Latest News on Forensic Science and Criminal Law
-
Join 223 other subscribers
Category Archives: AAFS
Junk Science in the US and the UK – Hands across the sea
The blog starts on how scientific arguments about DNA (and everything else dealing with forensics) within the US courts are so heavily affected by legalisms which allow one state (in this newest case NJ) to accept the opinion of another state (NY … Continue reading
Bitemark Evidence Proving to be Unreliable | National Law Journal
A bad month for the bite mark crew of the American Academy of Sciences and the NIST/DOJ National Commision on Forensic Science. http://m.nationallawjournal.com/module/alm/app/nlj.do#!/article/1751566393
Forensics: Politicos and Prosecutors run amuck protecting their interests in running US crime labs
A fully developed expose’ by William C. Thompson of the University of Irvine. He expounds the ‘sub rosa’ motivations of the DC big wigs who this year fired the managers and legal counsel of one of the first independent crime … Continue reading
AP:Mississippi death row inmate returns to trial court to argue for vacating conviction – bitemarks
Besides new DNA from post-conviction testing, the MS Special Assistant Attorney General Jason L. Davis says that “new” evidence showing bite marks are now discredited “science” should now be barred. He seemed confused about his own state’s crime lab’s DNA results … Continue reading
A USC alum and faculty who is a “Dental Detective” – The Ostrow School of Dentistry
This article starts on the school’s Trodent Summer 2015 digital magazine on page 17.
MS Supreme Court remands Howard for new litigation, which is not progress.
In response to recent oral arguments, the MS high court just issued this 2015-08-06 order Howard for a “new evidentiary hearing.” This case has had major prosecutorial bitemark ID junk evidence issues for decades and nearly a ten year effort to get … Continue reading
Posted in AAFS, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, CSI, DNA profiling, exoneration
1 Comment
Forensics: More judicial illiteracy about scientific principles
Somewhere there must be an appellate judge who understands something about reliability. The 7th US Circuit sure needs some help. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/08/04/federal-appeals-court-drug-dog-thats-barely-more-accurate-than-a-coin-flip-is-good-enough
Flickering Examples of Science getting into Forensics | From Science and the DNA Newsletter
Forensic labs and experts considering blind testing to remove potential context bias At the NIST “Error Management” Conference earlier this month, experts agreed that “a key problem…is that people who evaluate evidence from crime scenes have access to information about … Continue reading
Forensics: 1996 op-ed warning about DNA’s effect on bitemark opinions
A warning to bitemark experts that has been ignored by the AAFS and its flesh bite experts. This was published in the forensic dental newsletter of the ABFO. http://www.expertlaw.com/library/identification/bite_marks.html
Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, CSI, Forensic Science, forensic science reform
4 Comments
Forensics : 1960 When bitemarks were considered equal to fingerprints……..
………a British dentist said “bruises in human flesh” bitemarks were”unreliable evidence” and expressed reasons that were, 49 years later, used by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 . He also said “usually a self-styled expert” and “so-called expert (s)” … Continue reading