Recent testimony from an evidentiary hearing in the Joe Bryan case in Texas has centered on blood spatter interpretation. Bryan was a school principal who has been serving a 99-year prison sentence for the 1985 murder of his wife. His conviction was based in part on the testimony of an expert witness in blood spatter […]
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Amicus Brief in McPhaul
A group submitted an amicus brief to the North Carolina Supreme Court that argues for stronger examination of the reliable application of fingerprint and other expert evidence. I authored the brief with remarkable assistance of a group of twenty-six leading forensic analysts, statisticians, and researchers, who signed the brief. Duke Law describes that the group […]
AAAS Responds to Justice Department Fingerprint Guidelines
The American Association for the Advancement of Science released a letter and an article inviting the Department of Justice to build on its recent approval of “Uniform Language for Testimony and Reports” to be used by its forensic examiners in statements about analyses of forensic latent fingerprint evidence conducted in its labs. AAAS CEO Rush Holt stated, “some of the […]
A Special Investigation into a Conviction by Toolmark Comparison
The Nation conducted a special investigation into the investigation and trial of Jimmy Genrich, a man whose “fate hung on the [analysis of] toolmarks, the only physical evidence that connected him to” a series of fatal bombings in Colorado. The investigation concludes that “Genrich’s case reveals a system that makes it nearly impossible to throw […]
OSAC Lexicon – online dictionary for forensics
A new registry of terms used in forensics and definitions – here – e.g. here are ten different definitions of “identification” : Identification In computer forensics, a process involving the search for, recognition and documentation of potential digital evidenceDigital Evidence, Facial Identification, Video/Imaging Technology & Analysis (Digital / Multimedia) 02/23/18 Identification In facial identification, a […]
Grisham on Flawed Forensics – Read the Transcript
John Grisham wrote a powerful op-ed, here, today in the L.A Times, discussing causes of wrongful convictions, including flawed forensic evidence. He notes, citing to data that I’ve collected, that “Of the 330 people exonerated by DNA tests between 1989 and 2015, 71% were convicted based on forensic testimony, much of which was flawed, unreliable, […]
March 26 Forensics, Statistics and Law conference at UVA
Experts in forensics, statistics and the law will convene for a conference at the University of Virginia School of Law on March 26 to mark the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., which reshaped how judges evaluate scientific and expert evidence. Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. […]
The Myth of the Reliability Test
A new piece by Chris Fabricant and I is now posted on ssrn here. Below is the abstract: The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and subsequent revisions to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, was supposed to usher a reliability revolution. This modern test for admissibility of expert evidence is […]
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist
Read Tim Requarth’s piece in Slate here about the gripping and important new book by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington. Requarth quotes from the book: The primary antagonists in this story are Steven Hayne, the state’s former de facto medical examiner, and Michael West, a prolific forensic dentist. A third is the state of Mississippi […]
Testimonial Monitoring
I’ve long thought it extremely important that testimony in court by forensic analysts be routinely read and reviewed by supervisors, to ensure accuracy, consistency, and professionalism. The DOJ importantly just announced in a memo, here, a program to do just that. The introduction to the memo reads: Testimony monitoring is a quality assurance measure by […]
