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Tag Archives: wrongful convictions
Overview about “Purg(ing) junk science from courtroom” : Effective National Policies Needed
Details into what the Texas Forensic Science Commission is all about. Too bad there are 48 other states without similar legislative produced review boards. The White House needs to become more active in supporting and implementing similar standards. So far … Continue reading
DNA ruled contamination from “unknown persons” over bitemark now ineffective for new Prade trial
Nothing but eyewitness testimony was used to convict Prade of murdering his wife. The court refuses to concede that neither unknown DNA taken from the “bitemark area” nor the pseudo-science of the prosecution’s bitemark expert would be grounds for a … Continue reading
Los Angeles leads in staggering financial effects of wrongful convictions in CA ; $221 million
This chart is from the Chicago-based Center on Wrongful Convictions parallel study on WC costs from about five years ago. This article is from California. Los Angeles leads with $93.3 million. “Released Wednesday, the analysis says mistakes in the state’s … Continue reading
Forensics : Montana State crime lab gets some positive PR, then this happens.
Here we go again…. Local media loves PR releases from chief Prosecutors and crime lab directors who talk about improvements to their response times for forensic analyses. It’s titled “The Reality of the Montana State Crime Lab.” It was first posted … Continue reading
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Tagged crime labs, Forensic science, Miscarriage of justice, wrongful convictions
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Forensics : Streaming Presentation on Flawed Forensic Science and Innocence
This comes from West Virginia School of Law’s recent weekend symposium with some heavy hitters of sci evidence law, forensics, innocence litigators, and the media. Thanks to Brandon Garrett. Entire program on Youtube. Needs some editing. But, here is the agenda and … Continue reading
The Locard Fallacy: “Unique” impression evidence fails statistical tests once again : Ballistics
Considering that the Innocence Projects database (almost 350) of DNA exonerations shows a 46% contribution from unvalidated or faulty forensic testimony, this featured article focuses on bullet “matching” and by association extends to tires and bite marks. From my last … Continue reading
International Forensic Science News – Things could be better
International POV on Forensic Medicine as a “dying profession.” No pun intended. http://tribune.com.pk/story/1056144/forensics-day-forensic-medicine-is-a-dying-profession/ “Fundamentally flawed” forensic path opinion in Canada. http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/02/28/woman-implicated-by-charles-smiths-flawed-evidence-hopes-for-closure-and-peace.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/maria-shepherd-conviction-1.3468706 Scotland: Sacked forensic fingerprint expert asks for job back. http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/02/28/woman-implicated-by-charles-smiths-flawed-evidence-hopes-for-closure-and-peace.html
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Tagged Bad forensic science, Forensic science, wrongful convictions
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Forensics: DNA still relevant in last year’s 149 nationwide exonerations
THE NATIONAL Registry of Exonerations declared Wednesday that “by any reasonable accounting, there are tens of thousands of false convictions each year across the country, and many more that have accumulated over the decades.” The researchers found that only 17 percent … Continue reading
Dredging the bottom of Forensic Science, this meeting gives us more bitemarks
Above, this meeting’s theme, overlayed onto the Nevadan sunset, is “Transformation: Embracing Change” In fitting irony, attendees at next week’s American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Las Vegas will hear bitemarkers hoping to sway public and professional sympathies against their proposed … Continue reading
NIST $20M funded statistician says there is “no good reason” for bitemark identifications
This continues the US forensic saga and underscores why all the bitemark ID cases are junk opinions. It also contradicts and makes moot the NIST sponsored National Forensic Science Commission’s bitemark committee outcomes. I mentioned at some point in the … Continue reading
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