|
Rafay/Burns
| Wilfred Hathway | Kyle
Unger | James Driskell
| Clifford St. Joseph |
John Stoll | Ludrate
Burton | Michael
Williams | Albert Johnson
| Shaka Sankofa:
Executed after conviction based on faulty eye-witness | U.S.
wrongful convictions: recently Exonerated Peter
Rose | Clifford St. Joseph
| John Stoll | Ludrate
Burton | Albert Johnson
| Stephen Cowans | Laurence
Adams | Peter Reilly | Still
working on it: | Dennis
Dechaine | Dennis Perry
| Dwayne McKinney |
Marty Tankleff |
Fingerprints
Stephen Cowan
`This boy did six years
in the joint for nothing'
Franci Richardson and Maggie Mulvihill, Boston Herald, May
7, 2004
The incorrectly labeled fingerprint used to convict
an innocent man in a 1997 cop shooting actually belonged to a
hostage whose print should have been ruled out first, several
sources told the Herald.
``The
question is, how can a competent fingerprint technician make
that mistake?'' asked James Dilday, Stephan Cowans' defense attorney.
``The ID unit is shoddy. This boy did six years in the joint
for nothing.''
Fingerprint
technicians Dennis LeBlanc and Rosemary McLaughlin have been
suspended from the Boston police identification unit pending
the outcome of a criminal investigation by Attorney General Tom
Reilly's office.
An
outraged Reilly plans to bring the case before a grand jury soon,
a source said.
Reilly is also investigating Sgt. Detective Gregory Gallagher,
who wrongly fingered Cowans as his shooter, and his colleague,
Sgt. Detective Kevin Waggett, who arrested Cowans, a law enforcement
source said.
LeBlanc
was the technician who processed and matched Cowans' fingerprint
to one found on a mug inside a home where the actual shooter
tried to hide out after firing a bullet into Gallagher's buttocks.
The
print that LeBlanc said matched Cowans actually belonged to a
family member who lived inside the home that was invaded by the
real shooter.
The
case remains unsolved.
The
Herald reported yesterday that the identification unit historically
has been a dumping ground for officers accused of wrongdoing.
LeBlanc
was suspended for 10 days in 1992 after he was caught drunk and
without his pants along the Charles River. He did not return
a call to the Herald yesterday.
``So
we throw the worst of our lot into the identification unit,''
Dilday said. ``How can someone of that ilk now be responsible
for such a serious process?''
Cowans
is mulling whether to file a civil suit against the city.
Boston
police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole has vowed to revamp the
identification and ballistics units, which she says she is trying
to have certified.
``We're
working very hard to resolve this issue,'' O'Toole said in a
recent interview.
Suffolk
District Attorney Daniel Conley said his office is using the
Boston fingerprint technicians, but is having their work double-checked
by state police.
Peter
Neufeld, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project,
predicts the Cowans' fingerprint fiasco is likely to open the
floodgates for an extensive review of cases.
``The Cowans case is a scandal - there's no question about it,''
Neufeld said. ``Once uncovered, you have to re-examine all the
other cases. The chances are very good that you'll find other
mistakes.''
|
 Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.
William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
Truth suppress'd, whether
by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com
Publisher Sheila
Steele
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the
civil trial.
Please participate
by posting your own photos and links of activism in your community.
Index
to the stories on this website
This is not
regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story
and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at
the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated
Index to Saskatoon Police stories
This is a pretty good scrapbook
for the 1998-2002 period.were they fired.
- An incredible, long series on abusive cops in
the Seattle Post-Intelligence
-
- Washington Post series on false confessions
-
-
- Ontario: Dylan
Chochla
- Keigo
Glen White
- John Chalmers
-
-
- "Expert" testimony
- Reid
Technique
- Clayton Johnson
- Monique Turenne
- James
Driskell
- Vancouver
police
- Winnipeg
police
Canadians who have
been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations
combined with zealous Crown
- Robert
Baltovich
Michael Burns
Sebastian Burns
Jason Dix
Jim Driskell
Jody Druken
Randy Druken
Michel Dumont
Peter Frumusa
Walter Gillespie and Robert Mailman
Clayton Johnson
Yvonne Johnson
Herman Kaglik
Kulaveeringsam "Kulam" Karthiresu
Stephen Leadbeater
Donald Marshall
Chris McCullough
Michael McTaggart
Felix Michaud
David Milgaard
Guy Paul Morin
Shannon Murrin
Jamie Nelson
Greg Parsons
Benoit Proulx
Atif Rafay
Louise Reynolds
Thomas Sophonow
Gary Staples
Steven Truscott
Joe Warren
Leon Walchuk
|
