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Category Archives: criminal justice reform
Obstinate District Attorney II: Investigating how District Attorneys reprosecute vacated convictions
Prosecutors are pleased with convictions. Defendants appeal. Sometimes defendants win. Then the prosecution re-prosecutes. Double jeopardy? Nope. Welcome to San Bernardino’s halls of justice. The world of innocence litigation is unknown territory regarding possible outcomes after a criminal defendant’s conviction has … Continue reading
Another obstinate and proudly relentless prosecutor from Louisiana
On to Louisiana and its about a death penalty conviction for child murder. “Dale Cox (pictured above) was the Louisiana prosecutor against Crawford (the defendant), a case which rested almost exclusively on the testimony of a state forensic pathologist who claimed … Continue reading
Obstinate Prosecutor pursues new trial in Richards case despite forensics of innocence
Prosecutors have been well described in the media as “dogged’ and “relentless” by exerting punishment and retribution for crimes large and small against our citizenry. But there is a factual line drawn where cases of legitimate doubts are brought forward in post-conviction proceedings … Continue reading
Illinois crime lab bill created to seal faulty testing from public view
Cases of government-run crime labs “hiding” forensic errors and gaffs from criminal defendants and the public got a boost in Illinois this week……We can use this to clearly understand who and how prosecutors and LE PACs control the legislators in … Continue reading
Posted in costs of wrongful convictions, Crime lab scandal, criminal justice reform, Exoneration costs, forensic fraud, forensic science misconduct
Tagged American Academy of Forensic Science, Bad forensic science, forensic examiner error, Forensic science, junk science, wrongful convictions
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Forensic look at death penalty statistics: 25% of exonerated were on Death Row
A 2013 infographic study by the California Innocence Project puts the cost in California at a staggering $4 billion since 1978. Statistics contained in this report, when overlayed with the national increase of exonerations ( now at 1793) , in the … Continue reading
Advances of science affects some convictions – so far bitemarks aren’t included
The resounding inconsistencies in how US courts “handle” forensic expertise is brain-numbing. The Mississippi Supreme Court and the state attorney General Jim Hood’s go to chief appellate guy, Jason Davis (pictured above), are still investing in the now bitemark rejecting … Continue reading
DNA “falsifiability” gets some airtime, CRIME LAB chaos in MA, “vigorous debate’ in SBS
The latest in scientific quandaries within forensics from the NY Legal Aid Society Newsletter. Fool’s Gold: Legal Aid Society DNA Unit featured in Atlantic Magazine article about the increasing use of unreliable DNA “science” in the criminal justice system DNA … Continue reading
Posted in AAFS, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, CSI, DNA mixtures, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct, forensic science reform
Tagged American Academy of Forensic Science, Bad forensic science, DNA profiling, falsified evidence, forensic examiner error, Forensic science, junk forensic science
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Forensics: Focus on bitemark beliefs and “The Syndrome”
While spending nearly a full May 5th springtime time day listening to the “Country Dentist” Dr Michael West lavish a Mississippi courtroom with his god-like powers of forensic observation aided by a blue light flashlight, I began to reflect on … Continue reading
Posted in Bite Marks, Bitemarks, criminal justice reform, CSI, death penalty, Dr. Michael West, exoneration, forensic testimony
Tagged American Academy of Forensic Science, AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC ODONTOLOGY, Bad forensic science, criminal justice, CSI, district attorney, forensic examiner error, junk forensic science, wrongful convictions
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Ballistics runs aground in TX. Its Forensic Comm ferrets out another mini-scandal
This all started from a complaint filed by a solo lawyer from Texas. The complaint sounds strikingly similar to the Steve Chaney bitemark complaint that led to the shoot-down of the dentists training and teaching bitemarks at UTSA and elsewhere. … Continue reading
Another crime lab scandal arises from Virginia : Old school blood-typing failures
On the heels of Keith Allen Harward’s 33 years of wrongful incarceration, Virginia is now tackling hundreds of cases over the decades containing more questionable forensic “science.” Harward’s erroneous identification from a bitemark is only the beginning. “The Innocence Project … Continue reading
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