Judge tosses out two types of DNA evidence used regularly in criminal cases – Forensics in Focus

EXCLUSIVE: Justice Mark Dwyer has ditched the results of low copy number DNA testing and Forensic Statistical Tool from the cases of Andrew Peaks and Jaquan Collins, who are charged in unconnected violent felonies in Brooklyn. Local prosecutors say the DNA tests have help prosecute dangerous criminals and exonerate those found to be innocent. But Dwyer said these techniques don’t belong in the courtroom if forensic scientists are unable to agree that these tests are reliable.Read the entire story.

Comment: This is entirely the reverse opinion from a judge also from the Brooklyn bench whom last year determined that bitemark comparisons “comported” with the NY Rules of Evidence. This judge must be a different breed of cat.

**********

From the UK.

Exonerees in the UK: left penniless and abandoned. By Carole McCartney

Were it not shocking enough that we continue to wrongly convict people in England and Wales and make it ever harder for them to win their appeal, we are abandoning those individuals who manage to win their freedom, penniless, often homeless, and always damaged. With the recent showing of a compelling TV documentarly that investigates whether there has been a number of health professionals wrongful convicted of murder, concerns are once again being raised about what happens to victims even after they win their freedom. Full article here.