Friday, January 20, 2012

Michael Arena: Flawed testimony of psychologist in sexual assault case before U.S. Supreme Court. Austin Chronicle;

STORY: "Arena case meets the Supremes: Will the Supremes find innocence sufficient for vindication?" by Jordan Smith, published earlier today in the Austin Chonicle.

GIST: "The court has several issues before it – including whether the expert testimony of Williamson County psychologist Fred Wil­lough­by was improperly allowed into evidence at Arena's sentencing hearing. Wil­lough­by testified that a psychological examination of Arena using the "Abel Assessment" demonstrated that he was a pedophile and would be dangerous if released on probation. The problem, in part, is that the Abel Assessment – a visual test that purports to identify sexual preference in young children – has not been shown to be effective for determining sexual leanings of juveniles. (The State Board of Examiners of Psycholo­gists subsequently sanctioned Willoughby for his failure to substantiate in-court opinions.) The state has argued – as it did last week – that Willoughby's inaccurate testimony had no impact on Arena receiving two decades behind bars."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-01-20/arena-case-meets-the-supremes/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;