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Cleveland: Eugene Johnson, Derrick Wheatt and Laurese Glover. Bulletin: Twenty years in prison, several days before retrial. a judge has dismissed the charge..."Lawyers for the three men also presented a letter from an assistant prosecuting attorney, Carmen Marino, that instructed the East Cleveland Police Department to conceal police reports. Those reports led defense attorneys to witnesses that had exculpatory accounts of the shooting."

Next: Amy Pollpeter; Iowa; Officials are conducting an independent review of the work of this forensic scientist who was recently fired after expressing her fears about black people on social media, the DesMoines Register reports..."Iowa Department of Public Safety Spokesman Alex Murphy said such reviews are a common practice after the departure of any forensic scientist."..." Pollpeter, like other criminalists performing DNA analysis for the state, was provided with some information about her cases, including possibly the race and gender of individuals, Murphy said. A policy adviser for the Innocence Project, a well-known national group that works with DNA to exonerate wrongly convicted people, noted Pollpeter's situation as an example of why law enforcement agencies and their criminalists are increasingly being encouraged to adopt "blind" testing procedures. During such tests, key details about cases are withheld from forensic scientists to prevent even the perception that biases might have played a role in their findings. The National Commission on Forensic Science, a part of the U.S. Department of Justice, endorsed the concept last year."
Previous: Scott Watson: New Zealand; Bulletin: The convicted double-murderer - who protests his innocence - will be back in court today on his application to compell prison authorities to allow him to meet with Olivia Hope's father in the presence of North and South journalist Mike White..."Watson, who's serving a life sentence for the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope in 1998, is challenging Corrections' refusal to allow a journalist to be present when the pair meet in prison. Ms Hope's father Gerald has no objection to North & South journalist Mike White's presence, as it'll mean he can finally put his questions to Watson. "I believe he's most probably the best-equipped - an independent journalist, a respected journalist, and I have no objection," Mr Hope told Paul Henry on Wednesday. The presence of a journalist is Watson's one condition to ensure the meeting is fairly documented. Mr White interviewed Watson last year, the prisoner saying police picked on him because his criminal record made him "an easy target". Ms Hope and Mr Smart were last seen in the early hours of January 1, 1998. Their bodies were never found. Watson was convicted in 1999, but has always maintained his innocence. After initially being pleased someone had been found responsible for his daughter's disappearance, it didn't take long for Mr Hope to have his doubts. "My wife and I and family sat through the 11 or 12 weeks of the trial. We were emotionally charged. We were listening for the conviction, we got a conviction. We walked away from that court feeling justice had been done. "But it was a time after that I suddenly was confronted with some of the inadequacies of the evidence......... My plea is, Scott Watson, when we do meet, let's have an honest discussion."..."Watson's supporters gathered around the country at the weekend to call for his release. He's next up for parole in December." NZ News;
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"A judge on Monday dismissed a murder case against three East Cleveland men convicted in 1995, Eugene Johnson, Derrick Wheatt and Laurese Glover...A judge will not hold another trial for three East Cleveland men who spent two decades in prison. Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo dismissed a 1996 murder case Monday against Eugene Johnson, Derrick Wheatt and Laurese Glover. The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday, but Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty asked Russo to dismiss the case after the 8th District Court of Appeals upheld Russo's 2015 decision to overturn the convictions........."The prosecutor can refile charges if additional evidence is found in the killing of Clifton Hudson, but Assistant Prosecutor Brian Radigan told the judge that the state does not plan to refile charges against the three men. McGinty said that time has "eroded" the state's case. Russo overturned the conviction in 2015 after two new witnesses disputed the evidence presented in the 1996 trial. A primary witness in the case, Tamika Harris, who was 14 years old at the time of the trial, retracted some of her testimony. Lawyers for the three men also presented a letter from an assistant prosecuting attorney, Carmen Marino, that instructed the East Cleveland Police Department to conceal police reports. Those reports led defense attorneys to witnesses that had exculpatory accounts of the shooting."
http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2016/08/judge_dismisses_murder_case_of.html

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