Forensic News: October 2009
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Australia: Forensic Biologist Pushing for Usage of Ear Biometrics (10/29/2009)
An Australian forensic biologist is pushing the police to use ears as biometric identifiers to supplement DNA and fingerprints. According to this practitioner, each ear is unique (a person’s left ear is different from his/her right ear) and do not change significantly over the course of most of a person’s life.
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California: Bad Crime Lab Results Under Review (10/26/2009)
Lab officials from a private Chatsworth-based laboratory, Pacific Toxicologies, alerted San Diego County law enforcement agencies about problems with toxicology test samples and results from June and July which could have affected a small number of criminal cases in San Diego County. Deputy Public Defender Cindy Grimm discovered one such inconsistency in a felony drunk driving case.
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Puerto Rico: FBI, ATF Investigate Fuel Depot Fire in Puerto Rico (10/26/2009)
Agents from the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated a massive fire at a fuel storage facility near San Juan, Puerto Rico. At question is whether the explosion was an intentional act or an accident. About 600 people have been displaced by the fire and it has cost the U.S. territory approximately $6.4 million.
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Texas: Techniques used in Willingham Case Now Seen as Outdated (10/25/2009)
Since Willingham’s execution, nine fire experts, citing revised arson standards, have concluded that the fire may have been accidental. The circumstances in the Willingham case were similar to those in the case of Ernest Ray Willis, also sentenced to death for a fire that killed two women in Texas. Willis was released in 2004 when the Pecos County District Attorney at the time, Ori White, dropped the charges against Willis after reviewing evidence that suggested the fire was accidental. White, who is now the Pecos County Attorney, said, "The science of arson investigations was very different in the late 1980s than it was in the late 1990s. The scientific evidence exonerated him, and that’s why I dismissed the case."
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Indiana: Arson Science on Trial in Indiana (10/25/2009)
Last week, a judge in Greensburg, Indiana decided that Kristine Bunch, convicted of arson in a 1996 fire that killed her 3-year-old son, should receive a new trial. The Decatur County prosecutor involved in Bunch's conviction defended the original fire investigation and said the methods used were sound. Bunch has spent more than 13 years in prison.
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National: Conflict Between FBI and ATF Complicates Crime Scenes (10/24/2009)
Since the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was moved from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice, jurisdictional conflicts at explosives crime scenes has led to confusion , arguments in front of state and local investigators, and other unbecoming conduct that undermines investigations. Each agency has separate training programs, explosives databases, and laboratories.
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Canada: Man Acquitted After 14 Years in Jail for Murder (10/23/2009)
Kyle Unger was acquitted for the murder of a Winnipeg woman he did not commit after spending 14 years in jail. Unger told undercover police that he committed the crime with the intention of impressing gang members. Hair comparison analysis matching a hair found on the victim to Unger was the only piece of physical evidence linking him to the crime. DNA testing in 2005 determined the hair was not his. Faulty hair analysis also resulted in the wrongful conviction of another Canadian man who spent 13 years in jail.
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National: Melendez-Diaz May Be Short-Lived Victory for Criminal Defendants (10/23/2009)
Melendez-Diaz, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that a lab report cannot be presented at trial unless the analyst who prepared the report is available for cross-examination, may be limited based on the ruling of the Justices in the upcoming Briscoe v. Virginia. In Briscoe, the question is whether allowing a lab report into court is constitutional if the defendant is given the right to call the analyst as a witness but does not. If the Supreme Court sides with the state of Virginia, the defendant would bear the burden of ensuring the analyst is available for trial.
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Wisconsin: County Re-examining Elected Coroner Position (10/22/2009)
Manitowoc County Board is weighing the costs and benefits of restructuring the elected coroner’s position into a county appointed medical examiner. Local families, funeral homes, heads of the sheriff, police, and district attorney’s offices are in support of keeping the elected position.
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Indiana: Ballistics Remains the Only Evidence in Indianapolis Murder Trial (10/21/2009)
Desmond Turner is on trial for the murders of seven people in 2006. Police are tying a bullet found at the home of an acquaintance who claimed Turner brought a gun to her home shortly before the murders to shell casings found at the crime scenes because they share the same tool marks. There was no DNA evidence to tie him to the scene of the crime.
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Texas: Former Crime Lab Analyst to Sue Dallas County (10/21/2009)
A forensic biologist who worked at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science is filing a whistleblower lawsuit against his former employer. Dr. Chris Nulf says conditions inside the lab could have compromised hundreds of cases and that he was fired for pointing its problems. Dallas County officials terminated Nulf in May for insubordination, displaying unsatisfactory progress as a trainee, lack of productivity and not following his institution’s procedures.
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Texas: Controversy Builds in Texas Over an Execution (10/19/2009)
In defending his decision not to grant Cameron Todd Willingham a stay in 2004 despite the multiple independent scientific reviews contradicting evidence of arson, Governor Rick Perry cites the fact that Willingham’s conviction was held by appellate courts up to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. To date, Perry has refused to release the memorandum from his general counsel on which he based his decision to let the execution proceed citing attorney-client privilege.
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National: Just Science Coalition Launches National Outreach Network (10/19/09)
The Just Science Coalition has launched the Campaign for National Forensic Science Standards, an educational effort helping to build awareness and support for forensic reform across the nation and advocating with policymakers to make reform happen. The campaign includes a national network with representatives in 23 states.
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Texas: More Arson Understanding Needed in Courts, Judge Says (10/14/2009)
Judge Barbara Hervey created the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit last year to improve the justice system in the state. She has a desire to request that the unit investigate fire science. "Science progresses all the time, and we need to have a better understanding of fire science," she said.
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Pennsylvania: Another State at Risk of Executing an Innocent Person (10/14/2009)
Daniel Dougherty’s two sons died in a house fire in 1985 and 14 years later, in the midst of a bitter divorce, Dougherty's ex-wife claimed that he set the fire. Dougherty was convicted and sentenced to death based on the same type of disproven arson evidence that led to Cameron Todd Willingham’s conviction.
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Florida: State Attorney Against Compensation for Exoneree William Dillon (10/13/2009)
Florida State Attorney Norman Wolfinger issued a letter stating that he would not support compensation for William Dillon’s wrongful conviction. Dillon was convicted of a 1981 of the murder based on unvalidated dog scent evidence, and exonerated through DNA evidence in 2008. Wolfinger supported the compensation process for another exoneree, who was also convicted of murder based on invalidated dog scent evidence.
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Texas: Forensic Science Ex-Chairman Was Told Arson Probe a Waste (10/13/2009)
Sam Bassett, a criminal defense attorney and the recently dismissed chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, was told on two occasions by lawyers representing Governor Rick Perry that the Commission’s probe into the Willingham arson case was a “waste of state money.” Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004, when Perry was Governor, based on arson evidence that has now been scientifically disproved.
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Texas: Whitmire to Push Forensics Panel on Crime Lab, Fire (10/08/2009)
Texas State Senator John Whitmire plans to question newly appointed Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley regarding the direction of the state’s Forensic Science Commission when Bradley appears before his Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Nov. 10. Bradley was appointed to his position by Governor Perry 48 hours before a critical hearing.
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California: UC Davis Receives $2M in Grants for Bullet, Duct Tape Forensic Science (10/07/2009)
The US Department of Justice awarded UC Davis scientists $2.2M to fund three grants. $1.4M will fund a study to develop a bullet matching database, $700,000 will be directed to study the markings left on bullet cartridges by firearms, and $150,000 will fund a study to determine if torn pieces of duct tape are unique.
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Texas: State Senator to Push Forensics Panel on Crime Lab, Fire (10/08/2009)
Texas State Senator John Whitmire vowed to call on the new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, to probe lingering problems at the Houston Police Department's crime lab and to move forward in its investigation of a 1991 fire that killed three Corsicana children and sent their father to the execution chamber. Whitmire plans to summon Bradley to appear before his Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Nov. 10.
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New Zealand: Bitemark Identification Through Bacterial DNA (10/08/2009)
A researcher at the University of Otago is working on a study to see if biters can be identified from the bacteria DNA that are deposited by their saliva in the wound of the victim.
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Texas: Inquiry into Flawed Arson Case that Led to Execution on Hold (10/07/2009)
After Gov. Rick Perry appointed Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley as chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission last week, Bradley canceled a public hearing regarding the forensic evidence used in the Cameron Todd Willingham murder-arson case. Critics accuse Perry of using a political ally to suppress the investigation.
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Texas: Autopsy Errors One More Troubling Trend (10/05/2009)
A Texas paper revealed last week the growing trend of error prone autopsies performed by overworked, sometimes under-qualified pathologists in medical examiner offices across the state. Most recently, it was uncovered that not only is the laboratory accreditation of which Harris County boasts is non-existent, but that the County medical examiner is not a board certified forensic pathologist and a pathologist on staff had allowed his medical license to lapse.
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Texas: Dogs Scent Lineups Questioned (10/05/2009)
Michael Buchanek, a 25-year veteran of the Victoria County Sheriff's Office, was wrongly accused of a murder as a result of a dog scent line up. Buchanek lived under a cloud of suspicion for five months and endured losing the trust of his peers in the Sheriff’s Office. Even after Buchanek was determined to be innocent, the Victoria County Sheriff still believes dog-scent lineups are a "vital tool in working toward a determination of a case” and opposes banning the technique.
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Texas: Tighter Requirements on Medical Examiners are Blocked in Texas (10/03/2009)
Despite news of mistakes or problems with medical examiners in Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill passed by Legislature that would have required that medical examiners and their deputies be board-certified in anatomic and forensic pathology and would have given medical examiners the power to determine who can attend autopsies and the power to subpoena law enforcement and medical records.
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National: Questions Raised About the 'Science' of Autopsies (10/01/2009)
While most medical examiner offices have checks for conflicts of interest in place, some medical examiners are more intertwined with law enforcement than some critics believe forensic experts should be. Concerns include situations where medical examiners that may tailor their results to fit the prosecution’s case, or those leading to bias or pressure which influence the results.
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California: Review Finds at Least 5 Videotapes Withheld by Santa Clara County Prosecutors Could Lead to Overturned Convictions (10/01/2009)
Medical experts hired by Public Defender Mary Greenwood of Santa Clara County have begun a review of hundreds of videotaped medical exams of child molestation victims dating to 1991 and five of the first 17 video tapes analyzed are potentially exculpatory.
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