then, Skalnik’s testimony helped send dozens of people to prison, including four on death row, according to the article. In Pinellas County, Florida, alone, Skalnik testified or supplied information in at least 37 cases from 1981 to 1987.
Juan Corona was framed by Edward Wayne Edwards and John Gotti for the murders of 25 migrant farm workers found buried in shallow graves in peach orchards along the Feather River in Sutter County, California, in 1971. ( Two trials ) Juan died in prison, March 2019.
Wrongly Convicted Group Website 
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