This case is reminiscent of first use of DNA profiling tech by Sir Alec Jeffreys in the mid 1980s. Via Nora Rudin.
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Forensic Science: UK murder energizes public to give DNA samples
Posted in DNA profiling, Forensic Science
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Liars in the US Criminal Justice System
The Ninth Circuit’s recent affirmation of punishment for prosecutorial perjury may have a chilling effect on DAs who use lies and lying witnesses to support their prosecutions. Ths is not limited to lawyers. Forensic science has its own history of liars and cheats. Some come with long pedigrees. Others just hide in plain sight. The criminal justice system pays dearly in the end with delayed scientific progress, damaged public safety and conviction of the innocent.
The attributes of a good liar (pdf).
Previous CSIDDS posts on prosecution misconduct. Here, here, and here.
Nothing is ever over in exoneration litigation, be it from exonerees’ difficulties in re-entering society, or when some DAs and police, with help from their lawyers, continue to chase after the men and women who have wrongfully endured imprisonment from acts of public officials.
This flies sideways to overoptimistic opinions that DAs are have a true bead on conviction integrity investigations and “more accepting” of exonerations these days.
There is a really odd tactic rising in recent headlines giving us examples of “innocence nullification” being posed in two separate venues of Justice in the state of Illinois.
One is in civil court.
The other is in criminal court.
One is in Lake County and the other in Cook County. (just a few miles apart).
Avoidance of the costs for wrongful convictions and loss of status certainly may be involved in both cases.
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The first is under civil litigation in federal court against…
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Evidence tampering in the US crime lab system
This ex crime lab “scientist” took a very strange road much to the detriment of defendants’ rights of fairness and due process in court.
Dramatic story from a new exoneration. Victims’ family reactions vs DNA evidence
Well written exposes about the human experiences within succesful exoneration litigation. Anger, joy, and racial divides with a tinge of prosecutorial misconduct.
Interview with Joseph Sledge after his release.
Debra Milke Trial on Hold Pending Appeal
We’ve been following the Debra Milke case on this blog. See here, here, andhere.
Here is a recent update from TV5 KPHO in Phoenix, AZ.
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How not to behave in court as an expert witness
This story is about how overly aggressive conclusions of guilt (the province of the jury) in forensic science presentations in criminal can make one look like a biased “forensic expert.”
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/23/powerpoint-justice
Hired to reform crime lab, new director gets slammed by cops
This storyline about pushback by police crime lab overseers is a classic example of retribution in action.
Posted in criminal justice, CSI, forensic science reform
Tagged crime lab retribution
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UK Crime Forensics Mirror US Quagmire of Uncertainties.
The following article is concerned about what this chart from the National Registry of Exonerations has established as the leading causes of wrongful convictions.
“Privatisation of forensic services ‘threat to justice’ and putting the work in police hands would be ‘disastrous,’ warn experts”
National Audit Office concerned about supply of crucial DNA and scientific evidence to courts
Criminal trials could collapse because of a potential failure to supply courts with DNA and scientific evidence following spending cuts and the Government’s troubled privatisation of forensic science services, a new report by the spending watchdog reveals today.
Posted in Crime, criminal justice, Forensic Science
Tagged Bad forensic science, Crime, wrongful convictions
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FORGET CSI: A Disaster Is Happening In America’s Crime Labs
“Lets keep this quiet” from NY crime lab director. More details on Albany lab’s problem with 12 workers.
Media reports about 2 crime lab scandals per month.
Its all about “stealin an cheatin and liein”
Headline story from April 2014. Its about bungling in crime labs all associated with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. By Jordan Smith
From this weekend
Cheating scandal fouls NEW YORK state Police test.
Stealing dope from the crime lab or maybe just drylabbed? Delaware
National Public Radio: 2014 “Despite Scandals, Nation’s Crime Labs Have Seen Little Change”
A compilation that is not current but shows alarming trends. Its a combination of thefts of drugs, drylabbed (i.e. faked) lab results, incompetent or ? crime lab workers, and decades use of unvalidated forensic “science” in criminal courts.
