Friday Roundup: Authorities Hinder Justice

In Texas,

the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s work remains stalled

. Chairman John Bradley has focused on the Commission’s policies and procedures instead of continuing the panel’s ongoing investigation of the Cameron Todd Willingham case which has raised questions about arson convictions statewide.   Bradley has also asked Commission members not to engage the media and would like to revoke the public’s right to address committee members at meetings.

Last April, the Innocence Project took on the case of Lewis James Fogle, who was convicted of murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1982 and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. 

DNA samples are still waiting to be tested

and there are several red flags in the case that raise questions about whether it was a wrongful conviction.

Two Washington men who have served 17 years bind bars for rape, kidnapping and burglary are seeking a new trial

with the help of the Innocence Project Northwest based on newly discovered DNA evidence.  The Superior Court Judge will decide at an April 21 hearing whether or not to vacate the convictions; if dismissed, these would be the Innocence Project Northwest’s second and third DNA exonerations in Washington.

A former crime lab technician in California may play a pivotal role

in undermining a triple murder conviction that federal prosecutors won last year against a gang member who faces life behind bars.  The conviction was based in part of the testimony of a retired police drug analysis after suspicions surfaced that she had taken cocaine and possibly other drugs from the lab.