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Author Archives: csidds
Keeping Prosecutors protected from personal liability is the spawn of SCOTUS
An opinion piece pointedly discussing the exoneration cases where prosecutors continue to avoid legal consequences for dishonest acts such as perjury and other malfeasance. She makes SCOTUS ultimately responsible. Thanks to Phil Locke at the @wrongconvblog for this link. Full … Continue reading
Posted in criminal justice, DNA profiling, Forensic Science
Tagged junk science, prosecutorial misconduct, SCOTUS
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US Justice: Incentivising the death penalty for prosecutors’ advancement and political gain
Here we have Radley Balko on Louisiana’s two “hit men for the death penalty” who seem to have run aground on the reef of their own ambition and indifference to what most of us call “justice.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/06/in-louisiana-prosecutor-offices-a-toxic-culture-of-death-and-invincibility/
Cairo Egypt : Forensic Medicine under political attack ; poor quality science journals ; Ballistics gone bad
This following article has implications in regards to forensic publications. The few existing journals on “forensics” have little to no readership and inconsistent peer oversight.. “The scientific community is facing a ‘pollution problem’ in academic publishing, one that poses a … Continue reading
Cops try to minimize crime lab’s 5 year failure to supervise
Nothing looks more silly than a cop telling the public five years of his crime lab’s malfeasance is nothing to worry about. A jury seems not to care either. http://m.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/doubts-about-failed-dna-technician-surfaced-in-2010/Content?oid=2925589
Gideon’s Trumpet Revisited
More MS Supreme Court. MS county judge taken to school for throwing indigent client’s public defender out of his court for undisclosed “misconduct.” http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/04/02/court-orders-judge-jeff-weill-provide-info/70850474
Posted in Civil rights, criminal justice
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MS Supreme Court allows court hearing on a forensic maverick
A hearing on MS quasi forensic path guy Steven Hayne will enlighten us on how a small town judge handles the new science skepticism of SBS. Plus the creds of Steven Hayne. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/03/mississippi-supreme-court-rules-for-death-row-inmate-jeffrey-havard
Posted in Bad Forensic Science, criminal justice, forensic science reform
Tagged SBS
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Decrepit US system of homicide investigating is revealed
An amazing study of US unsolved homicide analysis that breaks through to the truth of how antiquated CJ attitudes hinder real crime fighting. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/02/why-are-american-cops-so-bad-at-catching-killers
Forensics: Wisc payout of $6.5M on wrongful conviction considered a ‘bargain” by its defense lawyer.
Wyoming crime lab tech cooks his own credentials San Francisco law enforcement reeling over multiple scandals Forensic science only offers probabilities, not guarantees that justice will be served How a defense pathology expert can get smeared in court by getting … Continue reading
The New York Times Forensic Science discussion seems odd
One person talks about “fixing forensics.” The other asks for forensic experts to be more HONEST about the limitations of what they (for better or worse in some cases) generally call “science.” Talk about attacking a serious subject from both … Continue reading
Forensics: Bad grades in DNA lab proficiency tests leads to nastiness in court
This is an update from yesterday’s report on the SFO crime DNA lab getting hammered for insufficiencies. Full article. The next link is also related to this topic. SFO Distrist Attorney now going after an investigation of the SFO Police, Sheriffs, and … Continue reading
Posted in DNA mixtures, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct
Tagged Forensic science, junk science
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