A well-known forensic scientist who weighed in on a few of the US’s most infamous instances has been discovered answerable for fabricating proof that put two Connecticut males behind bars for a homicide they didn’t commit.
Dr. Henry Lee, 84, was dominated answerable for the wrongful convictions of Ralph “Ricky” Birch and Shawn Henning by US District Judge Victor Bolden in a pre-trial ruling launched on Friday.
As a results of Bolden’s resolution, Birch and Henning’s wrongful conviction fits in opposition to eight police investigators and the city of New Milford will transfer to trial, the Hartford Courant defined.
In Lee’s case, the jury will likely be requested to assign a damages quantity.
Birch and Henning have been convicted in 1989 of the grisly Dec. 1, 1985, stabbing loss of life of Everett Carr, 65.
The pair was recognized for committing burglaries within the space on the time of Carr’s loss of life, however there was no forensic proof that linked them to the crime.
They have been finally convicted partially due to proof from Lee, who testified that it could be doable for the then-teens to stab Carr 27 instances and minimize his throat with out getting any blood on their garments.
Lee additionally testified {that a} towel that was present in a rest room close to the crime scene had examined optimistic for bloodstains.
It was later instructed that the towel might have been touched by the alleged killers whereas cleansing up.
In 2008, when Birch and Henning have been struggling to attraction their case, a brand new check revealed that the towel stains weren’t blood, however slightly an inorganic substance, the Hartford Courant reported.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ordered new trials for each males in 2019, and the Litchfield State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed each fees the next 12 months.
At the time of the dismissal, Henning — who was solely 17 on the time of the alleged crime — had been out on parole since 2018.
Birch, who was 18 when Carr was killed, served greater than 30 years of a 55-year sentence.
The pair sued Lee, the eight police investigators and New Milford in December 2020.
In his ruling Friday, Bolden agreed with Birch and Henning’s evaluation that Lee by no means examined the towel, the Hartford Courant mentioned.
Lee’s personal professional on photographic proof conceded that photographs of the towel didn’t reveal indicators of forensic examination, the outlet added.
“Other than stating that he carried out the check, nevertheless, the report incorporates no proof that any such check was carried out,” the choose wrote.
“In reality, as plaintiffs famous, Dr. Lee’s personal consultants concluded that there isn’t any ‘written documentation or photographic’ proof that Dr. Lee carried out the TMB blood check. And there’s proof on this report that the assessments really performed didn’t point out the presence of blood.”
Bolden additionally criticized Attorney General William Tong’s workplace, which is defending Lee and plenty of the previous police detectives named within the swimsuit, in response to the Hartford Courant.
Lee initially certified for an immunity protection, however the state is not eligible to make use of it, Bolden opined.
Lee — who has beforehand headed the state’s forensic laboratory and is now a professor emeritus on the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Sciences, which is called in his honor — has repeatedly denied providing false testimony on the 1989 trial.
“In my 57-year profession, I’ve investigated over 8,000 instances and by no means, ever was accused of any wrongdoing or for testifying deliberately improper,” he instructed reporters in 2020.
“This is the primary case that I’ve to defend myself.”
Just six years after Birch and Henning have been convicted, Lee rose to nationwide fame when he testified at O.J. Simpson’s homicide trial in 1995.
He later weighed in on high-profile instances together with the killing of JonBenét Ramsey, the homicide of Laci Peterson, and the reinvestigation into the assassination of President John. F. Kennedy.
His function as a blood spatter professional through the trial of creator Michael Peterson, who was convicted of killing his spouse twenty years in the past, was additionally lined extensively within the hit documentary sequence “The Staircase.”
In 2007, Lee was accused by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler of hiding or destroying proof within the Phil Spector case. The accusation, nevertheless, was later thought-about baseless, in response to CourtTV.
With Post wires
