Author: Alan Bean

Blackburn: Stop using ‘junk science’ in the courtroom

· 2 Comments ·
Jeff Blackburn

 

This opinion piece was published in the Houston Chronicle under the names of several authors, but the Amarillo Globe-News version simply mentions Jeff Blackburn, so I am assuming he is the author.   “Stop presenting ‘junk science’ in capital trials” Blackburn says.  You can find the heart of his argument pasted at the end of my remarks. 

The focus here is on Texas, but the problem is nationwide.  In the most recent Curtis Flowers trial, one ballistics expert testified that he could say with 100% certainty that the gun stolen from Doyle Simpson’s car was the murder weapon.  A second expert restricted himself to the obvious: the evidence didn’t lend itself to 100% certainty about anything.  All any competent ballistics expert could say for sure was that the evidence found at the crime scene was consistent with the .380 pistol allegedly stolen from Mr. Simpson’s car, but the shell casings could also have come from a similar weapon. 

Blackburn concentrates on expert witnesses who don’t know what they are talking about; but a lot of expert testimony is biased in favor of the prosecution because that’s where the money is.  Indigent defendants rarely have the money to hire their own experts and most capital defendants are indigent.  

In Blackburn’s opinion, the Cameron Todd Willingham case isn’t primarily about the execution of an innocent man; it’s about junk science. 

Do we really have to choose here? (more…)

Balko on prosecutorial misconduct

· 1 Comment ·
Radley Balko

In his most recent column, Radley Balko discusses prosecutorial misconduct in the federal criminal justice system.  Abuse is rampant, he says, and prosecutors who break the rules rarely face consequences.  You can find the first two paragraphs below:

Misbehaving Federal Prosecutors

A USA Today investigation finds egregious misconduct at the Department of Justice, with few consequences.

Radley Balko, September 27, 2010

Last week, USA Today published the results of a six-month investigation into misconduct by America’s federal prosecutors. The investigation turned up what Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman called a pattern of “serious, glaring misconduct.” Reporters Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy documented 201 cases in which federal prosecutors were chastised by federal judges for serious ethical breaches, ranging from withholding important exculpatory evidence to lying in court to making incriminating but improper remarks in front of juries.

The list is by no means comprehensive, and doesn’t claim to be. I checked the paper’s website for examples of egregious misconduct reported here at Reason: U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan’s politically-charged prosecution of Pennsylvania doctor Bernard Rottschaefer; Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Grayson’s outrageous persecution of the Colomb family in Louisiana; and the bogus Mann Act charges brought against Mississippi heart surgeon, Dr. Roger Wiener. None are among the cases in USA Today’s database. The paper should be lauded for its groundbreaking investigation, but as the reporters themselves acknowledge, they’ve really only scratched the surface. (The investigation also only looked at federal cases, which comprise just a tiny portion of the country’s total criminal prosecutions.)  You can find the rest of Balko’s column here.

From Jena 6 to Law School: Theo Shaw

· 5 Comments ·
Theo Shaw

Theo Shaw had already spent a month in the Lasalle Parish Jail when Friends of Justice first arrived in Jena.  Seven months would pass before he returned to the free world.  Last week, I sat down with Theo across the street from the University of Louisiana, Monroe campus.  He had been a bewildered High School kid the last time we had spoken; he is now a confident young man.  Theo politely answered my questions about the Jena 6 experience; but his eyes didn’t sparkle until the conversation shifted to the future.  Theo Shaw is a man on a mission.  (more…)

Key witness in Flowers case faces federal fraud charges

· 4 Comments ·
The duplex Patricia Hallmon called home in 1996

(This post is part of a series concerning Curtis Flowers, an innocent man convicted of a horrific crime that has divided a small Mississippi town.  Information on the Flowers case can be found here.)

If you Google Patricia Hallmon’s name, you get two primary sources of information: my description of her role in the prosecution of Curtis Flowers, and this article from the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.  Miss Patricia is standing trial for claiming $652,345 in false tax deductions.

Here’s the big news: Patricia Hallmon’s fraudulent behavior is perfectly consistent with the theory that she and her brother Odell perjured themselves in 1996 so they could get their hands on the $30,000 reward on offer from DA Doug Evans and his investigator, John Johnson.

Initially, brother Odell admitted to the scam, testifying to that effect at Mr. Flowers’ second trial.  Released from prison, Odell had to live with his irate sister, Patricia.  After a month of free-world misery he went to Doug Evans and told him he was recanting his recantation.

And this guy is being sponsored as a credible witness by the State of Mississippi. (more…)

Eddie Long’s Gospel

· 14 Comments ·
Bishop Eddie Long

My post on Bishop Eddie Long has been raising eyebrows. Many readers agree with my critique of the “prosperity gospel”; others find it offensive. One reader, who asked to be taken off my distribution list, was horrified by my perceived willingness to throw Bishop Eddie to the wolves before he has his day in court.

A few words of clarification are in order.

Eddie Long’s guilt or innocence is not my primary concern. The state of Georgia has filed no charges against the Bishop; this is a civil case. When the weak find themselves on a collision course with the strong, my sympathies are with the weak (the strong can take care of themselves). Eddie Long has always been the man with all the power. Having transformed himself into an authority figure of superhuman stature, the pastor assumed the mantle of responsibility.

Pastor Long has compared to himself as David up against Goliath. That image should be reversed. Yesterday, thirty-two pastors came to Long’s church to commiserate with him and show their support. Goliath received that kind of encouragement from the Philistines; David was on his own. (more…)

A conservative case for ending the drug war?

·

Jeffrey Miron’s op-ed in the Los Angeles Times argues that the drug war is just another big government boondoggle.  If you aren’t familiar with the libertarian critique of the war on drugs, Miron’s column will give you the basic outline of the argument.

Libertarians are consistent conservatives.  They aren’t fussy about wars of any kind (domestic or foreign) because they are obscenely expensive and never produce the desired results. 

American conservatives are successful because they don’t worry about consistentency.  Conservatives are a fearless lot.  They aren’t afraid of poverty or unemployment because they have secure jobs; they aren’t afraid of sickness because they have great health care; they aren’t afraid of bigotry or discrimination because they are normal (white) Americans; they aren’t afraid of civil rights violations because their civil rights are rarely infringed. (more…)

Judge will take a fresh look at the Willingham case

·
Texas Execution Arson
Willingham's home

The Cameron Todd Willingham case is an embarrassment to Texas governor Rick Perry and to death penalty proponents everywhere.

Willingham was convicted of intentionally setting the fire that killed his three young daughters in 1991. Willingham was convicted on the strength of forensic expert testimony that the fire was intentionally set.  He was executed in 2004 still professing his innocence.

The Texas Forensic Science Commission has been conducting an inquiry into the Willingham case since 2006. When Craig Beyler, a leading fire expert engaged by the Commission, released a report highly critical of the forensic methodology used by Corsicana officials, the Willingham case became a national phenomenon.  Beyler concluded his 64-page report with a slashing indictment of the “junk science” on display in Willingham’s trial:

The investigations of the Willis and Willingham fires did not comport with either the modern standard of care expressed by NFPA 921, or the standard of care expressed by fire investigation texts and papers in the period 1980–1992. The investigators had poor understandings of fire science and failed to acknowledge or apply the contemporaneous understanding of the limitations of fire indicators. Their methodologies did not comport with the scientific method or the process of elimination. (more…)

Putting butts in the seats: the rise and fall of Bishop Eddie Long

· 14 Comments ·
Bishop Eddie Long

 Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia has been accused of using a mentoring program to lure gifted young male congregants into sexual relationships.  Long, an adherent of the “prosperity gospel”, told his congregation this past Sunday that, although he has never advertised himself as “a perfect man”, he intends to fight the allegations in court. 

Significantly, the bishop never claimed to be innocent. (more…)

Welcome to the Parchman Plantation

· 8 Comments ·
Welcome to Parchman

I write this from Lola Flowers’ dining room table.  Yesterday I travelled to the Mississippi State prison in Parchman, Mississippi to visit Curtis Flowers.  The last time I saw Curtis he was pronounced guilty of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.  Then they ushered the defendant out of the courtroom.

Curtis didn’t react to the verdict–it was the fourth time it had been pronounced over the past fourteen years.  Two other trials ended in juries divided along racial lines.

Lola and Archie Flowers didn’t show much emotion either.  They quietly went to the car to unload the special transparent television Curtis used the last time he was a Parchman resident.

But just beneath the surface, the emotion runs deep.  I have been corresponding with Curtis since the June, 2010 trial.  His faith is strong.  Sooner or later, he fully expects to be exonerated.  But life on Mississippi’s death row is a struggle at the best of times.

I didn’t see Curtis yesterday.  After driving nine hours from Arlington, Texas, I was informed that my name had not been placed on his visiting list.  Curtis had been told to send out visitation forms to everyone he wanted to be on his list.  I got my form and returned it.  But someone at Parchman decided to leave me off the visitation list.  So, while Lola Flowers hopped on the visitation bus, I remained in the waiting room.  (more…)

Tulia script plays out in southern Louisiana

· 1 Comment ·

Sheriff Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish reported yesterday that 70 narcotics cases made by a single undercover officer are being dismissed.  Elijah Gary, the officer responsible for making almost 100 cases in the Parish, was on loan from a neighboring Parish (see Times-Picayune article below for the details).  When it was discovered that Mr. Gary had been convicted of domestic abuse and violating a restraining order, he was taken in for questioning.  Beating up a girlfriend and violating a restraining order doesn’t disqualify an undercover cop–lying about it does.

Several attorney friends sent me this story yesterday because of the obvious parallels between Elijah Gary and Tom Coleman, the Texas “officer of the year” who implicated 47 residents of Tulia, Texas in 1999.   According to the Times-Picayune story, “[Sheriff] Champagne’s office received the Crimestoppers Law Enforcement Award at the 25th annual Crimestoppers luncheon in March in New Orleans” on the strength of Elijah Gary’s work.  (more…)