More DNA PR on hair from Australia. Why don’t we hear about the data?

Posted on July 23, 2015 by csidds

Once more, we get  a university talking about “great breakthroughs” in forensic analysis. This one is abut collecting “trace” DNA from hair shafts (i.e “shed hair”) which “improves success rates” not seen using prior methods.

My main gripe is that these schools almost never reveal where the studies’ data has been peer reviewed and published. Sadly, that in itself generally takes one to two years to accomplish AFTER the results are obtained.

The PR writers always want the scoop.

Someone wiser than me has suggested that there be a professional archive that would allow the data to be available to competent researchers before a written paper gets in print. The Journal of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (sadly it only has an Impact Factor of 1.14) takes that long, even though they publish 6 journals per years.

Im sure the bio-medical journals would HATE that idea of a data archive.

Original news release.

Here is another example, although more descriptive, about 3D scanning impression evidence like tires and footwear. An added issue is its direct connection with commercial enterprise all in the same article. Some would expect a bit of conformation bias to be present.

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Update: White House Report on Forensics Science: “Eradicate” the Use of Bitemarks

Posted on July 22, 2015 by csidds

Office of Science and Technology Policy

 

Update on the Update: More on this today (Wednesday July 22, 2015)  from Radley Balko at THE WATCH

On Tuesday, July 21, the White House OSTP issued an oral presentation by:

Jo Handelsman

“Dr. Jo Handelsman is the Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in June of 2014. Dr. Handelsman helps to advise President Obama on the implications of science for the Nation, ways in which science can inform U.S. policy, and on Federal efforts in support of scientific research.”

Her remarks were presented at the International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management – Detection, Measurement and Mitigation, Arlington, VA, July 20-24, 2015, organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In its essence, she recommended the “eradication” of forensic science practices of the kind relied upon by bitemark identification — specifically using bitemark identification as the poster child for unacceptable, unscientific practices.

This is a continuation of TWO Congressional (by Senators Rockefeller and Leahy) studies launched by the US Congress and is independent of the NFSC/NIST/DOJ committee slowly churning its way towards their version of standards, best practices, and such within forensics (this was a NIST/DOJ run public meeting). It has a  bitemark group chaired and predominantly populated by practitioners of bitemark “identification” about whom Dr. Handlesman is  referring in her statements.

Her artful and concise comments started with this statement that a “quite disturbing” example of inadequate forensic science is  “still in operation” within the US criminal Justice system.  Quickly using the NAS 2009 report on “Strengthening Forensic Science in the US,”  she explained that standards and methods of a legitimate science required “highly consistent data” and methods” leading to ” a high degree of certainty in the results” when used to LINK a defendant to a crime scene or sample.

About 30 seconds into her speech, she starts explaining the much maligned mini-group of “bitemark-readers” use of bitemark “identification,” as a framework for what forensic failure means. This echoes the NAS detailed narrative on why bitemark opinions fail  to meet the required threshold of reliable science. In essence they have no data, have variable conclusions among it’s practitioners, and the more experienced have more disagreement than lesser experienced ones (“which goes the wrong way”) in determining whether a skin injury image 1) is a bitemark, 2) is it human or animal and 3) are the images suitable evidence for the courts.

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences continues to recognize and “certify” this group through its Forensic Science Accreditation Board. You must realize that the AAFS has some strange affinity in protecting  this bitemark board. It must be  internal politics.

In closing: Here is the avi recording of what Dr. Handlesman said.

Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bad Forensic Science, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, criminal justice reform, CSI, Forensic Dentistry, junk forensic science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Forensics: From the New York Legal Aid Society’s DNA UNIT – The latest and the best news

Posted on July 22, 2015 by csidds

Connect with them @LegalAidNYC

 

A New York Trial Court precludes LCN and FST evidence after extensive Frye Hearing litigated by the Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit (New York Law Journal)Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Mark Dwyer issued a written decision precluding the use of the Forensic Statistical Tool and low-copy number DNA in two cases litigated by the Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit.New director appointed to DFS following suspension of DNA testing (D.C. Mayor Press Release)

On Friday, July 17th D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Jenifer Smith as director of the Department of Forensic Science (DFS) following the politicized resignation of former director,Max M. Houck. Smith is a retired FBI special agent who “oversaw DNA analysis at the FBI laboratory, where she implemented numerous methods and testified in hundreds of cases.”
Related: Washington Post, MyFoxDC.com

Texas Court of Appeals puts death row inmate’s execution on hold, citing FBI population statistical errors (Washington Post)

Clifton Lamar Williams has been granted an indefinite reprieve from the Texas Court of Appeals after attorneys were notified that the FBI population statistics used to develop his DNA profile in court contained errors. In May, the FBI notified crime laboratories that the population database created and used to derive the likelihood of a DNA match were inaccurate due to clerical errors.

An Ohio Medical Examiner’s office has changed its reporting standards after a forensic chemist made “dozens of errors over a four-month span” (Cleveland.com)

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office in Cleveland, OH has implemented stricter reporting standards after an analyst was fired for failing to follow testing protocols in at least 27 cases. Forensic chemist Gagandeep Sran misreported results, ignored contamination protocols, and “cut corners by only testing one evidence sample from an entire case.” After Sran’s firing, lab analysts must photograph every sample and write detailed reports on the substances tested.

Australian researchers claim method of Low Template DNA testing on hair samples has lower error rates (ABC Australia)

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have modified low template methodologies on hair samples with qualified success. Their abstract is published in Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology.

Pennsylvania bill that would allow DNA collection after arrest passes state Senate, awaits House vote (Witf.org)

Pennsylvania Senate Bill No. 683 introduced by Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-DE), has passed the state Senate and will now go to the House of Representatives. The bill would allow law enforcement to take DNA samples from arrested persons, while current law requires a conviction before DNA can be obtained. State Representative Stephen Bloom remarked, “Technology is pushing the boundaries of our understanding of what is a reasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment…This is one of the bills in that nebulous place.”
Related: The Times Herald

New study says fingerprints can change over time (Discover Magazine)

U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, ruled in U.S. v Watson that statutory limit on Innocence Protection Act does not apply where new technological advances in DNA can be considered “newly discovered DNA evidence” (ABC News)
Related: KBZK 7, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Retrial sought because Louisiana Police made fake DNA report to illicit defendant’s confession; question over whether fake report was only generated or used in interrogations (KTBS)

Widow files lawsuit against San Diego after her husband was implicated in a murder investigation with DNA that may have been contaminated (NBC News)
Related: CBS News

 
Posted in Bad Forensic Science, criminal justice, CSI, Forensic Science, Forensic Science Bias, forensic testimony | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bitemarks in child abuse case reveals how skin injury patterns vary dramatically on a single victim

Posted on July 21, 2015 by csidds

Case not from the UK. Its a New Orleans, LA . Original article is from the Times Picayune. http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/07/1-year-old_boy_bitten_and_scra.html#incart_most-read_

csidds's avatarFORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends

Shock: Amanda Dufrene, 30, said her son Carson had scratches to his ears, forehead, arms, ankle, foot, calf and fingers when she took him home from a daycare centre in Louisiana

This amazing article  documents how human bite marks on a single victim, arguably by one suspect, are extremely inconsistent in pattern, shape of tooth marks and other details. Here’s a few questions. Would you look at the bite marks before looking at this suspect’s teeth? Which mark would you pick to compare to the suspect’s teeth? If you pick one, why did you not use any others? Is it because one shows more teeth marks? Of course. Doing anything (like “matching” or “suggesting” or “including” or “excluding”) beyond this then requires you to assume that this one mark is a correct representation of the biter’s front teeth physical characteristics (and the other marks are NOT). That’s where all the mistakes start by the “skin-reading” bite mark experts.

This case also proves how human bite marks can cause serious infection.

The Daily Mail.   

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Latest on #SandraBland investigation | From @MarshallProj

Posted on July 21, 2015 by csidds

What happened inside Cell 95? A Texas official says police are investigating the death of Sandra Bland as a murder, but videotape from the jail shows no one entering her cell during the critical moments before she was found hanged. Dashboard video from her traffic stop will be released today. THE NEW YORK TIMES Related: Watch jail surveillance video here: LOS ANGELES TIMES

 

 

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Bitemarks in child abuse case reveals how skin injury patterns vary dramatically on a single victim

Posted on July 21, 2015 by csidds

Shock: Amanda Dufrene, 30, said her son Carson had scratches to his ears, forehead, arms, ankle, foot, calf and fingers when she took him home from a daycare centre in Louisiana

This amazing article  documents how human bite marks on a single victim, arguably by one suspect, are extremely inconsistent in pattern, shape of tooth marks and other details. Here’s a few questions. Would you look at the bite marks before looking at this suspect’s teeth? Which mark would you pick to compare to the suspect’s teeth? If you pick one, why did you not use any others? Is it because one shows more teeth marks? Of course. Doing anything (like “matching” or “suggesting” or “including” or “excluding”) beyond this then requires you to assume that this one mark is a correct representation of the biter’s front teeth physical characteristics (and the other marks are NOT). That’s where all the mistakes start by the “skin-reading” bite mark experts.

This case also proves how human bite marks can cause serious infection.

The Daily Mail.   

 

Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, CSI | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Justice Kozinski on Lying Police and more on forensic science and CJ “guesswork”

Posted on July 20, 2015 by csidds

Judge Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (official photo).

EVIDENCE OF POLICE DISHONESTY LEADS TO OVERTURNED CONVICTIONS NATIONWIDE

Here are some quotes from a justice of the US Ninth Circuit of Appeals. Justice  Alex Kozinski talks about police misconduct and worse in the Debra Milke case.

“The Ninth Circuit was so disturbed by Milke’s case that the panel referred its opinion to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona and the Assistant U.S. Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division “for possible investigation into whether Saldate’s conduct, and that of his supervisors and other state and local officials, amounts to a pattern of violating the federally protected rights of Arizona residents.”

Kozinski learned through the media that nothing came of the referral.

“They do not consider lying cops to be quite the same priority as shooting cops,” Kozinski said during an interview. “Maybe because they don’t get riots and they don’t get the same kind of public reaction as when police shoot somebody, but in essence it’s the same thing.

“They are helping commit violence against the suspect by words, but words can have the same effect,” Kozinski said. Full article. 

Here is a real blockbuster from Justice Kozinski.

12 reasons to worry about our criminal justice system, from a prominent conservative federal judge

Originally from the Georgetown Law review. Article is written by Eugene Volokh.

“Although we pretend otherwise, much of what we do in the law is guesswork. For example, we like to boast that our criminal justice system is heavily tilted in favor of criminal defendants because we’d rather that ten guilty men go free than an innocent man be convicted. There is reason to doubt it, because very few criminal defendants actually go free after trial.”

One of his sections includes a mention of forensic science’s mythic prominence.

3. Other types of forensic evidence are scientifically proven and therefore infallible.

Full article

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Remains of Nazi anatomy prof’s victims found at French forensic institute

Posted on July 20, 2015 by csidds

Nazi anatomist’s collection of Holocaust victims “discovered” in France.  A horrible period in European history. Human experimentation by the Third Reich and its collaborators.

The endless story about untested rape kits leads to Idaho. You can tell LE is predominantly run by men.  So much for “protecting.” Also in Asheville, TN, home of the FBI’s own crime lab. Media reporting it “a stab in the heart.”

A hit it for TN medical investigations as a very qualified ME  goes elsewhere for more opportunities. 

British crime lab a  blend of public specialists and private forensic vendor acts as a money saver.  (free signup at the “Police Oracle.”

TX crime lab DWI tech gets the lab in trouble.

“In May, the Tarrant County district attorney’s office sent out more than 180 notices to defense attorneys saying it had banned Elizabeth Feller from testifying in any future DWI cases. Feller worked as a lab analyst for Integrated Forensics Laboratories, which tests blood samples for several regional law enforcement agencies.” Full article. 

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#SandraBland | Circumstances of a murder staged as a suicide?

Posted on July 19, 2015 by csidds

More info on the signs of hanging versus asphyxiation. There is a recent sci paper describing a murder staged as a hanging suicide.
Plus from Mary Beth Hauptle.
“The ligature furrow mark in the neck ought be a characteristic inverted “V”, if she hanged herself. I would obtain other inmate “witness” statements as to what they did or did not overhear, coming from her cell.”

csidds's avatarFORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends

Let’s see if we can start a thread from the forensic community about some of these issues .

The family of Sandra Bland, who died while in a county jail in Texas this week, has made it clear that the authorities’ (at this point the police in charge of the jail) statement that she committed suicide by self-asphyxiation is unacceptable and patently questionable.

A forensic re-phrasing of what the family says is that her asphyxiation was “staged” to look like suicide. That changes the manner of death to murder, not suicide.

So what proof is necessary to determine such a change in this outcome? Remember she was asphyxiated by a trashbag.

I am not a pathologist, but the the following  first came to my mind about the possibility of what physical evidence could support the family’s current position of rejecting what the authority have claimed up to this point. This…

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#SandraBland | Circumstances of a murder staged as a suicide?

Posted on July 19, 2015 by csidds

Let’s see if we can start a thread from the forensic community about some of these issues .

The family of Sandra Bland, who died while in a county jail in Texas this week, has made it clear that the authorities’ (at this point the police in charge of the jail) statement that she committed suicide by self-asphyxiation is unacceptable and patently questionable.

A forensic re-phrasing of what the family says is that her asphyxiation was “staged” to look like suicide. That changes the manner of death to murder, not suicide.

So what proof is necessary to determine such a change in this outcome? Remember she was asphyxiated by a trashbag.

I am not a pathologist, but the the following  first came to my mind about the possibility of what physical evidence could support the family’s current position of rejecting what the authority have claimed up to this point. This is by no means a comprehensive list. The media and the family’s representatives will need to know.

The best scenario for the family would be:

1) Authorities immediately followed proper crime scene protocol after the body was discovered. This means isolating the jail area (beyond the immediate cell) from any unnecessary access. Were EMT’s called? Some say not.  In any event, the trashbag becomes the prime source for fingerprints and “touch DNA” collection. If no EMTs arrived, its a surety that jail personnel touched it. Let’s hope that they were wearing surgical gloves. If not, there could also be prints etc. from whomever originally placed it in the cell. Or maybe someone else directly involved in this mystery.

2) Sandra’s full autopsy being performed by a certified forensic pathologist. They seem to be plentiful in Texas an though in some areas the pathologist is not local. Headline cases like this commonly have the family hiring a second forensic pathologist to review the records of the state’s medical expert. Rarely, if ever, would a family retained pathologist be permitted at the primary autopsy.

3) The autopsy itself. The external inspection of her remains is particularly crucial. Victims of murder are not cooperative and signs of a struggle (not resuscitation efforts) relating to bruising, torn fingernails (also a source of a perp’s DNA from being scratched) would be compelling evidence to rebut the claim of suicide.

4) Lets see what other qualified folks can add to this list.

 

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