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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

China Releases Sydney Woman Facing Death Sentence For Drug Trafficking

Kalynda Davis and Peter Gardiner
Sydney woman Kalynda Davis, who had been facing a possible death sentence in China over drug trafficking, was released. Chinese authorities did not charge Davis who returned to Australia.

The 22-year-old waited for a couple of weeks in China where she could have faced life sentence.

According to her friends, Davis is brash and hot-headed. They said that her life had an abrupt change in a very short period of time. Davis was eventually accused of trying to smuggle 36 kg of ice out of Guangzhou International Airport to Australia. She was accompanied by her co-accused New Zealander Peter Gardiner, whom she had met through the dating app Tinder only 2 weeks before the incident. 

Davis, who has her home in Penrith, is the daughter of a former NSW police officer. She did not inform anyone when she travelled in November. However, she told her friends that they should consider something must have gone wrong if they did not hear from her.

Things did go wrong for Davis who was intercepted by Chinese authorities at the airport. According to the authorities, Gardiner was recruited by an organised crime syndicate in Sydney. Daily Telegraph reported that the drug, which the pair had tried to smuggle had a street value of around $80 million. 

Gardiner, who also has an Australian passport, did not have any prior criminal records Down Under just like Davis who was also declared to be "clean skin" before this. 

Davis is a student of Penrith Christian School while she studied at Penrith Anglican College earlier. A talented athlete, Davis worked part-time in retail.

Gardiner, who lives in Richmond, remains in China. It is unclear whether he has been charged.

It is understood Chinese officials accepted Davis did not have any knowledge of the drugs and agreed to Australian requests for her release and immediate return home to Australia.

Davis repeatedly told consular officials she had no knowledge of the drugs.

ABC News earlier reported that the pair was not likely to appear in China court at least for a few months.

The prospects of Davis and Gardiner getting away with what they did was "very slim," if similar cases in recent times were taken into consideration.

A Chinese customs officer said that there was a possibility that some other people had also been involved in the smuggling.

China has extremely strict laws against drug trafficking as there is possible death penalty or a lengthy jail term.

Source: IB Times, December 9, 2014

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