Forensic News: June 2010
International: Spanish Scientists Determine Uniqueness of Dentition (6/30/10)
Scientists from the University of Granada in Spain released a study published an article in Forensic Science International that concludes a person’s dental patterns can identify them as accurately as DNA testing. The study utilized a statistical analysis of 3,166 full and partial sets of teeth taken from the databases in the National Surveys of Oral Health of 1993, 2000 and 2005.
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National: Forensic Cellphone Tools Needed (6/28/10)
Mobile phones present a challenge for forensic investigations. Most tools available for transferring data are offshoots of consumer products. As technology is being developed, new generations of mobile phones, with new features and sometimes new operating systems, require technology developers to continue to improve and adapt their forensic tools.
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Massachusetts: Arson Case in Doubt (6/27/10)
In 1982, a fire in Lowell killed eight people and led to the arrest and conviction of a man says he is innocent. The man confessed to setting the fire after five hours of questioning through a translator, but now fire scientists say there's a strong chance the fire was not arson. Appeals on this case will begin soon, and the Boston Globe published an in-depth investigation into the case on June 27.
Read the article.
Texas: Let's Get Experts to Test Evidence (6/26/10)
In an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle, the former president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association discusses the Houston Police Department Crime Lab’s ongoing forensic science problems and supports the create a regional crime lab run by independent scientists.
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Colorado: Mesa State College to Build Body Farm (6/25/10)
Mesa State College will soon build a Forensic Anthropology Research Center on a 35-acre plot of land near the county landfill. The Center will be a “body farm”, where forensic anthropologists will be able to study the decomposition of human bodies and body parts.
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Kentucky: Computer Forensics Aids Child Pornography Case (6/25/10)
Kenton County Police took four years to issue a warrant for a man indicted on more than 20 counts of child pornography. In the past, hard drives from computers were sent as far as Nashville for processing. Two months ago, a local detective took a computer forensics training course and received equipment through a grant from the United States Secret Service that allowed him to process the evidence.
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California: California Crime Lab Task Force Disbands (6/24/10)
In the midst of a series of major crime lab concerns in the state, the California Crime Lab Task Force voted to disband. The 17 member task force was created in 2007 by state legislators to report on the state of forensic science and how to improve criminal investigations in California. The task force chairman, a deputy state attorney general, said the task force completed its principal goal, the report, and could review its decision to disband next year. The main force behind disbanding the task force came from the panel’s crime lab directors believe that the accreditation process provides sufficient oversight. Critics of the decision believe that this move was made to avoid further independent oversight of crime labs in California.
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California: Problems Continue at San Francisco Crime Lab (6/23/10)
New problems continue to mount on top of old ones at the San Francisco Crime Lab. The
criminal investigation into a former crime lab employee suspected of stealing drugs from the lab will conclude early next week and will likely result in criminal charges. The investigation has forced prosecutors to drop hundreds of drug-related cases. This week, the DNA lab manager
resignedfrom his position amid charges that delays in DNA testing allowed a suspected murderer to remain free to commit a number of bank robberies and take a child hostage. The city of San Francisco is considering whether or not it will shut down its entire crime lab and outsource all forensic testing.
West Virginia: WVU Students Join ATF on Raid (6/23/10)
Forensic Accounting students from West Virginia University were sworn in to become official Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents for one day in order to participate in a crime scene raid. The purpose of the activity was to give the forensic accounting students experience into searching a crime scene for evidence.
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National: Office of Justice Programs Confirms New Leaders (6/22/10)
Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson announced the confirmation of two new directors within the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Dr. John Laub has been appointed the new director for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and is the first criminologist in four decades to lead the NIJ. Dr. James Lynch was appointed as the new director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
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Texas: HPD Fingerprint Problems Began a Decade Ago (6/22/10)
Documents recently obtained through an open records request describe how Houston Police Department leadership knowingly ignored problems in the crime laboratory’s fingerprint unit for the last decade, problems that were only made public when fingerprint examiners’ technical errors were discovered. An independent investigation determined that the problems began back in 2000 when experienced fingerprint examiners were not replaced and the fingerprint unit could not recover from the resulting backlog and lack of resources and training.
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Oklahoma: Tulsa Crime Lab Director Relieved of Duty (6/21/10)
The Tulsa Police Department terminated the employment of its Crime Lab Director on allegations of incompetence and neglect of duty affecting DNA and firearms cases in the city.
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North Carolina: Supreme Court Rules that a Visual Inspection of a Controlled Substance is Not Sufficiently Reliable (6/17/10)
The North Carolina Supreme Court released an opinion citing the National Academy of Sciences report on the state of forensic science in a decision related to the determining the reliability of a forensic test and the problems of subjectivity. In the case, State v. Ward, the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals decision that the State did not adequately demonstrate that a visual inspection of a pill was a sufficiently reliable method for identifying controlled substances compared to a chemical analysis.
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New York: Cases Review Under Way for Bad Testimony by a Forensic Nurse (6/17/10)
The Erie County District Attorney is reviewing 42 sexual assault investigations or prosecutions that involved the testimony of a discredited forensic nurse whose findings have been questioned by national experts. So far one case has been dismissed and 30 defendants are either awaiting trial or sentencing, or serving sentences.
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National: Difficulties in Determining a Drug Overdose Death (6/16/10)
The mechanics of determining cause of death among prescription drug users are poorly understood and have resulted in uncertainty, even among experts. Several scientific factors complicate the issue including drug tolerance among patients who are long-term users and “postmortem redistribution”, the shifting of drugs from various storage tissues that occurs after a person dies. As a result, juries across the country are in some cases hearing evidence based on shaky forensic science or from forensics professionals who lack the necessary expertise.
Read more.
Minnesota:One of Few Remaining Counties with Elected Coroner May Change System (6/16/10)
The Benton County Board voted 3-2 to convert to either an appointed coroner or a medical examiner system beginning Jan. 1. The county’s elected coroner, a physician, retired last November and his son is completing his term. Law enforcement officers from Benton and surrounding counties support the adoption of a medical examiner system.
Read more.
California: SF Controller Recommends Closing Crime Lab (6/16/10)
The San Francisco city controller is recommending the city close the entire crime lab and outsource all DNA, firearm, and other forensic testing conducted to save money. The cost of relocating of the lab from its temporary location and staffing it would cost $46 million over five years compared to $31 million to outsource the lab's work. The drug lab was recently closed because evidence was mishandled, leading prosecutors to drop more than 800 cases.
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California: Doggie DNA Database Developed (6/15/10)
UC Davis and the ASPCA, The Humane Society of Missouri and the Louisiana SPCA have established the nation's first criminal dog-fighting DNA database, Canine CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). The purpose of the database is to assist law enforcement in prosecuting dog fighting cases.
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Texas: Montgomery County to Start Own Medical Examiner’s Office (6/14/10)
Southeast Texas Forensic Center, which provides autopsy service for eight counties in Texas, will close its facility at its local office next month. With no other private services in the area, Montgomery County is being forced into starting its own facility by converting the Southeast staff into county employees and subleasing the current facility.
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Wisconsin: New University of Wisconsin Forensic Science Degree (6/12/10)
The University Of Wisconsin Board Of Regents unanimously approved UW- Platteville’s undergraduate program in forensic investigation.
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Texas: Fingerprint Misidentification Raises More Questions for Beleagured Houston Lab (6/11/10)
The Houston Chronicle unearthed a misidentification at the city’s fingerprint lab in a capital murder investigation. As police are attempting to locate the file in question, the Houston City Council must consider whether it will continue to fund the independent fingerprint analysis consulting company that has been operating the fingerprint unit through the next fiscal year. The consultants were also charged with retraining the department’s analysts, but five of the six police personnel being trained either quit or were deemed to be incompetent.
Read more.
National:Digital Forensics Certification (6/4/10)
The Digital Forensics Certification Board (DFCB), an independent certification organization for digital evidence examiners, has launched a fully automated application process to keep up with the demand for certification in this developing forensic discipline.
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International: Swiss Scientists Pioneer Virtual Autopsy Technique (6/10/10)
Scientists at the University of Bern in Switzerland are pioneering a radical approach in the forensic pathology called ‘virtopsy’: a virtual autopsy. Using MRI and CT scans, pathologists create a 3D virtual copy of the body in question as well as the weapon or the vehicle in which a person got into an accident. Using this full-body, non-aggressive, post mortem dissection the scientists hope to recreate a record of the accident or incident.
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Pennsylvania: Forensic Nurse Linked to Bad Testimony in at Least 11 Cases (6/8/10)
The Erie County District Attorney found that a forensic nurse contributed false or overblown testimony in 11 child sexual assault cases. The problems came to light when another expert determined that the nurse’s findings were completely inconsistent with the photo documentation of the victims. The District Attorney’s office is working to identify all cases in which the forensic nurse submitted medical reports.
Read more.
Alaska: Anchorage Crime Lab Technician Convicted of Perjury (6/7/10)
A former Anchorage Police Crime Lab Technician was found guilty of perjury for testifying as a trained document examiner in a civil case in Iowa when he was only qualified as a fingerprint examiner. He is expected to receive one year of jail time.
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California: San Francisco Police Receive Biometric Devices (6/7/10)
A $3 million line item in the San Francisco city budget will provide mobile Automated Biometric Identification System devices to police officers. Using this mobile device, police will be able to capture fingerprints and check them against a database while in the field. Still in question is whether or not the device would link to a federal database to which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency would have access, raising immigration and sanctuary issues.
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Ohio: Former El Paso Medical Examiner’s Past Could Affect Death Row Inmates (6/6/10)
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland commuted the sentence of a death row prisoner based partly on evidence that a medical examiner who testified in the case had lied about evidence and falsified his credentials. The state public defender is now reviewing possible wrongful convictions involving the official.
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International: Irish Exoneree Continues Fight on Behalf of Victims of Miscarriages of Justice (6/4/10)
Gerry Conlon, whose story was portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in the movie In the Name Of the Father, discusses his wrongful conviction as a member of the Guildford Four and his life after his innocence was determined. Conlon and his father, who was wrongfully convicted as a member of the Maguire Seven, were convicted on forensic science that was later discredited.
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California: Forensic Science Students Study Mock Arson Crime Scene (6/4/10)
Oxnard College students studying at the California State University--Channel Islands Summer Institute had a chance to investigate a staged arson crime scene. Fire investigators set a vehicle on fire at the Camarillo Airport and allowed the students to process the scene.
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Florida: Prisoners Convicted in Part by Dog Scent Testimony Seek New Trial (6/1/10)
A Brevard County man convicted of rape and murder based on dog scent evidence is seeking a new trial based on the known fraudulent testimony of late dog handler, John Preston, in other cases.
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