Monthly Archives: October 2016

‘Dubious’ forensic science casebook: ‘The San Antonio Four’

Inside Case Behind Wrongful Conviction Doc ‘Southwest of Salem’ Here ya go. Prosecutors and defense attorneys always have their ‘go-to” forensic experts to review evidence and ultimately, in some cases, no evidence at all. Read this about wound healing from … Continue reading

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Sketchy police use of body cameras; LEO use of predictive crime software biased and useless

NYPD has yet to outfit any of their officers with body cameras despite a 2013 federal court ruling that ordered the implementation of a body camera pilot program in at least 5 NYPD precincts: “Envisioned as a tool to bolster … Continue reading

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The attack of the “Face-Mark” Matchers – another doubtful FBI forensic “science”

Title credit: Radley Balko. “Atttack of the ‘bite mark matchers.” The above pic are three suspects in a Texas bitemark case post conviction federal hearing. Each color is a specific person’s upper and lower tooth outline. The DA used a couple … Continue reading

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Serial rapists and underachieving government crime lab; cops as “super-experts”

“Did Failures at APD’s Crime Lab Lead to Sexual Assaults in Houston?” (Austin Chronicle) A new Harvard Law Review article titled “The Judicial Presumption of Police Expertise” questions whether police should be treated as expert witnesses when giving testimony in criminal … Continue reading

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The underbelly of science vs police science arguments in the News

A former D.C. public defender has written an Op-Ed on Counterpunch.org titled, “Corrupted Evidence: How the Department of Justice is Blocking Forensic Evidence Reform” “Junk Science? —Legal Experts Slam Reliability of Much Forensic Evidence in Criminal Trials” (Ground Report) Thanks … Continue reading

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Data search into the success of criminal appeals: Results are………..

Arguments opposing innocence attach to a suspect when LEO investigators convince a prosecutor to file charges. It continues after either a plea bargain, which avoids the trial stage confirms guilt or a conviction after trial. The prosecutors’ response to any defendant’s appeal of … Continue reading

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Desperate Wife Takes Husband’s Colon to Austria for poison testing

Desperate measures in forensic science occur all the time. I once carried an as yet unidentified ( an still unID’d) human skull on-board a flight to meet with the famous anthro Bill Maples in Florida. My Medical Examiner thought I … Continue reading

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Fed Judge accepts self regulated forensics: “PCAST not regulatory”; forensic mistakes “low”

To the real story. Its about…….crime labs and courts self-regulating themselves on scientific issues rather than the 2016 PrEsiDEnTiAl ELEctiOn. All those “selfie” factors on the left are spot on. I wish for a figure 2 to measure the incidence … Continue reading

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Disappointed? Am Academy of Forensic Sciences blurb on PCAST and forensic validation

[Comments] and bold emphasis are mine. In summary, I call it misleading in certain important aspects. As Max Houck says in this re Tweet,  Crime lab debate misses the point and culprits. Lab is political football AND under-resourced. [from this “Our … Continue reading

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The Donald on #forensic criminal justice – De Niro and Petro – Groping vs Central Park 5 rape

  Donald Trump still not needing no DNA regarding the Central Park 5 case and his unrequited stupidity “and worse” are the topics today. Plus, he’s an “idiot” according to actor Robert De Niro. Play the De Niro 0.55 video … Continue reading

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