Author Archives: csidds

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About csidds

Dr. Michael Bowers is a long time forensic consultant in the US and international court systems.

Forensics: Child abuse research: multiple fractures possible from single impact : animal study.

EAST LANSING – The years that Todd Fenton, Roger Haut and their research team spent smashing infant pig skulls in a lab at Michigan State University could change the way forensic scientists interpret skull fractures in children and the way … Continue reading

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Update on ‘Baby Tyler’ Iowa death case. Crime fighting in the UK and AU comes up zip

  Update: A classic example of legal/forensic relationship disharmony. Here are issue clarifications and further discussion from earlier CSIDDS blogs about an Iowa state medical examiner court hearing and trial testimony about cause and manner of death in a murder case. … Continue reading

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Pathologist gets spanked for using defendant’s statements as basis for determining cause and manner of death

Originally posted on FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends:
This case defines some limits to what a medical expert can consider in rendering  “with medical certainty” testimony. This should be a message to the odontologists who rely on…

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Forensics: Is the US military capable of reliably identifying remains from the USS Oklahoma?

This is a very sensitive topic as it is about identifying remains of 388 US Navy and Marine Corps personnel killed on the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese aircraft in the morning of December 7, 1941. … Continue reading

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Pathologist gets spanked for using defendant’s statements as basis for determining cause and manner of death

This case defines some limits to what a medical expert can consider in rendering  “with medical certainty” testimony. This should be a message to the odontologists who rely on law enforcement to determine how many people should be considered potential “biters” … Continue reading

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Private Funding for Forensic Science Assessments: A Quality and Gap Analysis

Comment: Notable in this announcement from the AAAS are the echoes of  previous narratives from various US forensic governmental oversight committees such as the National Research Council (NAS), NCFS, Congressional subcommittees and such. Funding of forensic science research is paltry in comparison … Continue reading

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“No preset rules in DNA Forensics”: examples of errors and doubts in DNA casework that juries must tackle.

This does not read like CSI Miami. Wait, that one got cancelled. Thank you Jesus. “A 2013 survey by the National Institute of Standards and Technology asked analysts from 108 labs to look at a three-person mixture and determine if … Continue reading

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‘Science’ trying to teach science standards in research and publishing. Where’s the J of Forensic Sciences?

This is basic stuff, but after a recent  publishing dust-up at Science, a group of gate-keeping science editors and their affiliates constructed a spread sheet with descriptors on how to more ‘scientifically’ vette research and articles published within their respective communities,. … Continue reading

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How a death row exoneree got to be on a conviction integrity commission

How a death row exoneree got to be on a forensic integrity commission tasked to ferret out wrongful convictions.  Terrorism attack in Tunisia brings immediate forensic and law enforcement response from the UK. Local medical examiner for two counties investigated … Continue reading

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Don’t mistake the technique for its content.

Originally posted on Eye of the beholder:
You know the adage, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees”? Analogous to bitemark “experts” with their advanced software and photo enhancement technology claiming it’s “science”. The testimony of the seeming bitemark “expert”…

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