Friday, December 30, 2016

Former detective Louis Scarcella: Brooklyn, New York; White elephant case: Shawn Williams, a Brooklyn man imprisoned for more than 20 years in a fatal shooting, asked a judge on Thursday to grant him a new trial, saying that the sole eyewitness against him now says she was pressured to identify him by Scarcella, the former detective who has been accused of falsifying evidence in several other cases..."While there was no forensic evidence or motive introduced at Mr. Williams’s trial, the jury heard from Margaret Smith, a college administrator who lived across the street. Ms. Smith testified that she had seen Mr. Williams at the scene with a gun at his waist the night of the killing, even though it was dark out and she was standing 100 feet away, looking down from her sixth-story window. But in an affidavit filed along with Mr. Williams’s request for a new trial, Ms. Smith recanted that account. She said she had not seen Mr. Williams that night, but had been coerced into naming him as the killer by the former detective, Louis Scarcella. Though Mr. Scarcella was once a renowned homicide investigator, his reputation has been tainted in recent years as numerous defendants he helped send to prison have accused him of misconduct. Scores of killings that Mr. Scarcella and his onetime partner Stephen Chmil worked on are being re-examined by a special team created by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office to identify wrongful convictions, the Conviction Review Unit. Mr. Williams’s case is among those under scrutiny."


Image result for "white elephant"

In the years since I started publishing this Blog I have become increasingly disturbed by the 'white elephant' in the room: Sheer, unadulterated, willful   misconduct in the criminal justice system - much  of it involving forensic evidence - committed by lab technicians,  pathologists, police officers, prosecutors and others.  Think Annie Dookhan; Think Sonia Farak; Think David Kofoed; Think Charles Smith; Think Ken Anderson; Think Gene Morrison.  I have therefore decided to run this image of a white elephant at the top of every applicable post henceforth, to draw our reader's attention to   what I see as a major problem in all too many criminal justice system's - my own included.  Harold Levy; Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009; http://www.t-mlaw.com/blog/post/the-elephant-in-the-crime-lab/

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 QUOTE OF THE DAY:“Mr. Williams has waited over 20 years for justice. ” said his  “We filed this suit today because Mr. Williams should not be forced to wait a moment longer.”

 Lawyer, Victor Hou.

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STORY: "Inmate Seeks New Trial in 1993 Killing, Saying Ex-Detective Pressured Witness," bu reporter Alan Feuerdec, published by The New York Times on December 29, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Louis Scarcella, a former police detective, has been accused of multiple instances of misconduct. The sole eyewitness against Shawn Williams in a 1993 killing says Mr. Scarcella coerced her to say she saw Mr. Williams with a gun at the murder scene."
 
GIST: "Lawyers for a Brooklyn man imprisoned for more than 20 years in a fatal shooting asked a judge on Thursday to grant him a new trial, saying that the sole eyewitness against him now says she was pressured to identify him by a former detective who has been accused of falsifying evidence in several other cases. The imprisoned man, Shawn Williams, was convicted of murder in August 1994 in the shooting of a neighbor in the lobby of a building in the Crown Heights neighborhood. In her affidavit, Ms. Smith said she had originally identified Mr. Williams not because he was there, but because she “felt pressured to do what I believed the detectives wanted me to do.”.........Although Mr. Williams’s lawyers have had Ms. Smith’s new statement for more than two years, they delayed filing their motion for a new trial in favor of working initially with the Conviction Review Unit, hoping that its prosecutors would support their effort to reverse Mr. Williams’s conviction. So far, the prosecutors have not taken action, court papers say, despite the private investigation’s having turned up further indications of misconduct in the case. Among other things, the papers say, there are suggestions that Mr. Scarcella only cursorily considered evidence that Mr. Williams might have been in Pennsylvania when Mr. Mason was killed. Joel Cohen, one of Mr. Scarcella’s lawyers, said in a statement on Thursday that Mr. Williams’s motion for a new trial relied “principally on press reports that are factually inaccurate.” The district attorney’s office said in a statement that its review of Mr. Williams’s conviction was continuing. “Mr. Williams has waited over 20 years for justice,” said his lawyer, Victor Hou. “We filed this suit today because Mr. Williams should not be forced to wait a moment longer.”"

The entire story can be found at: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/nyregion/shawn-williams-1993-killing-new-trial-sought.html

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/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 Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.