30 November 2003

U.S. Death Cases:

(1) It's hard to defend a case wherein your client is filmed admitting the murders. But here's the attempt. Defendants: Sebastian Burns & Atif Rafay

(2) Despite a confession you might get a new trial if new evidence shows that teeth marks on the body don't match you and the bite marks were the prosecutor professed that the bite marks were the strongest part of the case. Defendants: Harold Hill & Dan Young Jr.

(3) It took a lawsuit which cost the feds $1.1 million to get this case looked at again:
After Trentadue's body was found, with his face bloodied and bruised and his throat cut, prison officials concluded he hanged himself. The local medical examiner openly questioned the conclusion.

Numerous internal probes by the government reaffirmed the suicide ruling but found Justice employees had lied during the case and that evidence was lost or mishandled, including a bloody sheet that was stuffed in an FBI car and putrefied, destroying its value as evidence. The cell was cleaned before forensic analysis and the noose that prison officials claimed had been cut down with the body was found intact.
. . .
An FBI agent divulged in court that he found two different types of blood stains on the mattress, one belonging to Trentadue and another from an unidentified person. But the second blood spot wasn't tested because there were no suspects and the mattress had been used by several prisoners over the years, officials said.
Dead Man: Kenneth Michael Trentadue

(4) If they wait too long the feds cannot seek the death penalty. Defendant: Charles Hatten

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