7 (of 7) New
Evidence
Where a first appeal has been dismissed, the
only means open to a
convicted person to secure a further appeal hearing
is by referral from the Criminal Cases Review
Commission. The CCRC is empowered by Parliament
to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice
and to decide whether convictions should be
referred back to the Court of Appeal.
In most cases, the CCRC will only refer
convictions where new evidence casting doubt on
the safety of the conviction
comes to light which was not capable of
being raised at the trial or previous appeal.
Since Sam Hallam’s trial and appeal, significant
new material
supporting his innocence
has emerged.
None of this evidence has ever been considered
by any court.
On
20 February 2008, an extensive
dossier of fresh evidence in the case was
presented to the Criminal Cases Review
Commission. The dossier
includes statements from witnesses who were
present at the murder scene who confirm Sam
Hallam was not there, material which casts
serious doubt on the truthfulness of the chief
prosecution witness and information that police
failed to disclose to Sam's defence team the
existence of witnesses who confirmed Sam's
account.
20 February 2008 - Sam supporters outside CCRC offices in Birmingham
Since its establishment in 1997, the CCRC has
been subject to successive government cutbacks
which have meant the Commission is seriously
under-staffed. It was not until late September
2008 that a caseworker was allocated to
investigate Sam's case. In November 2008,
the CCRC wrote to Sam advising that its
investigation was still at an "early stage"
and that no estimate for its likely
duration could be given. CCRC
staff interviewed Sam for the first time at HMP In
June 2009 some sixteen months after the new evidence
in his case was submitted. Their discussions with
him indicated that it will be a considerable time
before the CCRC's investigation of his case is
completed.
It has long been recognised that
uncorroborated
identification evidence is inherently unreliable.
A notorious example was media interviews
given by eye-witnesses immediately after the
shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell
station in July 2005. Although witnesses gave
what they sincerely believed were honest and
factually accurate accounts, CCTV footage showed
that their recollections were wrong in almost
every detail.
There were many irreconcilable
contradictions and inconsistencies in the
interviews, statements and testimony given by PH
and BK, it was unsafe for Sam Hallam to be
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment
based on this evidence alone.
Justice for Essayas Kassahun has not been
achieved by the conviction of an innocent man
for his murder. Justice for Sam Hallam will only
be won when he is released and exonerated.
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