One of the former FBI officials who wrote a critical audit of the SBI crime lab has been asked by supporters of Kalvin Michael Smith to take a look at his case.
Jet Hollander, one of Smith’s supporters, said he asked Chris Swecker, a former FBI assistant director, to review the case and give a preliminary assessment. Swecker could not be reached for comment.
Smith is serving 23 to 29 years in prison after being convicted in the 1995 beating of Jill Marker at the Silk Plant Forest store off Silas Creek Parkway. Marker was pregnant at the time of the beating and gave birth to a son while in a coma. She is now blind and under 24-hour care in Ohio.
Smith has maintained his innocence and is appealing his conviction in federal courts after state courts rejected his efforts to win a new trial. Hollander said that he and other supporters, including the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, believe that Swecker is the perfect person to take an independent look at the case.
“We’re trying to find someone who’s credible and independent,” he said. “It’s not me, it’s not the DA’s office, it’s not the SBI. It’s a completely independent guy who’s well-respected and credible. I think it’s perfectly appropriate.”
Swecker is one of two former FBI officials who recently conducted an audit showing that SBI agents misrepresented blood evidence and withheld critical notes from defense attorneys over a 16-year period.
Hollander asked Winston-Salem police Chief Scott Cunningham if Swecker could be allowed to interview Lt. Joseph Ferrelli III, one of two police officials who helped the city’s Silk Plant Forest Citizens Review Committee review the case in 2008 and 2009. Sgt. Chuck Byrom, who also was assigned to work with the committee, retired earlier this year.
Cunningham said in an e-mail to Hollander that he would not allow Ferrelli to talk with Swecker because of an ongoing internal review by the police department. That review began after the citizens committee finished its work; one of the goals was to decide whether the case should be reopened.
“Participating in another review before the current review is completed is not proper,” Cunningham said in the e-mail. “Also, participating in reviews by private groups, entities, or individuals would not be a proper use of resources or efforts.”
He said that police officials would help Swecker track down all publicly available information about the case, including the report by the citizens review panel, but he noted that much of that information is on the city’s website.
In an e-mail to the Winston-Salem Journal, Cunningham said that the police department plans to release the results of the internal review in the next few weeks. He declined to comment further.
Over the past few years, the Smith case has come under scrutiny from the citizens-review committee and the Innocence Project at Duke University, which has worked with Smith since 2003.
In addition, a five-part series in the Winston-Salem Journal in 2004 raised many questions about the case.
The citizens-review committee released a final report in August 2009 that said that the committee had no confidence in the police investigation.
Separately, committee members voted 7-2 to approve a statement saying that there was no credible evidence that Smith was at the scene of the crime.
The police department is finishing up its internal review of the case. During the course of that review, police officials discovered that there was DNA evidence in the case that had never been tested.
Police sent that evidence to the SBI and then to LabCorp of America in Research Triangle Park for testing.
In July, police announced that no male DNA was found on clothing worn by Marker.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
727-7326
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement