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Houston
Nurse's missteps throw
guilt in child abuse cases into doubt
By STEVE McVICKER, Houston
Chronicle, April 20, 2004
Faulty physical exams performed
by a former nurse with the Children's Assessment Center may have
resulted in the wrongful conviction of some defendants in child
sex abuse cases, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal
said Monday.
Rosenthal said a review of
examinations performed by the nurse found potential problems
in approximately 170 cases in which charges were filed. He could
not say how many of the cases are still pending and could now
be in jeopardy.
"But I'm more concerned
that she committed an error and that someone was convicted wrongfully,"
he said.
The Children's Assessment Center
(CAC) was founded in 1991 by Harris County to provide a coordinated
approach to evaluating and treating children believed to have
been molested. Suspected abuse victims are given a physical examination,
counseling and other services. The results of the examinations
help the district attorney's office decide which cases to prosecute
and what can be used as evidence at trial.
The potential problems surfaced
after the nurse left the CAC, Rosenthal said, and the district
attorney's office asked an independent doctor to verify her work
in one case before it went to trial. Rosenthal said he does not
know what sparked the concern.
But at that point, the office
initiated a "peer review" by area doctors of all of
her cases. The reviews, he said, included medical records as
well as either photographs or videotapes.
Rosenthal estimated that physicians
have found potential problems in as many as 20 percent of the
pending cases.
The Houston Chronicle was unable
to contact the nurse for comment. Additionally, neither CAC officials
nor officials with University of Texas Health Science Center
at Houston, which has a working relationship with the CAC, returned
calls.
Although not all of the nurse's
examinations resulted in the filing of criminal charges, CACe-mails
obtained by the Chronicle under the state open records law indicate
that she was involved in at least 800 alleged child abuse cases.
"It is my understanding
that you are reviewing the 800 cases seen by (the nurse),"
reads a Feb. 26 e-mail from CAC executive director Elaine Stolte
to Dr. Rebecca Girardet of the Health Science Center and CAC.
"Also, there is a special investigator with the District
Attorney's office assigned to review the cases brought to him
that pose potential problems. Of these, the cases that are disposed
of and may have resulted in a guilty plea or sentencing by a
jury solely based on the medical findings will be the ones of
most concern."
Also e-mailed on Feb. 26 was
a note to Stolte in which Girardet said she had "come across
another of (the nurse's) charts that contains flaws that could
potentially have repercussions."
In a Feb. 27 e-mail to a member
of the CAC Partner Council, Stolte wrote: "I just had a
meeting with FBI Special Agent Glenn Gregory. The Oklahoma case
that was a Federal Prosecution and resulted in Federal Sentencing
had a misdiagnosis by (the nurse)."
After listing several questions
that federal authorities wanted answered, Stolte added that Gregory
was "concerned that this may get out into the media."
Gregory did not return a call
from the Chronicle on Monday.
Rosenthal added that his office
is contacting defense attorneys who represent the defendants
in the cases identified as potentially having problems.
The immediate past president
of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association said he thinks
defense attorneys should be notified in any case handled by the
nurse -- whether potential problems have been discovered or not.
"Otherwise it's going
to fall on the backs of every defense lawyer who's had a sexual
assault case in however many years she (was there) to attempt
to follow up individually," said Troy McKinney. "And
that's just going to be a disaster."
The revelation about the problems
with CAC cases is the latest in a series of scandals involving
the collection and processing of evidence in Harris County criminal
cases. In December 2002, the Houston Police Department was forced
to shutter its DNA laboratory after an independent audit found
numerous problems including shoddy science, undertrained employees
and a decaying workplace. The lab remains closed and DNA evidence
is being retested in almost 400 cases.
The DNA lab embarrassment was
followed by last year's closure of the HPD toxicology lab. Law
enforcement officials say the retesting of toxicology cases may
dwarf the DNA lab problem.
|
 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
If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb
Publisher : Sheila
Steele
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
- injusticebusters
court advice :
- How to walk yourself through the justice system
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- Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)
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- Sermonette:
The
Naked Truth -- (You
will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this
page
Another target
of Dueck's malice: : Wilf Hathway
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the
civil trial.
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.
Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David
Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown
misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 |
- Stephen Williams:
Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police
- Terry
Arnold: : Snitch a
suicide?
- RCMP
scenario stings: Brian
Hutchinson starts digging
- Gary
wells: Faulty eye-witness
testimony
- Tulia,
Texas
- Gilmer,
Texas
- Willie
Upshaw
- Wrongfully convicted in Canada
- Foster Parent false accusations
- Martensville
- Don
Smith obscenity trial: an obscene conviction
- James
Lockyer
- Hurricane
Carter
- Johnny Cochran speaks up for
Bill Sampson
- Vopnis
- Abdulai
Mohamed
- Nfld Defamation story:
- Wanda
Young
- Racism
in the Federal Civil Service
The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and
Sebastian Burns convictions
Trial
set for June 15
We
know part of this disclosure is a forged statement and perjured
affidavit from a Winnipeg cop
-
-
-
-
The
Crown is still fighting Fred Poirier -- and they are losing.
Secret Commissions Case from Northern B.C.
-
-
- 2005: In
the United States the proven wrongful convictions just keep coming
at us!
-
- Brandon Morin:
- Convicted in Oregon
- of rapes which did not happen
- This website has good information
about Measure 11 -- Oregon's Mandatory Sentencing requirements
which have been in place since 1994. In this case we see how
the combination of a flawed grand jury system and prosecutors
who seek not justice but convictions is a recipe for wrongful
convictions.
-
Canadians who
have been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations
combined with zealous Crown
A
round-up of wrongful convictions in Canada
- Robert
Baltovich
- Michael Burns
- Sebastian Burns
- Rodney
Cain
- Wilbert
Coffin
(hanged, 1953)
- Jason
Dix
- Jim
Driskell
- Jody
Druken
- Randy
Druken
- Hugues
Duguay
- Michel Dumont
- Peter
Frumusa
- Walter
Gillespie and Robert Mailman
- Clayton Johnson
- Yvonne Johnson
- Herman
Kaglik
- Darren
Koehn
- 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
- Billy
Taillefer
- Steven
Truscott
- Joe
Warren
- Leon
Walchuk
-
- AIDWYC
- Innocence Project (Canada)
- Innocence Project (U.S.)
- Northwest Law Center on Wrongful Convictions
-
- Kirstin Lobato
- Jeffrey
Scott Hornoff
- Willie
Upshaw
- Hurricane
Carter
- Guildford
4
- Birmingham
6
- Amirault
- Houston
- U.S. wrongful convictions:
Exonerateed
- Kirk
Bloodsworth
- Laurence
Adams
- Ludrate
Burton
- Stephen
Cowans
- Wilton
Dedge
- Albert
Johnson
- Kenneth
Marsh
- Dwayne
McKinney
- James
Bernard Parker
- Peter
Reilly
- Peter
Rose
- Sylvester
Smith
- Clifford
St. Joseph
- John
Stoll
- Marty
Tankleff
- Wilton
Dedge
- Ray
Krone
-
- Still working on it:
- Dennis Deschaine
- Dennis
Perry
- Tim
Sandfort
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|
Revitalizing the
archives
From 1998 until
2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of identity crisis.
What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy
at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building
and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had
full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard
Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did
not always have access to the internet. Rick's pages: one | two
We posted our
earliest and later actions.
Early versions
of the site can be found on the Wayback Machine.
I began following
other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct
and the site's character took on another facet: a newsclipping
scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in
print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully
convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over
700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these stories
going.
It was the
story of the Ross children's treatment at the hands of the Saskatchewan
government which grabbed the attention of The
Fifth Estate.
The civil claim (The $10M Lawsuit as we called it) was only mentioned
briefly at the end of their show which aired in November, 2000.
When Richard
Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to
court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking
the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet.
- MacNeil clinic (the document which started it all)
- The Thompson Papers
- Carol
Bunko-Ruys reports
This claim
was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown
out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall
to sever all ties with the website.
The court fights:
- Les
Perreaux report
- QB271
These pages have links which
lead to other pages from that era. Now that some of the dust has settled,
I have been going back through the material we had posted in
the early days. In the spirit of keeping the scrapbook alive,
I have been reformatting and placing links. The original material
remains intact. I hope the information, which chronicles our
struggle is useful to you.
The identity
crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March
28, 2005
|
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Blogging
Blogging has been in the news.
It is the new, trendy thing with 40,000 new blogs being created
each day. I established a blog for this website last September
and it is now "taking off." These are a few of the
pages with ongoing discussions.
- Tasering Mary Lutz
- Saskatchewan Centenary
- Quint Blog discussion
- Rotten apples in the Saskatoon Police
- Blogging for choice
- Michael Cardamone witch hunt
- Implement recommendations of public
inquiries
- Stealing from the poor
- Vancouver's killer cops
- Tisdale rapists appeal
- Winnipeg police misdeeds
- Milgaard Inquiry
- Chief Sabo: can he be trusted?
- The Old Boys' Club Must Go!
- Vancouver activists
- John Hudak: Falsely accused mountie
- City of intolerance
- Constable Larry Lockwood: Exciteable!
- Eric Cline
This is a great way for like-minded
people to communicate and share our views. It is easier than
making a website and marginally more difficult than a forum.
People who want to contribute
simply have to punch the "comment" link and they will
be taken to a page with a box which allows them to write their
comment, preview and post it. It takes a while for the comment
to show up and some people get impatient and repost. That's fine,
I trash the duplicate posts and no harm done.
Please, please give it a try.
The internet is distinguished from other media in that it is
really and truly interactive. Blogging makes it possible to express
your viewpoint even if you don't have a computer. You can go
to the library or a friend's place or an internet cafe. Once
you've mastered the basics (and believe me, if I can do it, you
can do it) you will be participating in one of the most democratic
-- and potentially powerful -- media the world as we know it
has ever seen.
Come on. Don't be shy. Join
the Weblog World! -- Sheila Steele, March 20, 2005
Toronto Police paid out $30M in secretly resolved
claims over last five years
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