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Calling current forensics “error prone” includes mixture DNA evidence
Law professor David Kaye and statistical science blogger sums things up nicely: Analyzing mixtures of DNA is “not like a Ouija board — it’s not junk science in that sense,” said David Kaye, a law professor at Penn State University and author … Continue reading
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Tagged criminal justice, CSI, error prone forensic sciences, Forensic science
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Testing the crime lab testers comes to Houston’s crime lab
I’m not surprised that police crime labs generally avoid stringent internal evals of its personnel. I know of one “blinded” bitemark study, a means of catching perpetrators of crime concept accepted by US District Attorneys. It involved a notorious dentist … Continue reading
More legal argument pro and con to TrueAllele reliability and peer review
Who sets the standards for admissibility of science in courts is the core issue. The history of science in courts contains rules (Frye, Daubert, Kunho) talking about the need for peer review. In one telling remark, the DA in this … Continue reading
Chummy crime labber gets close scrutiny.
Not exactly PC in today’s hyper sensitive awareness of cognitive bias in police crime lab environments http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/11/19/do-thank-you-notes-hint-at-impropriety.html
Bogus video height estimate gets the attention of the TxForensic Sci Commission
Having done some digital comparisons over the last 15 years, mis-sizing objects seen in fotos is real popular with bitemark experts all the time. Here’s a story about a DA having his “expert” botch a pic of someone 5’6″ into … Continue reading
Flat-earth concepts of Shaken Baby Syndrome shaken by US judge
For the first time, a New York appellate court has ruled that evidence once used to convict people in shaken-baby cases may no longer be scientifically valid. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2016/11/16/ruling-alters-legal-landscape-ny-shaken-baby-cases/93952304/ ► Shaken-baby science questioned ► Changing science a tough sell in court UK … Continue reading
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Tagged junk forensic experts, junk science, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Waney Squier
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Supreme Judicial Court questions whether to provide a blanket dismissal to the 24,000 convictions in which Dookhan was involved
The arguments about legal “inconvenience” versus “tainted” forensic evidence versus “unsafe convictions” brings us to the real uncertainties about the definition of justice. Letting the DAs decide is incredibly wrong.
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Non-unanimous jury verdict of death and junk science at SCOTUS
Petition for Certiorari to SCOTUS: Sireci v. Florida Issue(s): Whether a state court violates a petitioner’s federal due process rights when it denies a new trial and DNA testing in an actual innocence case in which newly discovered evidence demonstrates … Continue reading
“Claw-like” skull fracture matching shows up at retrial for murder
Besides the shape of the skull breakage, there are defense claims that the crime scene recovery and storage of DNA was botched. The state claims a fall down stairs is not what killed her. It’s reasons for homicide at Peterson’s … Continue reading
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Tagged crime labs, criminal justice, DNA profiling, Forensic science
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The Nor Cal Innocence Project’s costs to cleanup ONE wrongful conviction
Of course, many DAs in this state do not believe that such things like convicting the innocent occurs. That’s the direct implication of their successful death penalty bill that won 52-48 percent of CA voters. Read the numbers about how … Continue reading
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Tagged costs of wrongful convictions, exoneration, wrongful convictions
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