Stamford Painter / Poet Iyaba Mandingo Big Hit On Manhattan Stage

Updated 10-1-11
Bios
For
Playwright, Director, Producer

Caribbean Life, 10-1-11: 'unFRAMED' tells immigrant's story

unFRAMED Website

Via
ShowBusiness Weekly

Theater Reviews
Tuesday, September 27, 2011

unFramed
By Kevin Powell

Artist and performer Iyaba Ibo Mandingo is undeniably talented. Though he describes himself “as a painter and a poet,” in UnFramed, Mandingo also demonstrates his abilities as a singer, dancer, performance artist, standup comedian and storyteller. With the aid of director Brent Buell (From Sing Sing to Broadway; The Gem Exchange), Mandingo combines his talents and produces a multimedia performance that is entertaining, thought-provoking and truly beautiful.

Complete Article

Iyaba Ibo Mandingo's unFRAMED --Excerpts

Column @ law.com

War on Immigrants Continues Unabated
Andy Thibault
The Connecticut Law Tribune
May 12, 2003
The case of Iyaba Mandingo, poet, father of five, teacher and now prisoner, is typical of hundreds around the country as government officials, in a supposed hunt for terrorists, expel our friends and neighbors. Eighty years ago the government rounded up Italians on false charges; today, it's mostly people of color.

Law.com

Complete column -- War on Immigrants Continues Unabated --also here

BIOS, Iyaba Mandingo's unFRAMED
http://www.unframedtheplay.com/

IYABA IBO MANDINGO (Playwright, Performer) poet, painter, writer, and playwright - is a native of Antigua, West Indies, who came to the United States in 1980 as a young boy. His earliest exposures to the arts were through his mother, a professional singer, and his grandparents, a tailor and a seamstress who first introduced him to colors and patterns, paving a path to his many ways of expression: drawing, painting, sculpting, writing and performing. Iyaba studied fine arts at Southern Connecticut State University and today teaches in and around the tri-state area as a Master Teaching Artist. He is a member of the Harlem Arts Alliance.

Iyaba is a two-time Connecticut Grand Slam champion and in January 2011 won Yale University’s Martin Luther King Birthday Invitational Slam, his third such win. He appears regularly as a performance poet in venues across the United States and abroad, including Nuyorican Poetry Café, Brooklyn Moon, and Next Door Café among others in the NY area and was the keynote performer at the 2011 Westchester, NY Poetry Festival.

Iyaba was awarded a national Percent for the Arts Program artist grant, as well as grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and multiple commendations from the Nassau County African American Museum. His artwork has been included in over a dozen group and individual shows in the tri-state area. He was recently seen at 59E59 as Henry in Deb Margolin’s The Expenses of Rain (Laura Barnett, director). He is the author of three chapbooks of poetry, 41 Times, Amerikkan Exile and his latest, 40 days & 40 nites of write. His new novel, Sins of My Fathers, will be released in early 2012. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Summer, 2011 Artist in Residence.

unFRAMED is Iyaba’s first full-length play in poetry and prose, during which he uses his canvas to paint his physical portrait while using his words to tell his personal story, a story of an undocumented immigrant boy's journey to manhood through the perils of adolescence, the pitfalls of racism and the challenges of finding identity in his new country.

unFRAMED is winner of the 2011 Excellence in Theatre Award from the DC Black Theatre Festival. The play has been presented all over the east coast, including at the Railroad Playhouse in Newburgh, the Puffin Cultural Forum, as a Spotlight show at the DC Black Theatre Festival; at colleges and universities (York College -- NY, Nichols College -- MA, University of Baltimore -- MD, Rider College -- NJ); galleries (Casa Frela -- Harlem, Gallery 1212 -- CT) and the Hudson Valley Writers Center. unFRAMED is part of the 2011 Art of Justice Series at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in NYC.

DIRECTOR
BRENT BUELL has taken the directorial helm on work including From Sing Sing to Broadway, which premiered at Playwrights Horizons in NYC; his comedy The Gem Exchange; Rosemary Hester’s You Can’t Leave That There; Wood Bars, which he wrote with Miguel Valentin for the opening of John Buffalo Mailer and Tom Kail’s Back House Productions; and his Las Vegas spectacular, Undone Divas. He wrote and directed The Terrors of Teri, a film for Ohio University’s University College, and Goddess Films tapped him to direct its new comedy Moses (selected for the 2011 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival) starring Rosie DeSanctis. Brent has taught at CUNY and for The Working Theater. For ten years, he volunteered with the non-profit organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts, directing theater in New York’s maximum-security prisons. There his productions of plays, ranging from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to three original works by prisoners, have earned praise from critics, including from The New York Times. His Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code premiered at Sing Sing and was the subject of a feature article in Esquire by bestselling author, John Richardson. His experiences provided the basis for his chapter “Drama in the Big House” in the book Performing New Lives, Prison Theater by Jonathan Shailor.

An accomplished actor, Brent has appeared in classic roles from Shakespeare and Ibsen to Moliere and Strindberg, and on the big screen in both the hit comedy Grand Opening and the soon to be released controversial thriller Al Qarem. He has written two novels, Rapturous (early 2012) and Daniel and My Revelation (Fall 2012). Mr. Buell received his M.A. from Ohio University where he studied with novelist Herbert Gold.

PRODUCER
JANE DUBIN is the President of DOUBLE PLAY CONNECTIONS, a theatrical production and management company committed to supporting emerging artists & playwrights in the creation and development of new works. Jane is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute's 14 week (NYC) and O’Neill Center Intensive (CT) Producing Workshops and a member of TRU’s Producer Mentorship Program. Broadway: The Norman Conquests (7 TONY nominations, winner – TONY, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Best Play Revival); Off-Broadway: Groundswell, starring Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury and Souleymane Sy Savane; Beebo Brinker Chronicles at 37 Arts (2008 GLAAD Media Award for Theatre); National Tour: The 39 Steps. Other: OPA! at TBG Theatre (Best Commercial Production, MITF 2008; TRU Voices Award for Most Promising New Musical 2007), Take Me America by Bill Nabel and Bob Christianson (Best Musical, MITF 2007), Count Down, by Dominique Cieri, at the Bank Street Theatre and MentalPause by Margaret Liston, at the WorkShop Theatre (MITF 2006) and Solo Play Lab (NYC) and Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia. Jane is also the consulting producer for Moving Mantras, a dance company inspired by the practice of yoga. www.DoublePlayConnections.com

Iyaba At Last Year's BATTLE OF THE GIANT POETS

Grand Finale, Iyaba Mandingo Pt. 1

Grand Finale, Battle of the Giant Poets Iyaba Mandingo Pt. 2 of 3

Grand Finale, Battle of the Giant Poets Iyaba Mandingo Pt. 3 of 3 the end

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Louis The Frog Reports Progress In Boardwalk Repair At Little Pond, White Woods, Litchfield, CT

UPDATES:
Friday, Sept. 30
White Memorial: The Boardwalk is currently impassable...I mean..REaLLY impassable...flooding from yesterday's rain ...

Ongoing Repairs Via Litchfield Biz

Louis The Frog, in an exclusive interview with The Cool Justice Report, reports laborers are working mightily to tear up and rebuild the smashed boardwalk at Little Pond, White Woods, Litchfield, CT.

The guys are salvaging as much of the damaged wood as they can to use again for the rebuilt structure," Louis said. "As a frog, that kind of conservation means a lot to me."

Louis could not say when the work might be completed. He noted several sections of the boardwalk leading up to the smashed sections are also being rebuilt.

Recent storms tore up and smashed the boardwalk -- a 1.6 mile lap around Little Pond -- at a couple key intersections.

Smashed Little Pond Boardwalk, White Woods, Litchfield, CT

Blast From The Past: Frog Mating Season, 2009

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Hartford's Mike Machine Gun Oliver Arrives In Puerto Rico For Oct. 1 Bout

Team Oliver -
Iceman John Scully, Head Trainer;
Sammy Vega, Manager/Adviser




ICEMAN ANALYSIS:
I look at it like this...Mike-Mike has been eating all day (Ive been cooking for him in camp)...he came in with no trouble at 128 today..JuanMa was 131 and U KNOW HE tried to come in as light as possible...so this morning he was probably 135...and he still has a WEEK to goof trying to make weight, he'll be miserable...Mike-Mike will eat 3 meals a day between now and then and still make weight EASILY...if JuanMa is even just 0000000000000000000000000000.1 pound over 126 he's LOSING it that day...in a 12 round fight with a guy as fast and who throws as many punches as Mike it could be trouble...like I say, I don't get too excited, just pointing stuff out...

More
Photos
Via
BoxingScene.com

Mike Oliver has arrived in Puerto Rico, where he plans to finish up his training for the scheduled headliner on the upcoming event "Triple Corona III." Oliver faces former two division champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” López at the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in Bayamon.

BoxingScene.com post with more photos

Mike With Sammy And Poet Gaby 'She Be Stinging' Calvocoressi At The Hartford Club Prepping For Ct Young Writers Trust Triple KO Event Held In January 2010

Triple KO Photo Gallery

Video & Text, Iceman's Motivational Talk At Rotary

Iceman To British Beatdown: The New Bad Chad Dawson Fighting Machine Ready For Bernard Hopkins Oct. 15

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Patti Smith & Photos At Wadsworth

PHOTOS BY PATTI SMITH

Virginia Woolf’s Desk, Monk’s House, 2003
Unique Polaroid print, 4 ¼ x 3 ¼ in (image size)
© Patti Smith
Allen Phillips/Wadsworth Atheneum
-
Walt Whitman’s Tomb, Camden, NJ, 2007
Unique Polaroid print, 4 ¼ x 3 ¼ in (image size)
© Patti Smith
Allen Phillips/Wadsworth Atheneum

Artist, Musician and Poet Patti Smith’s
New Photography and Installation Work to be Presented
at the Wadsworth Atheneum

HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 20, 2011 – From her explorations of artistic expression with friend and vanguard photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the 1960s and 70s to her profound influence on the nascent punk rock scene in the late 1970s and 80s, pioneering artist, musician, and poet Patti Smith has made her mark on the American cultural landscape throughout her 40-year career. This October, an exhibition of Smith’s work will premiere at the Wadsworth Atheneum, featuring over seventy photographs, one multimedia installation and one video work, created between 2002 and 2011.

The first museum presentation of Smith’s photography in the United States, Patti Smith: Camera Solo will highlight the relationship between Smith’s photography and her interest in poetry and literature and is on view from October 21, 2011 – February 19, 2012.

“Patti Smith’s photography, shaped over decades of observation, commemorates the artists, poets, authors, family and friends from whom she draws inspiration. Modest in scale and shot solely in black and white, they are sometimes disquieting and often beautiful, but always intimate,” said Susan Lubowsky Talbott, Director and CEO, Wadsworth Atheneum, and curator of the exhibition. “We are thrilled to present this work at the Wadsworth Atheneum where Smith’s mentor Sam Wagstaff Jr. was curator and the work of her dear friend Robert Mapplethorpe was the subject of two separate exhibitions.”

Erin Monroe, Acting Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum, served as the project coordinator for the exhibition.

Patti Smith: Camera Solo will present approximately seventy black-and-white silver gelatin prints photographed with her vintage Polaroid camera. In the era of digital imaging and manipulation, Smith’s works champion the use of photography in its most classical sense: as a tool to document a “found” moment. Their diminutive scale and diffused lighting emphasize the subtleties and the importance of each subject, as in Arthur Rimbaud’s Utensils or My Father’s Cup, where the objects are tightly-cropped and detached from their surroundings.

The installation, Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell), is titled after an extended poem written by the nineteenth-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud, one of Smith’s greatest muses. The installation serves as a symbol of Rimbaud’s arduous journey over land and sea, before his untimely death at age 37. The central element is a replica of the wooden litter used to transport the ailing poet over 100 miles from Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) to France for medical assistance. Smith commissioned the piece based on a sketch by Rimbaud she viewed at the Musée Rimbaud in Charleville, France. On the surface of the litter, the artist has inscribed the poet’s last words. The entire object is shroud with heavy, black fishing net. Surrounding the piece will be a selection of photographs celebrating Rimbaud’s life and legacy.

In addition, the exhibition will include the 2008 film "Equation Daumal," on the French poet René Daumal, (1908-1944), who is known for his writings on spirituality and perception. This 16 mm Super 8 film was directed by Patti Smith with camera work by the New York-based filmmaker Jem Cohen (b.1962). Smith's distinctive voice narrates a dreamlike montage of images pertaining to Daumal’s life and writings. Several scenes are set in the Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris, which appears in many of Patti Smith’s photographs in the exhibition.

The exhibition’s opening event on October 20th, 2011 will take place on Rimbaud’s birthday and, as she has done annually since 1974, Smith will stage a performance honoring him. This event, staged in the museum’s historic Aetna Theater, will benefit the museum and its programs. The performance will begin at 7:30 and Smith will be accompanied by longtime band member, Lenny Kaye, on guitar, and her daughter, Jesse Smith, on piano. The performance will be preceded by an intimate reception with the artist from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Tickets are available at www.wadsworthatheneum.org.

Patti will also be at the museum on Friday, October 21 for a book signing from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm of the exhibition’s illustrated catalogue, distributed by Yale University Press, which includes an interview with the artist by Talbott.

The Wadsworth is currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation across all five of the museum’s buildings, which will result in the addition of 8,000 square feet of reclaimed gallery space, a 14% increase, and the complete reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection. Marking the completion of the first phase of the renovation, the Morgan Great Hall reopened in May 2011 after a year-long closure, and has been reinstalled for the first time with large-scale works from the museum’s Contemporary art collection by artists such as Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Andreas Gursky, Robert Rauschenberg, Sean Scully, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol, among others. The renovation will also bring significant improvements for visitors, including improved wayfinding, new interior and exterior signage, bi-lingual signage, and space for commissioned art on the exterior of the museum. The entire renovation project is slated for completion in 2013.

Support for the exhibition is provided by The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, The Calvin Klein Family Foundation, Mark Bertolini, Lori and Liam McGee and The Larsen Photography Fund.

Patti Smith
Patti Smith (b. 1946) began as a visual artist and has been making drawings and taking photographs since the late 1960’s. In recent years her practice has expanded to include installation. The artist has been represented by Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. In 2008, Smith was the subject of Patti Smith Land 250 at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporaine, Paris, and Written Portrait - Patti Smith at Artium Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Strange Messenger: The Work of Patti Smith, was organized by The Andy Warhol Museum in 2002 and traveled to numerous venues including the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, and the Museum Boijsman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Her work has also been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Eki, Kyoto; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Triennale di Milano, Milan; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels and the Pompidou Center in Paris. Just Kids, a memoir of her remarkable relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe during the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies, won her the 2010 National Book Award in the nonfiction category. Her 1975 album Horses, established Smith as one of most original and important musical artists of her generation. She continues to perform throughout the world and in 2007 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In July of 2005 she was presented with the prestigious insignia of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters, an esteemed French cultural honor. In May 2011, Smith won the Polar Music Prize, Sweden's most prestigious music award.

Contemporary Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Promoting contemporary art has always been an important expression of the museum’s mission, beginning with founder Daniel Wadsworth’s support of the fledgling Hudson River School in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1975, the Wadsworth was the first to embrace the idea of contemporary art in an “encyclopedic” museum through its MATRIX program, an ongoing series of single-artist exhibitions that have showcased more than 150 artists, providing many with their first solo museum exhibition in the United States—including Adrian Piper, Louise Lawler, Janine Antoni, and Dawoud Bey. Many MATRIX artists, such as Sol LeWitt, Willem de Kooning, Christo, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Gerhard Richter, are now considered seminal figures in contemporary art. Recent MATRIX artists include Kitty Kraus, Justin Lowe, Kim Schoenstadt, and Rashaad Newsome.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is located at 600 Main St. in Hartford, Connecticut. The Museum is open Wednesdays to Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please visit www.wadsworthatheneum.org.

Contact:
Sarah A. Ferri
Institutional Advancement & Communications Assistant
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
860.838.4081

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Smashed Little Pond Boardwalk, White Woods, Litchfield, CT

A refuge for swans, beavers, frogs, turtles and many kinds of birds and other wildlife -- Little Pond took a hit like everything else during recent storms.


Heard on the street:

The Foundation guys can't repair it until the water recedes ... the good news is damage is bad in only two small areas. Once the guys can get to it, it will be no time until the boardwalk is perfect again.

Until then, Little Pond lovers of various ages, shapes and sizes continue to traverse the damaged spans any way they can ...

Meanwhile, the White Memorial Foundation prepares for its annual family day on Sat., Sept. 24.

White Memorial Conservation Center

Cornell's Bird Search Guide

White Memorial Family Nature Day Saturday, Sept. 24

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Kreig: Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes

Via
CtWatchdog




By ANDREW KREIG

Justice Integrity Project

President-Elect Obama’s advisers feared in 2008 that authorities would “revolt” and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Obama’s top transition advisers.

University of California at Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley, Jr., the sixth highest-ranking member of the 2008 post-election transition team preparing Obama’s administration, revealed the team’s thinking in moderating a forum on 9/11 held by his law school (also known as Boalt Hall.

Edley sought to justify Obama’s “look forward” policy on Bush-era law-breaking that the president-elect announced on a TV talk show in January 2009. Edley’s comments provide context for a series of Connecticut Watchdog columns published since last year, most recently July 21, revealing how two nationwide Obama probes of Bush-era law-breaking were compromised from the start and doomed to become whitewashes.

The separate probes of torture and political prosecutions were led by the prominent Connecticut federal prosecutors John Durham and Nora Dannehy, respectively. Dannehy has since become a top aide in the office of Connecticut Attorney Gen. George Jepsen.

Complete Article As Posted At CtWatchdog

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Beijing Native -- A Dancer, Editor & Physician -- At Litchfield-Morris Rotary Sept. 15

Dr. Tracey Zhu, a New Haven internist, newspaper editor and dancer, will be the guest speaker for the Litchfield-Morris Rotary Thursday, Sept. 15 at noon at Forman School.

The public is welcome. Please RSVP at marianella@perezswanson.com



Zhu came to New Haven, Connecticut in 1990 from Beijing, China. She is one of the co-founders of Connecticut Chinese Culture Association and has coordinated annual Chinese culture events in Connecticut for the past eight years.

Zhu has practiced medicine as a licensed physician in New Haven for five years. She is the editor for The Epoch Times, the most widely distributed Chinese newspaper outside China.

She studied Chinese Classic Dance and performed in groups in Chinese New Year shows at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. Zhu has presented numerous workshops in the Connecticut. She is a member of Connecticut Falun Dafa Association, the presenter of Shen Yun Performing Arts. Shen Yun is scheduled to have three shows in Palace Theater, Waterbury on Dec. 26, 29 and 30.

Zhu's presentation will include a traditional Chinese dance workshop with audience participation, as well as a video, slide show and Q & A.

Her presention will include aspects of traditional Chinese philosophy and what she described as the destruction of authentic culture and art in last 60 years as well as the Renaissance of Chinese culture as demonstrated in Shen Yun performance arts.

Connecticut Chinese Culture Association

Epoch Times

Shen Yun Performing Arts

For more information, contact:
Andy Thibault
Speaker Committee Chair,
Litchfield-Morris Rotary
http://www.litchfieldmorrisrotary.org/index.html
Cell: 860-690-0211
tntcomm82@cs.com

Litchfield-Morris Rotary

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Guess Who's Coming To Dinner ...

The 'Angel'
Of Providence
[see halo below ...]

`This is quite an honor. I’m happy to be acknowledged and it’s cool to be noticed. I’m glad that I’ll be able to share it with my old gang who saw me fight so often in Connecticut.'

The popular Italian-American with a passionate, cult-like following (“Pazmaniacs”) was the prestigious 1991 Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year Award recipient after he overcame a broken neck suffered in a car crash to win another world title.


Vinny Paz working out while wearing a "halo" after suffering a broken neck in a car accident.

OFFICIAL
ANNOUNCEMENT

2011 Conn. Boxing Hall of Fame
Induction Ceremony ‘Cool’ with Vinny Paz
7th annual Gala Induction Dinner Oct. 29 at Mohegan Sun

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (September 7, 2011) – Being inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame (“CBHOF”) is “cool,” according to five-time world champion Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Paz, who is one of seven 2011 inductees being honored Saturday night, October 29 at the seventh annual Gala Induction in the Uncas Ballroom at Mohegan Sun Casino.

The other CBHOF 2011 inductees are 1996 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team Captain, Lawrence Clay-Bey; world boxing judge Glenn S. Feldman; world light heavyweight title challenger Eric “Magic 2000” Harding; amateur boxing standout Kelvin Anderson; boxer, referee and coach Billy Taylor; highly-respected ringside physician, Dr. Michael Schwartz.

Tickets, priced at $75.00 per person, are available to purchase by calling Kim Baker at Mohegan Sun (860.862.7377) or Sherman Cain at the Manchester Journal Inquirer (800.237.3606 (X 321). Doors open at 5:30 PM/ET, followed by cocktails at 6 PM/ET, and then dinner.

A year ago, the CBHOF changed its eligibility rules to allow a maximum of one non-Connecticut fighter who had distinguished himself boxing in the Nutmeg State. “Irish” Micky Ward, from Massachusetts (Lowell), was the first while Paz, who hails from Rhode Island (Cranston), will soon become the second.

“This is quite an honor,” Paz said. “I’m happy to be acknowledged and it’s cool to be noticed. I’m glad that I’ll be able to share it with my old gang who saw me fight so often in Connecticut. I had so many fights in Connecticut (15 with 12 wins), including by 50th career win. It was great fighting at home in Rhode Island and I grew-up fighting in Atlantic City, but Connecticut was like my second home because the ‘Pazmaniacs’ could easily travel there to watch me fight. Connecticut was awesome for me. I loved that it was only a 20-25 minute drive for me to the Connecticut border.”

Among the five world titles captured by Paz (50-10, 30 KOs) were the IBF lightweight and WBA light middleweight championships. The popular Italian-American with a passionate, cult-like following (“Pazmaniacs”) was the prestigious 1991 Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year Award recipient after he overcame a broken neck suffered in a car crash to win another world title.

Over the course of his illustrious 21-year pro career, Paz (originally known as Vinny Pazienza) defeated a Who’s Who of boxers, including Roberto Duran and Greg Haugen twice apiece, Lloyd Honeyghan, Gilbert Dele, Harry Arroyo, MelvinPaul and Esteban Cervantes.

Paz is looking forward to the filming of his life story -- appropriately named,“Paz” – that he reports has been 20 years in the making. Vinny believes the film will be completed by the end of 2012. Actor James Franco is in line to play Paz, who reports that Martin Scorcese may be the director, and Jack Nicholson could play his late father, Angelo.

Go on line to www.CTBoxingHOF.com for more information about the 7th annual CBHOF Gala Introduction Dinner or the history of this organization.


CONTACT:
BobTrieger
Full Court Press
978.664.4482 (office)
978.590.0470 (mobile)
bobtfcp@hotmail.com

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Baby Come Back, The Equals

Eyewitnesses And The Law Across The Pond

'It is in just such cases where the law eventually follows what ordinary people already know ... '




By Felicity Gerry
Barrister, London
Special To
The Cool Justice Report


It never ceases to amaze me how other countries are so far behind the developments in English law, although I never thought I would be saying that about the U.S.

A recent decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court (State v. Larry R. Henderson) brought in "sweeping new rules" on visual identification finally recognising scientific studies about mistaken identifications. It is in just such cases where the law eventually follows what ordinary people already know: We have all had our "Franky" moment.

In the words of Sister Sledge:

"I was walking down the street one day when I looked up I saw a friend … Hey Frankie! Do you remember me … he looked at me and then I blushed."

The song was probably about lost love, but the reality is that embarrassing mistaken identification is a daily occurrence. That's just an innocent example, but, imagine the danger if risks of mistaken identification are not properly recognised in a court of law.

The New Jersey decision only applies there, but is likely to have considerable impact across the U.S.

The debate across the pond rages as examples of misidentifications hit the press and the number of DNA exoneration cases continue to rise -- proving that mistakes in suspect identification have been made for years.

The Henderson case highlighted the additional risks of identification being affected by police conduct. Sandra Guerra Thompson, professor and director of the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Centre, added to the debate in the U.S.: "Memory does not operate like a video camera. It captures only a selective part of the events we encounter.

"People cannot prevent new information and suggestions from altering their memory, and time erodes memory, making retrieval difficult."

Over here, the dangers of mistaken identification have long been recognised: In 1905, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took up the cause for Adolph Beck who was eventually pardoned after mistaken identification by 15 people. The case led to a Committee of Inquiry and ultimately to the creation of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales.

In 1976. Lord Devlin's Committee on Evidence of Identification led to the UK Attorney General instituting special procedures in identification cases. In 1977, the Court of Appeal in R v. Turnbull issued guidelines to be observed by trial judges when identity was an issue. These guidelines are still followed today. Any failure to follow those guidelines is likely to result in a verdict being unsafe and any conviction being quashed.

The guidelines issued by the New Jersey Court recognise that a witness's identification of a suspect can be flawed, that courts may need to hear preliminary submissions on reliability and that juries should be given detailed explanations on how to treat unsupported evidence of identification. In the Courts of England and Wales, a Turnbull direction includes:

* Warning the jury on the special need for caution before convicting an accused person in reliance on the correctness of the identification;

* Instructing the jury that a mistaken witness can be convincing;

* Directing the jury to closely examine the circumstances in which an identification came to be made -- length of observation, distance, lighting, position of any impediments to the line of sight, discrepancy between description given to the police and the actual appearance of the accused.

A Turnbull direction is always given even if procedures have been properly followed. It is not required if the issue is the reliability of the witness rather than accuracy. But, the jury will need to be confident that the witness is honest and reliable.

Reliability can be affected by police procedures. In 1984 in the U.S., Jennifer Thompson identified Ronald Cotton as the man who had raped her at knife point. She went to the police the same day, worked on a composite sketch and looked at a series of police photos, picking out Ronald Cotton. She almost inevitably picked out the same man in a lineup.

She has since written: "I knew this was the man. I was completely confident. I was sure."

Eleven years later, DNA tests proved her completely wrong. The innocent man had served more than 10 years in jail. Thompson is now an advocate for criminal justice reform.

In 1984, in the UK, Code D of the police codes of practice was issued, later incorporated into law annexed to The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

As Ms. Thompson was making her terrible error and Sister Sledge was a hit in the charts, the English police were given detailed rules on how to conduct safer identification procedures. These days, the procedures are about as safe as they can be. Police misconduct will lead to case collapse.

Procedures are conducted by police officers who have no connection with the investigation. A witness must state if they have seen a photograph first as they will invariably pick out the same person, making the identification virtually useless.

Lineups have been replaced by a database of video images allowing for a video parade. That is - video recorded images of the suspect looking left, right and ahead together with usually 11 images of similar stooges. Stooges are pre-recorded in a database and chosen by the suspect and / or his lawyer together with the police officer conducting the procedure -- thus accommodating people of every race and appearance.

Any failures by the police are examined by a judge in a pre-trial hearing. If an identification procedure has not been properly followed or if the evidence of identification is poor, the trial judge can remove the case from the jury long before they deliberate and direct a not guilty verdict.

Standard stuff you may think but seemingly not in the US. No wonder if find myself shouting at the TV during US crime dramas. It seems, however the lax procedures are not fiction but hitherto were fact. Inevitably some in the uS have suggested that imposing rules on the police, changing the burden of proof (which seems to have been placed on the accused) and warning juries of the dangers of mistaken identity will bring about the release of guilty suspects. However, the U.S. can be reassured that this is not something that has led to widespread case failure. Suspects are routinely identified on video procedures and the police follow this up by collecting supporting evidence which leads to conviction in serious cases.

I prosecuted a serial pedophile in just such a case who is now serving an indefinite sentence.

In the new Jersey case, Chief Justice Rabner was right: To reach safe convictions, "it is essential to educate jurors about factors that can lead to misidentifications."

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on eye witness ID in November. Perry v. New Hampshire will be its first significant eyewitness identification case in 34 years. The case is concerned with whether judges must take a hard look at all identifications arising from suggestive circumstances or only those involving official misconduct.

This gives sufficient time for a flight to the UK for some research on how it's been done here for decades and to put Sister Sledge on the in-flight entertainment.

ABOUT FELICITY GERRY

Felicity Gerry is a high profile criminal barrister and author specialising in serious fatal, sexual, financial and violent offences. She deals in international cases of fraud and people trafficking. As a rape specialist advocate she is described as an "expert" in her field by the editors of the Legal 500. Her podcasts for CPDCast.com are some of the most popular in the country. Her greatest skill is in communicating complex legal issues in a simple and understandable way.

As a barrister, she is currently involved in cases concerning child rape, armed robbery and murder by stabbing to name but a few. She is a skilled advocate who appears in serious cases in Crown Courts across the country whilst maintaining a high media profile and a busy family life

Her first non-fiction book, The Sexual Offences Handbook which is co-authored with colleague Catarina Sjölin, has become an essential text for lawyers. It was published by Wildy, Simmonds and Hill in December 2009. It is the first of its kind to incorporate the law, practice and procedure for all sexual crimes from 1957 to the present day which also giving practical guidance on the applicable law and sentencing for sex crime trials.

Felicity Gerry is a popular and experienced broadcaster and writer with significant appearances on BBC television and Sky News, broadcasts on Panorama, BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme, The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC. Felicity has written numerous commentary pieces in leading publications such as The Times, Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Daily Express. Alongside this, she writes for Counsel Magazine and The Barrister. Felicity is a regular contributor to The Times Online Law Central and is the official blogger for Criminal Law and Justice Weekly

Felicity lives in Bedford with her husband and their three children, her mother, two dogs, five chickens, her horse, two ponies and a foal. She has also written and published a children's book called 'Elsie the Pony' available on Amazon

Felicity Gerry Podcasts

A Day In The Life of A Barrister – Felicity Gerry

Rich Meehan CT Post Column Also Looks At Evolving Eyewitness ID Rules

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