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Author Archives: csidds
Prosecutors trail of theories about defendant’s guilt in this case ranged from guilt to innocence over a 30 year period. In late 2011, Jackson County prosecutors working through cold cases sought testing for a very different reason: to find Nelson’s … Continue reading
Innocent and after spending 20 years in Illinois prison, Bennie Starks sues prosecution’s bitemark experts
Bennie Starks In a twist of fate, two Illinois dentists are being sued by Bennie Starks whom they determined, in a 1986 trial, left a bite mark on a rape victim. They claimed the bite mark as “medically certain” to … Continue reading
Posted in Bite Marks, Bitemarks, CSI, Forensic Dentistry, Forensic Science
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The use of DNA from bite marks takes casework, status and money from ABFO dentists
The AP article (use your search engine for “bite marks” and “unreliable”) in June 2013 suggested that the bite mark dentists of the American Board of Forensic Odontology have been “supplanted by the more reliable science of DNA.” More recently, … Continue reading
Bite mark experts sound desperate in AP review of bad forensic science
Well, the story had to come out eventually. The Associate Press extensive investigation into the US forensic dental organization, the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO), reviews their past mistakes in court cases and current denials of problems in their … Continue reading
PBS-2012 Nova Production On Doubtful Forensic Science
With major contributors from the forensic science community, this in-depth PBS presentation discusses the strengths and weaknesses of forensic examiners and their effects on the US judicial system. Erroneous convictions involving bite mark identification and other “impression evidence” are the … Continue reading
An academic’s views on problems existing in forensic science testimony and methods
This is a repost of a 2009 article published by UCLA Today. The author is well established as an external evaluator of forensic methods. Shortly after this article appeared she was given a $700,000 research grant by the NIJ to … Continue reading
FORENSIC TESTIMONY: Science Biases and Subjectivity
This is a repost of my June 5, 2013 blog on the important subject of bias in forensic science Added comment: The expanding revelations of extraneous influences that can plague forensic experts in court has added to the existing literature … Continue reading
Posted in Bad Forensic Science, criminal justice, CSI, Forensic Dentistry, wrongful convictions
Tagged ABFO, Bitemarks, Criminal Justice, Csi Effect, forensic dentistry, forensic examiner error, incentivised crime labs, junk forensic science, Radley Balko, THE AGITATOR, wrongful convictions
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50 Years of Judicially Determined BRADY Violations Against Prosecutors are Worthless
This op-ed from the HuffPost’s Radley Balko makes the case that prosecutorial misconduct is a factor in a majority of exoneration cases and exists in other criminal convictions. The judicial and legal organizational responses to violations of Brady are nil. Legal … Continue reading
The “equitable balance” of constitutional rights faces off with legal procedural technicalities
This op-ed politely discusses the dis-connect between what the Supreme Court considers their “view” of constitutional rights (really a procedural statute of limitations argument) without touching on the personal rights and privileges of the inmate seeking a review of eyewitness … Continue reading
Posted in Innocence March
Tagged Claim of Innocence, federal habeas corpus, statute of limitations
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Research on eyewitness, victim and expert recantations after convictions
The University of Michigan continues its investigation into the causes of wrongful convictions via their archive of over 1000 cases where an innocent person was sent to prison. The varied judicial responses to recanting witnesses contained in this 10 page … Continue reading
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 