Category Archives: CSI

Expert Forensics : Its not a good idea to recalculate your DNA during trial

Re-doing your forensic opinion during a evidentiary hearing in a serial killer (The “Grim Sleeper”) case in Los Angeles” will make EVERYONE very upset. This DNA fellow takes a huge hit from the judge, the prosecutor and his proffering defense attorney. … Continue reading

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Forensics : British custody death inquiry gets messier when a US forensic expert talks to tabloids

Court appointed forensic experts need to keep their mouths shut when involved in police custody death inquiries. In fact, they should stay out of the news throughout any of these so-called “independent reviews” of custodial inmate deaths.  The only exception … Continue reading

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Forensics : DAs mess up their own DNA evidence and judge lets them use it against the defense

Douglas Prade has spent over 29 years in prison, then was released by another judge for 16 months and then re-imprisoned since July 2014 by another judge. The physical evidence (a bitemark)  of his identification presented at the original trial that … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, costs of wrongful convictions, CSI, junk forensic science | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forensics : “Outsiders from New York causing problems” in Oklahama and elsewhere

This is not a re run of “Anatomy of a Murder.” Law enforcement protectors in Tulsa are irate that 1) they recently had to pay out $8 million to a wrongly convicted African-American and 2) those damned exoneration litigators from … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, costs of wrongful convictions, Crime lab scandal, criminal justice, CSI | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

FBI DNA software revamp falls onto each US state to review past convictions

This article contains a broad spectrum of conflicting statements about how serious the “DNA software caused recount” will effect past cases. Of course, the law enforcement side estimate seems confident no major retrials will occur. That’s not what is happening … Continue reading

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Indiscriminate police use of private DNA databases makes a mess for innocent people.

I can’t wait to hear how law enforcement tries to clean up this seemingly uncontrolled use of personal genetic material over 1 million customers have sent to familial DNA companies like Ancestry.com. “Anyone who knows the science understands that there’s … Continue reading

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Georgia Chief ME steps down over double-dipping during state employment and strange testimony

This is really a messed up deal in Georgia. 60 yo forensic pathologist quits while under investigation. ================================= And this is what happens when non science police-derived “forensic methods” are really junk. “5 Investigates: Review of old forensic hair cases begins.” (Boston). “CPCS … Continue reading

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US forensic orgs and DAs rather quiet about reviewing and retesting DNA since 1999. 

This is from NPR. It also mentions the climate of faulty forensics like bitemarks, hair comps, casting doubts about reliabilty of courtroom experts.  http://www.npr.org/2015/10/09/447202433/-great-pause-among-forensic-scientists-as-dna-proves-fallible?sc=tw

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Soon coming to the state you live in: Retesting of thousands of convictions helped by DNA

ADVANCES IN DNA TESTING COULD PUT THOUSANDS OF TEXAS CASES IN LEGAL LIMBO The above image is incredibly evocative. My blog on this came out September 21, 2015. thanks to the September 19, 2015 Grits for Breakfast blog from TX and … Continue reading

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Concern grows over DNA evidence errors in Texas and likely throughout the US

Applications of DNA methods which are subjective is creating a scenario in TX which will probably be repeated across the entire US. Confidence in past convictions is rapidly deteriorating. One might say the enthusiasm for forensic DNA as a “magic … Continue reading

Posted in criminal justice reform, CSI, DNA mixtures | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments