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Category Archives: ABFO
Forensics: Judge and DA both reject bitemarker expertise. Not the first rodeo for the ABFO dentist and his floundering dental colleagues of the American Academy of Forensic Science.
This judge is very clear that the original prosecutor’s use of a bitemarker’s opinion convicted an innocent woman. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/the-reveal/georgia-woman-freed-from-prison-over-flawed-bitemark-evidence/85-88f98a25-4bca-42f2-976b-1119738f1ca8
Forensics: Statisticians win $20 million to address shoddy forensic science methods | Science | AAAS
Forensics is full of shoddy attitudes and presumption. Self policing lab opines is cloaked in hidden algorithms and 2 week training courses. This Funding will extend 5-year-old effort to make crime-solving techniques more rigorous — Read on http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/statisticians-win-20-million-address-shoddy-forensic-science-methods
Forensics: Notorious bitemark expert in Netflix documentary has a few words about his “science.”
The ex DA Forrest Allgood claims his “feelings” made him ignore the similarities of the multiple child murders in his jurisdiction. The “feeling” include his using a statement from a 7 year year old. He calls it “circumstantial evidence” of … Continue reading
Forensics: Trump, the USDoJ and prosecutors have put a clamp on forensic science reform.
This article reveals how the reemergence of status quo government control of scientific review has overwhelmed state and US efforts to eradicate junk and outdated forensic practices. Dan Delgar at the NY Innocence Project explains how the effect of forensic … Continue reading
Forensics: Florida’s House passes forensic analysis reform for convicted felons
This bill forces the state to access the police national DNA database when post conviction forensic testing reveals an unknown profile. HB 7077 would make forensic tests more accessible to convicted felons. — Read on floridapolitics.com/archives/322663-house-passes-forensic-analysis-reform-for-convicted-felons
Forensics: After Slow Start, State to Probe 81 Convictions Involving Debunked Hair Analysis – Oklahoma Watch
49 states to go. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is working with district attorneys and others to examine 81 cases for possible wrongful conviction due to use of microscopic hair analysis, a debunked science. — Read on oklahomawatch.org/2020/03/10/after-slow-start-state-to-probe-81-convictions-involving-debunked-hair-analysis/
Forensics: Junk shoeprint matching and DNA catches up with another famed forensic expert.
This is a continuing story involving Henry Lee and the crime lab where he has been a decades-long teacher and examiner. Added intrigue has to do with a FBI footprint guru teaching how to “definitely” identify a defendant from a … Continue reading
Forensics: Noted NY bitemarker dentist involved in another exoneration litigation. “Just like fingerprints.” Wood River murder hinged on bite mark evidence | Belleville News-Democrat
John Prante, from a St. Louis MO suburb, was convicted of Karla Brown’s Wood River IL murder wants his named cleared and a court to declare him innocent because his trial used bite mark teeth comparison evidence that science has … Continue reading
Forensics: A DC judge calls out police junk forensics – then limits expert ballistic evidence.
A rare look into a judge doing his job by using scientific principles to reject decades-long use of exaggerated bullet matching assumptions. Good summation of issues by Radley Balko at WaPo. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/dc-judge-issues-much-needed-opinion-junk-science/
Forensics: Bogus pattern matching in Australia leads back to the US FBI
Using science to correct false convictions goes on around the world. In Aussieland, this man spent 25 years in prison due to a “1/1,000 match” from a single hair. https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/02/why-is-courtroom-science-so-unscientific/
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 