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Forensic Testimony: PBS/Frontline: Forensic Science
Posted in criminal justice, expert testimony, Forensic Science, forensic testimony
Tagged Criminal Justice
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Chicago pays out more $ for wrongful convictions: Forensic Science
Chicago has reached $66 million in payouts on wrongful convictions this year.
Read full article.
After an exoneration: Cops find the right perp: Forensic Science
After the wrong guy goes to prison, police use the DNA brought forth by the CWC and pops the right guy.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77263625/
Forensic Testimony: Hired Guns or …..what? / Forensic Science
Judges to not have the tools to counteract the effects of biased experts. See PBS/Frontline/CSI
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/real-csi/can-juries-rely-on-forensic-experts/
Investigative Report: Inside reporters’ efforts in an exoneration case: Forensic Science
A triumvirate of Pulitzer-winning reporters spent years in supporting a victim of a misguided prosecution aided by willful misconduct by Chicago police. A retrospective article on what the reporters experienced with the wrongfully convicted Daniel Taylor, written by Maurice Possley, appears in THE ATLANTIC. Thanks for the tip from Mark Godsey at the Wrongful Convictions blog.
I know the reporters. Maurice Possley and Steve Mills through their investigative efforts to reveal the misuse of forensic testimony to convict the innocent. In particular, they joined forces in the 2004 Chi Tribune series article (with Flynn McRoberts) on the now debunked (by the US National Research Council in 2009) bite-mark experts. Read that article “From the Start, a Faulty Science.”
They never quit.
Forensic Testimony: Once again, exoneration cases support unreliability of experts trial opinions
Take some time (or more than one visit to get through the information) and follow this link (Forensic Testimony) to a greater understanding on why credibility for some forensic experts is waning or finally being extinguished. The chart posted above will gain added meaning.
The first link goes to the U of Virginia Law website authored by law prof Brandon Garrett. This website is an expanded attribution to his 2011 Harvard Press book “Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong.” The site has a wealth of cases in the library collection and contains scanned transcripts from the trials of people exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing who had testimony by forensic analysts at their original criminal convictions (look here)
A short comment
The subject of error rates and validity testing for “police sciences” of serology, hair, bite mark, fingerprints, voice id, and shoe print experts testifying for the prosecution has been around for years. The combination of these types of forensic testimony when coupled with DNA profiling has been alarming for the public and the news media. The mistakes in forensic testimony are being slowly (if at all) addressed by the forensic organizations whose members came up short in court after DNA exonerated the defendants. The recent FBI/NACDL/Innocent Project task force on misguided hair comparison analysis may be a precursor or a litmus test for other “police examiners” lacking the moral fiber to follow their own Codes of Ethics.
Posted in Bite Marks, Bitemarks, criminal justice, CSI, Exoneration costs, expert testimony
Tagged AAFS, bite marks, Bitemarks, Criminal Justice, DNA, DNA profiling, Expert witness, FBI Crime Lab, Federal Bureau of Investigation, forensic examiner error, Forensic science, Innocence, junk forensic science, misidentification, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Science in Society, United States, unreliable
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Interesting backstory on DA Craig Watkins case
Bad blood in the judges chambers about plan to “serve up Watkins on a silver platter” for the FBI.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130718-dallas-county-fires-employee-who-says-judge-badmouthed-da-craig-watkins.ece
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More on Dallas DA Craig Watkins
His Conviction Integrity Unit in action. Shown on the Discovery Channel. http://investigation.discovery.com/forensics/videos/dallas-dna.htm
Craig Watkins, the Dallas DA, gets rid of contempt accusations
Watkins is noted for his efforts to expand pre and post conviction review of cases in Dallas County Texas. In this instance, a local judge and a political opponent (think JR Ewing) tried to discredit him with a bogus hearing demanding his testimony.
Forensic Testimony: NY state examiner fails to look at all available evidence
The defense is critical about a NYSP DNA examiner’s decision to ignore evidence containing “known” multiple profiles. The “known” info comes from police investigators. It’s obvious the crime lab and the examiner are collaborating rather than separate entities.
Posted in criminal justice, CSI, Forensic Science, forensic testimony
Tagged forensic testimony
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