Nothing looks more silly than a cop telling the public five years of his crime lab’s malfeasance is nothing to worry about. A jury seems not to care either.
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Gideon’s Trumpet Revisited
More MS Supreme Court. MS county judge taken to school for throwing indigent client’s public defender out of his court for undisclosed “misconduct.”
Posted in Civil rights, criminal justice
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MS Supreme Court allows court hearing on a forensic maverick
A hearing on MS quasi forensic path guy Steven Hayne will enlighten us on how a small town judge handles the new science skepticism of SBS. Plus the creds of Steven Hayne.
Posted in Bad Forensic Science, criminal justice, forensic science reform
Tagged SBS
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Decrepit US system of homicide investigating is revealed
An amazing study of US unsolved homicide analysis that breaks through to the truth of how antiquated CJ attitudes hinder real crime fighting.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/02/why-are-american-cops-so-bad-at-catching-killers
Forensics: Wisc payout of $6.5M on wrongful conviction considered a ‘bargain” by its defense lawyer.
Wyoming crime lab tech cooks his own credentials
San Francisco law enforcement reeling over multiple scandals
Forensic science only offers probabilities, not guarantees that justice will be served
How a defense pathology expert can get smeared in court by getting paid.
$6.5 million payment for wrongful conviction considered a bargain by Wisconsin government’s lawyer. The real perp was a serial killer.
The New York Times Forensic Science discussion seems odd
One person talks about “fixing forensics.” The other asks for forensic experts to be more HONEST about the limitations of what they (for better or worse in some cases) generally call “science.” Talk about attacking a serious subject from both ends of a spectrum.
I’m ok with this as both are part of the forensic puzzle of reform.
I just seem to expect too much from the bastions of forensic knowledge. They still seem to half avoid or totally ignore the serious 2009 statements made by the National Academy of Sciences’ whose attribution of systemic scientific weakness still makes headlines.
At least the following op-ed reprints from Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project with the accompanying Barry Fisher statement BOTH use the word “forensics.’
They have that much in common.
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Ex-AAFS president Barry Fisher has a thing to say about better truth-telling by experts who rarely expound on the weaknesses of their “expertism.” He says it would give judges a better chance to catch the “quacks.”
A close read of Peter Neufeld’s op-ed clarifies why Mr. Fisher’s “explain it better” method would not reach the 95% of criminal cases which use plea deals to avoid trial.
“Can’t fix the system’s use of forensic science without fixing the science.” By Peter Neufeld. Major examples he uses includes the 2 dozen failed cases performed by the AAFS’s forensic dentistry elite bitemark experts.
Forensics: Bad grades in DNA lab proficiency tests leads to nastiness in court
This is an update from yesterday’s report on the SFO crime DNA lab getting hammered for insufficiencies. Full article. The next link is also related to this topic.
SFO Distrist Attorney now going after an investigation of the SFO Police, Sheriffs, and their crime lab. Full article.
DNA specialist in a double murder trial raises some honest doubts by saying cross contamination cannot be ruled out as reasoning for the defendant’s clothing possessing the victims’ DNA [aka “mere specks”]. Full article.
BS public relations release about how the FSAB (forensic board certifiers connected with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences) says that all is ok with a fire-science-arson certification group. The FSAB also says the AAFS bitemark group (ABFO) is another sterling example of scientific prowess. Full article.
Posted in DNA mixtures, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct
Tagged Forensic science, junk science
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John Lentini on underpaid and under ‘scienced’ arson investigators; Bad ballistics and fingerprints in Omaha
From the man who is bringing arson investigations into a science-based method using chemistry, physics, thermodynamics and testing. Unfortunately there are hiccups in finding $ and any police who have a science background. Full article.
Omaha prosecutor warns defense attorneys about recent glitches in the local police lab. Its a bad day for infallibility of fingerprints and guns. Full article.
Posted in fingerprints, Forensic Science
Tagged bad ballistics, Bad forensic science, fingerprints
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Peter Neufeld on broken forensics needing a fix. SFO Police lab keeps coming up short. This time its DNA:
“According to testimony and evidence revealed in a trial late last year, the analyst allegedly filled in the gaps in poor-quality, incomplete genetic evidence. She generated two complete genetic profiles, and both were sent off as definitive test results to the state’s offender tracking database, something that would not have been allowed with the original, lower-quality DNA evidence.” Full article.
One thirds of all murders in US go unsolved. Decades ago, murder clearance rates were 90%. Factors discussed. Maybe too much money going to pot busts? Full article
“Can’t fix the system’s use of forensic science without fixing the science.” By Peter Neufeld. Major examples he uses includes the 2 dozen failed cases performed by the AAFS’s forensic dentistry’s elite bitemark experts.
Ex-AAFS president Barry Fisher has a thing to say about better truthtelling by experts who rarely expound on the weaknesses of their “expertism.” He says it would give judges a better chance to catch the “quacks.” A read of Peter Neufeld’s op-ed clarifies why Mr. Fisher’s “explain it better” method would not reach the 95% of criminal cases which use plea deals to avoid trial.
Posted in AAFS, Bad Forensic Science, exoneration, forensic science reform
Tagged junk forensic experts, Peter Neufeld
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The aftermath of death row exoneration: Milke, Ford, Krone
Ray Krone was convicted to death on bogus forensic science. The expert still refuses to admit any regrets. Read how 3 exonorees have coped with freedom.
