PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Carrington, who’s also challenging West’s analysis in an attempt to overturn a death penalty case in Columbus, calls West’s work “nonsense.” The state Supreme Court sent the Columbus case back for a hearing on fresh evidence, but did not disown West’s work wholesale, and also avoided doing so Thursday."
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"The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a man’s three murder convictions, one of which resulted in a death sentence, in another case that raises questions about the state’s use of questionable bite mark evidence. Five justices voted to vacate the convictions of Sherwood Brown, who was convicted in the 1993 slayings of 82-year-old Betty Boyd, 48-year-old Verline Boyd and 13-year-old Evangela Boyd. Brown was sentenced to death for the murder of Evangela, the daughter of Verline and granddaughter of Betty, because jurors found he had killed her while committing felony child abuse. The case was sent back to DeSoto County for a new trial. District Attorney John Champion said in a phone interview he hasn’t read the ruling and doesn’t know if he will prosecute again. Relatives of the Boyds have over the years maintained their belief that Brown was correctly convicted. The Boyds were found hacked to death in Betty Boyd’s house in the rural Eudora community, in a case that longtime county officials said was the most horrific they’d ever seen. A trail of bloody footprints led down a path toward other houses, including one where Brown lived. When police arrested him, he was wearing sneakers that matched the pattern of two partial bloody shoeprints found at the house and tested positive for blood on the bottom. DNA testing wasn’t available at the time but was conducted after the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead in 2012. It shows that the blood on the bottom of Brown’s shoe belonged to a male, and that all the blood on the floor of the house was female. Prosecutors also pointed to a cut on Brown’s wrist, claiming Evangela Boyd had bit him. Dr. Michael West, a forensic odontologist who has testified in many Mississippi criminal cases, determined the cut matched Boyd’s teeth, a conclusion echoed by a second forensic odontologist at the trial. But police had swabbed the inside of Evangela Boyd’s mouth. Tucker Carrington, a lawyer for the Mississippi Innocence Project, said that while DNA tests now show there was male DNA in Boyd’s mouth, it doesn’t match Brown’s DNA. Carrington said this result is more evidence supporting a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences that found bite marks could not be used to reliably identify an individual. Carrington, who’s also challenging West’s analysis in an attempt to overturn a death penalty case in Columbus, calls West’s work “nonsense.” The state Supreme Court sent the Columbus case back for a hearing on fresh evidence, but did not disown West’s work wholesale, and also avoided doing so Thursday."
The entire story can be found at:
https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/10/mississippi-court-overturns-convictions-1993-slayings?et_cid=6153235&et_rid=979655504&location=top&et_cid=6153235&et_rid=979655504&linkid=https%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2fnews%2f2017%2f10%2fmississippi-court-overturns-convictions-1993-slayings%3fet_cid%3d6153235%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26location%3dtop
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c