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A DNA Test Approved, But Evidence is Lost
Posted: December 2, 2008 1:37 pm
Eugene Pitts has been in Arkansas prison for nearly three decades for a murder he says he didn’t commit, and a hair from the crime scene could potentially prove his guilt or innocence – if it can be found. An Arkansas judge granted Pitts the right to DNA testing under the state’s 2001 DNA access statute. But crime lab officials now say they are unable to find the hair.
Pitts became a suspect shortly after the 1979 murder of Bernard Jones, the brother of former U.S. Attorney General Joycelyn Elders, because he had allegedly made threats to Jones’ wife. Microscopic hair comparison and other unreliable forensic science was also used to convict him. A state hair examiner testified – improperly – at trial that "in my experience as a hair examiner, the only times hairs have matched as they do with defendant have been when they were from the individual." Hairs should never be said to “match” one another; they should only be said to be consistent. Soil comparison and handwriting analysis were also used to connect Pitts to the crime. Neither of these disciplines follows a set of reliable standards, so findings and testimony can vary in every trial.
Whether Pitts is innocent or guilty, this case raises the issues of evidence preservation and improper/unvalidated forensic science. The Innocence Project advocates for law enforcement agencies to retain biological evidence from crime scenes as long as the defendant is incarcerated or under state supervision. And, as raised last week in the case of Innocence Project client Steven Barnes (another soil comparison case), we also support the establishment of national standards for forensic science to minimize the risk of improper or unvalidated science leading to wrongful convictions.
Read more about the Pitts case here. (Associated Press, 12/1/08)
Tags: Arkansas, Forensic Oversight, Evidence Preservation
Innocence Project Sparks Review of Baltimore Crime Lab
Posted: December 17, 2008 3:17 pm
This morning, the Innocence Project filed a formal allegation with the Maryland State Police, requesting a thorough examination of negligence and error in the Baltimore Police Department Crime Lab.
Months ago, it was discovered that DNA from employees at the lab had become mixed with crime scene samples. Although it is standard practice nationwide for lab analysts to compare test results with a database of employee profiles, this step was not taken in the Baltimore lab. This negligence could have led police investigations away from the real perpetrators of crimes and could have contributed to wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project is requesting an inquiry under a 2004 federal law which requires that all labs receiving federal funds have an independent oversight panel to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.
Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom said today:
“We don’t know how many cases have been contaminated in Baltimore’s crime lab or how those cases might have turned out differently if the lab used proper safeguards. The only way to fully address this is through an independent investigation that can identify the root problem, rather than just the symptoms, and develop specific actions that can prevent future contamination.”
Read the full Innocence Project press release here.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
Arizona State University to Host Forensic Science Conference
Posted: January 7, 2009 4:00 pm
Some of the world's leading scholars and experts in evidence, forensic science and criminalistics will gather to discuss the future of forensic science in the criminal justice system in April. The Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University announced this week that it is hosting "Forensic Science for the 21st Century: The National Academy of Sciences Report and Beyond" April 3 and 4.
Organizers said the conference is being held “in light of the highly anticipated report of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community” that is expected to be released within the next couple of months. Harry T. Edwards, Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Co-chair of the NAS Forensic Science Committee, is scheduled to deliver the Center's annual Willard H. Pedrick Lecture, titled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward."
The event will also feature discussions about the NAS report, an unprecedented examination of forensic science nationwide that will outline findings and recommendations for how to ensure that the criminal justice system relies on sound science.
In addition to experts from major research institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Law School, the University of Michigan Law School, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Virginia and ASU, among others, participants will include state and federal judges, the co-chairmen of the National Academy of Sciences Forensic Science Committee, the president of the American Association of Forensic Sciences. The directors of the FBI Crime Laboratory and the Innocence Project, and prosecutors, defense attorneys, forensic scientists, and criminalists also will be involved.Visit the conference's website for more information, including registration and scheduled events.
Tags: Arizona, Reforms, Forensic Oversight, Evidence Preservation, Access to DNA Testing
Hearing Tomorrow Could Exonerate Steve Barnes of All Charges
Posted: January 8, 2009 2:30 pm
After serving nearly 20 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn't commit, Innocence Project client Steven Barnes may be fully exonerated tomorrow. Barnes and Innocence Project Staff Attorney Alba Morales will appear in Oneida County court tomorrow in Utica.
Barnes was released from prison in late November after DNA testing showed he is innocent. His conviction was vacated, but the indictment against him was not dismissed, meaning he could be retried for the crime at any time. The Oneida County District Attorney’s Office, with cooperation from the Innocence Project, has been reinvestigating the case since Barnes was released.
If the indictment against Barnes is dismissed, he will become the 227th person exonerated by DNA evidence.
Barnes' conviction is just one example of how improper or invalid forensic science can lead to wrongful convictions. His conviction was largely based on unvalidated forensic science, including soil comparison and analysis of an imprint allegedly left on the outside of Barnes’ truck by the victim’s jeans. He was found guilty of second-degree murder, rape and sodomy of a teenage girl 1985. However, test results conducted last year on materials collected from the victim’s body and clothing did not match Barnes, which led to his release from prison in November and tomorrow’s hearing that may exonerate him officially.
We’ll post more on the blog tomorrow after the hearing.
Read more on the Barnes case on the Innocence Blog.
Today’s news coverage of Barnes’ case:
Utica Observer Dispatch: Barnes’ charges to be dismissed Friday in teen's '85 murder
WKTV: Friday hearing could exonerate Steven Barnes for 1985 rape and murder
Tags: New York, Forensic Oversight, Steven Barnes
Steven Barnes Officially Exonerated in New York
Posted: January 9, 2009 4:30 pm
Steven Barnes was able to spend the holidays with his family for the first time in almost 20 years when DNA testing proved that he did not commit a murder for he was convicted in 1989. Even though he was released as a result of the testing, the state said the charges against Barnes would stay until further investigation.
At a hearing this morning in Utica, New York, Barnes was officially exonerated when the county apologized for his wrongful conviction and the court lifted the original indictment. Barnes is the 227th person to be exonerated by DNA evidence and is the 24th in New York.
Read the Innocence Project's press release here.
Highlights of today’s news coverage of Barnes’ case:
Utica Observer-Dispatch: It's official: Barnes exonerated on all charges
Associated Press: Wrongly jailed NY man formally cleared of murder
WKTV: Steven Barnes fully exonerated for 1985 rape and murder
Tags: New York, Eyewitness Identification, Forensic Oversight, Informants/Snitches, Steven Barnes
Lab Backlogs Continue to Pile Up
Posted: January 29, 2009 3:38 pm
Many crime labs around the United States are suffering under substantial backlogs, and the budget crises in most states aren’t making things any better. While the federal stimulus package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday included $4 billion to support state and local law enforcement, it is unclear how much of that money will make its way to forensic labs.
Backlogs hinder law enforcement agencies in investigating crime and they can lead to testing errors and problems with evidence storage and preservation. Here are some of the issues facing labs today around the country:
Minneapolis officials, facing a budget shortfall, said recently they may cut crime lab funding.
A review of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Crime Lab has revealed that evidence in more than 800 unsolved rape and sexual assault cases has gone untested due to a massive backlog there. Testing evidence quickly is important because it can help investigators identify a suspect – and can help avoid wrongful accusation and conviction of the innocent.
Earlier this year, the Arizona State Crime Lab began charging local jurisdictions to conduct DNA testing in criminal investigations, and at least one city has begun to challenge the fees.
The Wisconsin Attorney General called the state’s backlog “monstrous” and said eliminating the lag would take existing analysts 20 months.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Crime Lab Backlogs
NY Times: Upcoming Federal Report Could Call for Forensic Standards
Posted: February 5, 2009 12:19 pm
The National Academy of Sciences is expected to release a report in the weeks ahead examining forensic science nationwide. The New York Times reports today that the NAS report may call for a federal agency to guarantee the independence and scientific integrity of the field.
The NAS has held hearings on forensic practices over the last two years, and the Innocence Project has offered testimony on the lessons learned from DNA exonerations about the chances that questionable forensic disciplines and techniques can lead to wrongful convictions. In our January email newsletter, we wrote that we are “hopeful that the report will call for additional research to validate forensic disciplines, clear standards for using various forensic disciplines in the criminal justice system and nationwide enforcement of those standards.” Today’s New York Times story on the NAS report says there is a consensus that the report will be “a force of change in the forensics field.”
Peter J. Neufeld, a co-director of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit group that uses DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongfully convicted, presented to the academy a study of trial transcripts of 137 convictions that were overturned by DNA evidence and found that 60 percent included false or misleading statements regarding blood, hair, bite mark, shoe print, soil, fiber and fingerprint analyses.Read more about the need for a federal forensic science agency.
Read the full story here. (New York Times, 02/05/09)
Tags: Forensic Oversight, NAS Report
Major U.S. Report Calls for "Massive Overhaul" of Forensics
Posted: February 18, 2009 6:43 pm
The National Academy of Sciences released a report this afternoon that could transform forensic science in the United States.
The report, released by a diverse committee of scientific and legal experts who have spent two years studying these issues and holding public hearings at Congress’ request, recommends the creation of an independent, science-based federal entity that would direct comprehensive research and evaluation in the forensic sciences, establish scientifically validated standards and oversee their consistent application nationwide.
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld, who testified before the panel at two of its five hearings, said today’s report is a “major breakthrough.”
“For too long, forensic science professionals have not had the support or management needed to identify the real strengths and weaknesses of different assays and techniques,” Neufeld said. “This report provides the roadmap for rectifying that problem, and we look forward to working with Congress and other key stakeholders to implement the report’s recommendations.”And members of Congress reacted to report in the hours after its release.
"People’s lives hinge on the results of these forensic tests and scientific rigor must be applied in each and every case to make sure that justice is truly served,” said U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “I will study the National Academy’s recommendations very carefully and propose legislation to address the need for standards, including best practices and certification and accreditation of forensic professionals.”Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the U.S. House of Represenatives Judiciary Committee, called the report a “wake up call.”
“Our nation’s forensic science community needs our increased support and direction in order to ensure that criminal justice is more science-based, more reliable, and ultimately more just,” Conyers said.Read more reaction from exonerees, crime victims, forensic experts and others here.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Media Coverage of NAS Report
Posted: February 18, 2009 6:40 pm
Below is a sample of media coverage of today’s groundbreaking forensics report from the National Academy of Sciences. We’ll post more coverage tomorrow.
LA Times: Report Questions Science, Reliability of Crime Lab Evidence
Associated Press: Real World CSI's Lack Consistent Standards
CNN: Crime Labs Need Major Overhaul, Study Finds
MSNBC: Crime Labs Are Seriously Deficient, Report Finds
ProPublica: Government-Funded Study Calls for Overhaul of Nation’s Crime Labs
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
More Media Coverage of Forensics Report
Posted: February 19, 2009 5:36 pm
We posted yesterday some feedback and media coverage of the watershed forensics report released by the National Academy of Sciences. Here are some more stories running around the world today. We’ve noted which stories allow comments, so you can click through and join the discussion:
NPR On Point: Crime Labs and Dismal Science - One-hour radio show with Judge Harry Edwards (the co-chair of the committee that published the report), Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck, L.A. County Crime Lab Director Barry Fisher and John Jay College Prof. James Doyle. (Allows comments)
New York Times: Study Calls for Oversight of Forensics in Crime Labs
USA Today: Report: Real-world Police Forensics Don’t Resemble ‘CSI’
LA Times Op-Ed: Clueless ‘Science’
LA Times: Report questions science, reliability of crime lab evidence
NPR Morning Edition: Call for Forensics Overhaul Linked to 'CSI' Effect (Allows Comments)
Simple Justice: National Academies of Science: Trust Nothing (Allows Comments)
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Votes for Reform
Posted: February 23, 2009 11:38 am
An editorial this weekend in the New York Times praised the National Academy of Sciences on its “sensible suggestions” for improvements to forensic science practices in the United States, and called for research into unvalidated disciplines.
The academy’s panel makes sensible suggestions for improvement, such as certification of forensic professionals, accreditation of laboratories, uniform standards for analyzing evidence and independence of the laboratories from police and prosecutors who might bias judgments. In the long run, research is needed to determine the accuracy of forensic methods. For now, judges, lawyers and juries are on notice that high-tech forensic perfection is a television fantasy, not a courtroom reality.And writing in the Austin American-Statesman, author Joyce King (a member of the Innocence Project of Texas Board of Directors) writes that “lawmakers should not ignore” criminal justice reforms proven to prevent wrongful convictions – especially in the wake of Timothy Cole being cleared posthumously.
Read the full editorial here. (New York Times, 02/21/09)
Read King’s op-ed here. (Austin American-Statesman, 02/22/09)
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Innocence Project Report Points to Failures in Forensic Oversight
Posted: March 11, 2009 4:52 pm
An 84-page report released today by the Innocence Project finds that the U.S. Department of Justice is failing to ensure that forensic negligence and misconduct are properly investigated. Nearly five years ago, Congress passed legislation to improve forensic oversight, but today’s report shows that the federal government’s poor management of the program has kept serious problems in crime labs across the country from being addressed.
Read the executive summary and download the full report here.
Over the last five years, all 50 states have received federal forensic funds and nearly $100 million has been dispersed in all, but the Department of Justice has not enforced the oversight requirement. Including in today’s report is an Innocence Project survey of more than 256 relationships between applicants for funding and their designated oversight entities, finding that only 13% of them meet the requirements of the federal law.
The report goes on to outline steps the Obama Administration can take to fix the problem, including:
• Provide better guidance to applicants about what qualifies as an “independent external government entity” and an “appropriate process” for conducting investigations under the Coverdell program’s forensic oversight requirements.Click here for today’s press release and to download the executive summary or the full report.
• Require applicants to specifically certify that the oversight entity knows it has been designated to receive allegations and handle investigations, articulating how the entity is independent and external, and spelling out the process the entity would use to conduct an investigation.
• Make it easier for forensic employees, criminal justice practitioners and members of the public to file allegations of forensic negligence or misconduct under the Coverdell program.
• Make sure labs are referring allegations to their investigative entities.
• Monitor thoroughness and independence of investigations.
• Withhold funding when the requirements aren’t met — but only after giving Coverdell grant recipients the guidance, information and time they need to comply with the requirements.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
New Study on Forensics and Wrongful Conviction
Posted: March 18, 2009 11:15 am
A new law review article by Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld and University of Virginia Law Professor Brandon Garrett finds that forensic analysts often overstated evidence in wrongful conviction cases. The pair spent over a year reviewing 137 DNA exoneration cases in which a forensic analyst testified at trial, and found that in 60 percent of these cases, the forensic expert gave invalid testimony.
Watch a video with Garrett discussing the paper, and download the full Virginia Law Review paper.
While conducting the research for this paper, both Garrett and Neufeld testified before the National Academy of Sciences committee that recently released a report on the need for forensic reform in the United States. The NAS report called for a new federal agency to oversee and support forensic sciences in order for the disciplines to play a more reliable role in the American court system.
The Innocence Project also recently completed a review of the role of forensic science in wrongful convictions. The review went beyond transcripts of testimony to analyze all forensic science evidence used in the cases, and found that in more than 50% of the first 225 DNA exonerations, unvalidated or improper forensics played a role in the wrongful conviction. Learn more about the Innocence Project study here. (PDF)
Garrett said studies like these are rare, despite the fact that the systematic review of wrongful conviction cases can reveal a great deal about the causes of wrongful conviction.
“These trial transcripts were fascinating to read, because in retrospect we know that all of the defendants were innocent,” he said. “Yet few have looked at these records. Even after these wrongful convictions came to light, crime laboratories rarely conducted audits or investigations to review the forensic evidence presented at the trial.”
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
An Overhaul of the Forensic System
Posted: March 18, 2009 5:51 pm
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony today from the co-chairman of the National Academy of Sciences committee that recently released a report calling for the creation of an independent agency to oversee and support forensic science in our criminal courts.
Former Judge Harry Edwards told members of the Judiciary Committee that the committee was “thoroughly convinced” that it was time to move from the current forensic science system, “which is dysfunctional.”
“The principal point of our report is simple,” Edwards said in his testimony today. “There’s an obvious need to overhaul the existing system of forensic science in the United States. …Unfortunately, adversarial approach to the submission of evidence in court is not well-suited to the task of finding scientific truth. Judicial review alone will not cure the ills of the forensic science community.”Watch a video of Edwards’ testimony and questioning from Senators.
Download the National Academy of Sciences report and learn more about unvalidated or improper science as a contributing cause of wrongful convictions.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
The Dangers of Crime Lab Backlogs
Posted: April 1, 2009 3:19 pm
As states around the country struggle with budget shortfalls this year, law enforcement agencies and crime labs have felt the pinch. And when crime labs don’t get the funding they need, cold cases go unsolved and wrongful convictions become more likely.
California has at least 12,000 untested rape kits in storage facilities, including at least 1,218 from unsolved cases where the perpetrator was a stranger to the victim, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. Testing of this evidence could clear the innocent and find true perpetrators before they have a chance to commit another crime.
A new audit in Illinois found that the state’s DNA backlog skyrocketed in recent years under Gov. Rod Blagojevich as the state used money meant for forensic testing on other law enforcement projects.
Evidence preservation can also suffer during a budget crunch. One New Jersey police department is storing crime scene evidence in unused jail cells. Vineland Police Chief Timothy Codispoti says evidence preservation is “one of the most grossly neglected areas of policing.”
As regular readers know, the National Academy of Sciences released a report in February calling for the creation of a new federal agency that would direct comprehensive research and evaluation in the forensic sciences, establish scientifically validated standards and oversee their consistent application nationwide.
Read more about forensic oversight and evidence preservation.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Evidence Preservation
Forensics and Conflict of Interest
Posted: April 6, 2009 12:36 pm
An editorial in today’s USA Today urges lawmakers to act on the National Academy of Sciences’ recent recommendation to separate crime labs from prosecutors’ offices and police departments. The NAS recommendation came as part of the group’s February report urging comprehensive reform of the forensic sciences and recommending the creation of a National Institute of Forensic Sciences. USA Today strongly backs the report’s call for independent crime labs:
Forensic science in criminal courts has been a part of American culture long before CSI became a prime-time obsession. Mark Twain was writing about fingerprints in criminal cases in the 1880s, before there was an FBI or anyone even imagined DNA. The allure is easy to understand. Juries and judges finding someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt would really like there to be no doubt at all, a desire that science could help fulfill. But science can't live up to that promise until the scientists serve the truth, not one side or the other in an adversarial courtroom.An op-ed counterpoint article from Ralph Keaton, Executive Director of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board, argues that the vast majority of labs connected to law enforcement agencies “exonerate suspects as routinely as they implicate suspects” and that moving to paid private labs doesn’t eliminate bias from the process.
I would submit that the cost, both financially and in lost productivity, to make such a transition is too great to make this the best way to achieve the desired outcome. The desired result is the elimination of all bias and undue influences on forensic testing and reporting of forensic testing results.The Innocence Project agrees with Keaton that the desired result is to eliminate all bias and undue influence in forensic testing and analysis. The National Academy of Sciences report highlighted the potential for crime labs housed within law enforcement agencies to reach conclusions favorable to those agencies – not necessarily because they intend to reach such results, but because so-called “context bias” or “context confounds” can lead scientists to inadvertently reach conclusions when they know the expected outcome.
Read the articles and join in the discussion. (USA Today, 4/6/09)
Read more about the National Academy of Sciences report and the Innocence Project’s recommendations for forensic science reform.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
Untested Evidence and Unsolved Crime
Posted: April 10, 2009 1:45 pm
According to a new investigative report, the Phoenix (AZ) Police Department crime lab had untested biological evidence in its possession for months that could have identified a notorious serial killer and possibly prevented as many as seven murders. The North Scottsdale Times story, “Justice Delayed,” alleges that the Phoenix police lab conducted preliminary testing in a sexual assault believed to be connected to a crime spree but then failed to conduct follow-up tests or request outside assistance from labs capable of conducting more advanced forms of testing.
In 2006, nine months after the sexual assault, the unknown “Baseline Killer” suspect was believed to have committed seven additional murders. The Phoenix lab then asked the state crime lab to conduct further testing on the partially tested sex assault evidence. According to media reports, the DNA profile matched a man who had served 13 years in prison for aggravated assault, armed robbery and kidnapping. The man, Mark Goudeau, is now charged with 15 sexual assaults and nine murders.
Despite a new $34 million crime lab, the Phoenix Police Department is still facing an enormous backlog of cases to be tested, and it routinely takes three months to conduct DNA testing. Some observers have alleged that the lab has failed to learn from mistakes and attempted to cover up its failure to request outside assistance in the Baseline Killer case.
Billy Coleman, a representative for the (police) department’s union, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, says rather than addressing and correcting the problems, the Phoenix Police Department is ignoring the situation by dismissing complaints from investigators and even going as far as to punish detectives who speak negatively about the lab.
“Those people did not deserve to die. I think we could have saved one or as many as seven if we would have just done it right,” an emotional Coleman says, pounding his fist on the desk.
Read the full story here. (Times Publications, 04/09/09)The Innocence Project doesn’t evaluate the performance of particular labs, and has not independently confirmed these media reports. We do, however, support a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences to create a new federal agency that would direct comprehensive research and evaluation in the forensic sciences, establish scientifically validated standards and oversee their consistent application nationwide.
Crime lab backlogs and untested evidence can allow cold cases to remain unsolved while perpetrators commit additional crimes, and they can also lead to wrongful convictions – when exculpatory evidence sits untested, the wrong person could be convicted of a crime based on circumstantial evidence.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
NY Times: Plugging Holes in Forensic Science
Posted: May 12, 2009 1:37 pm
A special series today in the New York Times examines the findings of the recent National Academy of Sciences report entitled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.” A cross-section of stakeholders in the forensic science community, the Times reports, support the NAS recommendation of federal and state government support, research and oversight for forensic sciences.
Barry Fisher, a past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a former director of the crime laboratory at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said he and others had been pushing for this kind of independent assessment for years. “There needs to be a demonstration that this stuff is reliable,” he said.Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld will testify tomorrow before a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary subcommittee. More on his testimony tomorrow.
It’s not that there hasn’t been any research in forensic science. But over the years much of it has been done in crime labs themselves. “It hasn’t gotten to the level where they can state findings in a rigorous scientific way,” said Constantine Gatsonis, director of the Center for Statistical Sciences at Brown University and co-chairman of the National Academy of Sciences committee. And rather than being teased out in academic papers and debated at scientific conferences, “a lot of this forensic stuff is being argued in the courtroom,” Mr. Fisher said. “That’s not the place to validate any kind of scientific information.”
Read the full story: Plugging the Holes in the Science of Forensics (05/12/09)
Tags: Forensic Oversight
Missouri Column: Too Many Errors
Posted: June 1, 2009 5:25 pm
Attorney and former police officer Stephen Wyse writes in the Springfield, Missouri, News-Leader today that his state is in dire need of reforms to prevent wrongful convictions and better identify the perpetrators of crime. There have been seven DNA exonerations in Missouri, but efforts to reform eyewitness identification procedures, forensic practices and interrogations have fallen flat in recent years.
There are no endeavors where perfection is universally possible, but where substantial errors can be eliminated by adopting the "best practices," don't we owe that to ourselves as citizens? Memorial Day honors those who protect our freedom. We should all commit ourselves to defending the spirit of the Constitution and the liberty it enshrines.For an overview of exonerations by state and the reforms in place, visit our interactive maps here.
Read the full column here. (News-Leader, 06/01/09)
Tags: Missouri, False Confessions, Eyewitness Identification, Forensic Oversight
U.S. Supreme Court: Forensic Science Has �Serious Deficiencies�
Posted: June 25, 2009 1:55 pm
In a 5-4 decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants have the right to cross-examine forensic analysts who handle scientific evidence in criminal cases. In finding that defendants have the right to question analysts, the majority wrote that forensic findings are open to interpretation and could be manipulated. The court also cited a recent report on forensics from the National Academy of Sciences and Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion said: “serious deficiencies have been found in the forensic evidence used at criminal trials.”
The Innocence Project, as part of the Innocence Network, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, urging the court to recognize that forensic evidence can’t be trusted as neutral fact. The majority cited the Innocence Network brief in its opinion.
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld said today that although today’s decision is an important step forward, the court’s opinion underlines the need for national forensic standards ensuring that science in criminal trials is reliable and fair.
“This is an important decision that will help defendants expose faulty evidence at trial, but it doesn’t resolve serious underlying problems with forensic science. Too often, our criminal justice system relies on evidence that is not rooted in solid science, which is why Congress needs to create a National Institute of Forensic Science.Read the court’s full opinion here. (PDF)
“Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences called on Congress to create an independent, science-based agency to stimulate research and set and enforce standards long before forensic evidence reaches court. Today’s ruling underscores the need for Congress to take action.
Read Neufeld’s complete statement.
Visit the Just Science Coalition website to sign the petition for Congress to create a federal Office of Forensic Science Improvement and Support.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
The Supreme Court and Unvalidated Science
Posted: July 6, 2009 3:09 pm
An editorial in the Birmingham News makes a strong case for federal oversight and support of forensic science across the U.S. – especially in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In the Melendez-Diaz case, the court ruled 5-4 that defendants have a right to cross-examine experts who conduct forensic tests in their case.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, says “serious deficiencies have been found in the forensic evidence used at criminal trials.” The Birmingham News editorial agrees that there are major problems with forensic science and calls for the creation of the National Institute of Forensic Science, a reform recommended in the recent National Academy of Sciences report on forensics and supported by the Innocence Project.
In our view, cross-examining forensic scientists is only a partial answer to the problem.Learn more about the National Academy of Sciences report and sign a petition supporting the creation of a National Institute of Forensic Science here.
Congress needs to follow the advice of the National Academy of Sciences report -- specifically, to create an agency that can evaluate and improve these scientific techniques in criminal cases, set standards for their use and provide better oversight for practitioners and labs.
This is not just about making sure people aren't wrongly convicted of crimes, although that's part of it. Juries have often been led to believe that forensic tests on things like bullets and hairs are more authoritative than they are. Some people are sitting on Alabama's Death Row right now based largely on this kind of untested science. Even fingerprint identification has proved in some cases to be wrong.Read the full editorial here. (Birmingham News, 07/02/09)
Tags: Alabama, Forensic Oversight
New National Institute Would Help Improve Forensic Science
Posted: July 13, 2009 5:06 pm
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld writes today in the Tennessean that federal oversight and support for forensic science would vastly improve the justice system in the United States and help prevent wrongful convictions.
A National Institute of Forensic Science is a vital step toward strengthening our criminal justice system. When an innocent person is wrongfully convicted, the actual perpetrator remains free to commit additional crimes. That's exactly what happened in Memphis after Clark McMillan was wrongfully convicted — during the 22 years he was in prison before DNA proved his innocence, the actual perpetrator went on to commit several additional rapes.Do you want to join the call for federal forensic reform in the U.S.? Visit the Just Science Coalition website to sign the petition for reform and to learn more about the recommendations.
In the months ahead, Congress will seriously consider how to structure a national institute. U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., will play a key role in this as the chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
Read Neufeld’s op-ed here. (The Tennessean, 07/13/09)
Tags: Forensic Oversight
Shrinking State Budgets and Crime Labs
Posted: July 14, 2009 5:46 pm
As states face budget shortfalls this year, crime labs across the country are feeling the pinch. Cutbacks in lab budgets can lead to layoffs and longer backlogs for DNA testing and other forensic work, and it can compromise case investigations. In some cases, critical forensic testing could be skipped in a case because there aren’t funds to conduct the tests.
The California legislature has proposed cutting the state’s crime lab budget in half, and the Daily Breeze newspaper recently said this will lead to "a less safe state.” The state crime lab may start charging local agencies to conduct forensic tests on evidence collected from crime scenes, and if those agencies don’t have the money for the tests they might not get done.
Federal funds will soon help the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office address backlogs of untested rape kits that compromise public safety – and could potentially lead to overturning wrongful convictions. The Pasadena Star-News wrote this week that money spent on addressing crime lab backlogs is a “wise investment.”
Medical examiners offices around the country are cutting back on autopsy schedules due to budget shortfalls and some critics say the cuts could hamper investigations.
A new law in Mississippi requires that evidence from some crimes be stored, and some local law enforcement agencies are saying they don’t have the capacity to store crime scene evidence and comply with the law. Evidence preservation is vital to overturning wrongful convictions – and locating the real perpetrators of crimes.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Crime Lab Backlogs
Crime Victim: Our System Failed Me
Posted: August 3, 2009 1:02 pm
In 1985, Texas Tech sophomore Michele Mallin was abducted at knifepoint and raped in Lubbock, Texas. She spent years in counseling, but was consoled somewhat by the knowledge that Timothy Cole had been arrested and convicted for the attack. She relived the crime last year, however, after learning of the “added tragedy” that Cole was innocent and had died in prison before he could be exonerated.
She wrote in an op-ed this weekend in the Houston Chronicle that her experience – and that of hundreds of other exonerees and crime victims – should lead to reforms in our criminal justice system that prevent future wrongful convictions and help law enforcement agencies apprehend the true perpetrators of crime.
Cole died in prison of a heart attack in 1999 and DNA testing obtained posthumously by the Innocence Project of Texas, in consultation with the Innocence Project, proved that a Texas prisoner named Jerry Wayne Johnson had raped Mallin. She wrote this weekend that she and Cole weren’t the only victims of this terrible injustice. After she was attacked, Johnson raped at least two other women – crimes that could have been prevented if he had been apprehended after raping her.
Cole was convicted based in part on the unvalidated forensic science of hair comparison, and Mallin calls in her op-ed for the creation of federal forensic standards to ensure that the injustice she suffered doesn’t happen to anyone else.
I put my faith in the criminal justice system, and it failed me. I am back in counseling to grapple with the renewed trauma of the rape and the knowledge that I played a role in Cole's wrongful conviction by identifying him as the man who attacked me.Sign the Just Science petition to call on Congress to create a National Institute of Forensic Science.
I have learned a great deal over the last year — about myself, about Cole and about our system of justice. One of the most troubling things I've learned is that juries often hear evidence that is not as solid as it sounds.
Read the full op-ed here. (Houston Chronicle, 08/03/09)
Read more about Timothy Cole’s case here.
Tags: Forensic Oversight
Examining the Houston Crime Lab
Posted: August 12, 2009 6:17 pm
Ernest Sonnier walked out of a Houston courtroom last week a free man for the first time in 23 years, and his case is the latest to be overturned after faulty testing at the Houston Police Department Crime Lab contributed to a wrongful conviction.
An editorial today in the Houston Chronicle points out that two years after the conclusion of a $5 million investigation into problems at the lab, countless cases still need to be evaluated for possible retesting. In addition, the paper writes today that the case is a sign of the need for independent crime labs.
Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said, “There are still thousands of cases from the Houston Crime Lab that need to be reviewed, and that needs to happen quickly.”
He praised the administration of DA Lykos for ending prosecutorial foot dragging, creating a unit to examine convicts' credible claims of innocence, and being “focused on getting to the truth.”
In addition to swiftly reviewing those remaining cases, local officials need to move forward with a plan to create a regional crime lab independent of police and prosecutor influenceLast week, Chronicle columnist Rick Casey addressed another cause of wrongful conviction in a two-part series on eyewitness identification and the Timothy Cole case. Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson contributed a cartoon about faulty lineups.
Read the full editorial here. (Houston Chronicle, 08/11/09)
Tags: Eyewitness Identification, Forensic Oversight
Five Years Later: Wilton Dedge and Dog Scent Evidence
Posted: August 13, 2009 2:30 pm
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the day Wilton Dedge walked out of a Florida prison into the arms of his parents. In 1982, he was convicted of a rape he didn’t commit and sentenced to life in prison. He would serve 19 years before DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project conclusively proved his innocence in 2001. The state then opposed Dedge’s release on procedural grounds and he was not freed for another three years.
In addition to an eyewitness misidentification and unreliable testimony by a forensic hair analyst, unvalidated dog-scent evidence played a large role in Dedge’s first conviction in 1982. At trial, a “scent-tracking expert” named John Preston testified that his dog, “Harass 2,” sniffed an item with Dedge's scent and then allegedly alerted Preston of the same scent in the victim's house. Although Dedge’s conviction was overturned in 1983, the appeals court nevertheless asserted that the dog’s scent identification was persuasive. Mainly based on the testimony of a known jailhouse snitch, Dedge was reconvicted after a second trial in 1984.
Despite not being a validated science, dog-scent identifications and lineups have continued to be permitted at trial and have been a contributing factor in other wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing. The case of another recent Florida exoneree, William Dillon, also hinged on the testimony of the same so-called expert, John Preston, who died in 2008. In the course of his career, Preston convinced over one hundred juries in Brevard County, Florida, and around the country of his dog’s ability to track scents, even if those scents were underwater or it had been more than a week since the crime had occurred. Other scent experts have countered that such scent identifications are impossible.
Responding last month to public outrage and concern that others are still wrongly jailed based on the fraudulent dog scent testimony, Florida State Attorney Norman Wolfinger ordered a review of murder and sexual battery cases in which Preston testified. Florida Today wrote that an in-house review of the cases won’t be reliable, and the Innocence Project of Florida has called for an independent investigation.
Unvalidated forensic science such as dog scent evidence has been involved in about half of the 241 wrongful convictions overturned to date. The Innocence Project supports the creation of the National Institute of Forensic Science, a federal agency to support and oversee forensics to prevent wrongful convictions and ensure public safety. Thousands of people have joined the campaign by signing the Just Science Coalition’s petition calling for federal forensic oversight. Add your name now.
Other Exonerations
Sunday: Ryan Matthews, Louisiana (Served 5 years, Exonerated 8/9/2004)
Friday: Gary Dotson, Illinois (Served 10 years, Exonerated 08/14/1989)
Saturday: Roy Criner, Texas (Served 10 years, Exonerated 08/15/2000)
Eduardo Velasquez, Massachusetts (Served 12.5 years, Exonerated 08/15/2001)
Tags: Florida, Wilton Dedge, Forensic Oversight
Forensics Series Continues Tonight on CNN
Posted: August 20, 2009 3:15 pm
CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” has been investigating questions about forensic disciplines in a special series on forensics this week. Last night, CNN contributor Sanjay Gupta visited the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab to report on hair analysis, bullet analysis and DNA testing practices. Watch video of his visit here.
And CNN medical producer Stephanie Smith posted on the AC360 blog today about Innocence Project client Steven Barnes and the role of unvalidated forensics in wrongful convictions.
The show continues tonight at 10 p.m. ET with a report on Dr. Steven Hayne in Mississippi, who has been accused of reaching conclusions that go beyond science to fit what prosecutors need to secure convictions. Tonight's broadcast will feature an interview with Tyler Edmonds, who was sentenced to death row partly as a result of Hayne's testimony. Edmonds was released after the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out his conviction -- in a ruling that called Hayne's testimony "scientifically unfounded."
Two Innocence Project clients were exonerated last year after Hayne's testimony contributed to their wrongful convictions; read more about their cases here.
Learn about recommendations for forensic reform and take action at the Just Science website.
Tags: Steven Barnes, Kennedy Brewer, Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Groundbreaking New Reports Show Texas Executed an Innocent Man
Posted: August 31, 2009 12:06 pm
An exhaustive report released today by the New Yorker finds that Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 in Texas for murders he didn't commit. The report follows years of investigation into the case, and concludes that the arson analysis used to convict Willingham was wrong — and that none of the other evidence used to convict Willingham was valid.
The findings in the New Yorker report and other evaluations of Willingham's case have brought renewed calls for a moratorium on executions and comprehensive reforms of forensic science in the United States.
Read the full New Yorker story here.
Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck writes in the Huffington Post today that this case should lead to sweeping improvements in the forensic sciences:
Whether our criminal justice system has executed an innocent man should no longer be an open question. We don't know how often it happens, but we know it has happened. Cameron Todd Willingham's case proves that.Today's 16,000-word New Yorker story comes a week after independent arson expert Craig Beyler submitted his report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is conducting a review of Willingham's conviction. Beyler, like a panel of national arson experts assembled three years ago by the Innocence Project, found that the science used to convict Willingham was wrong. The Texas Forensic Science Commission announced that it is reviewing Beyler's report and will release its conclusions next year.
The focus turns to how we can stop it from happening again. As long as our system of justice makes mistakes -- including the ultimate mistake -- we cannot continue executing people.
Today's Coverage of The Case:
Innocence Project Press Release: New Report Shows that Cameron Todd Willingham, Executed in Texas in 2004, Was Innocent
New Yorker: Trial by Fire
New Yorker Video: Flashover
Huffington Post: Innocent, But Executed
New York Times Editorial: Questions About an Execution
Background
Expert Panel Review of Willingham and Willis convictions.
Background on the cases of 17 people exonerated through DNA testing after spending years on death row.
Understand the Causes: Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science
The Just Science Coalition: Supporting Forensic Reform to Improve the Accuracy of the Criminal Justice System
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Death Penalty, Cameron Todd Willingham
Watch Live: Senate Judiciary Hearing on Forensic Reform
Posted: September 8, 2009 5:56 pm
Watch online tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST as Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the need for a National Institute of Forensic Science. He will be joined by Law Professor Paul Giannelli, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, a lab director and two prosecutors.
Visit this link at 10 a.m. EST to watch live.
The Innocence Project has called for the creation of an independent federal agency to support and oversee forensic science practices across the country. Learn more and voice your support for forensic reform at the Just Science Coalition website.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
Senators Consider Federal Forensic Reforms
Posted: September 9, 2009 5:42 pm
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today about the need for federal standards and for research in forensic science. And Neufeld and other witnesses found bipartisan support for a federal role in stimulating research, training forensic analysts and setting standards.
Forensics have been a central part of the criminal justice system for decades. Defendants are regularly convicted of crimes based on analysis of fingerprints, hair samples or blood spatters from a crime scene. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences said many of those techniques have never been scientifically tested.With Neufeld at today’s hearing was Roy Brown, who spent 15 years in prison in New York for a murder he didn’t commit. He was convicted based in large part on faulty bite mark analysis.
That report "is one of the most important developments in forensic science since the creation of the first crime laboratory in the 1920s," Case Western Reserve professor Paul Gianelli told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MI) called the report's conclusions "damning" and "terrifying."
"The forensic dentist [at Roy Brown's trial] used what was then the prevailing method of comparing bite marks found on a body with the dentures of a suspect," said Neufeld. "He examined them and decided that he had a match with Roy's bite. He so testified in court, and Roy was convicted."
Read (and listen to) the full story. (NPR All Things Considered, 09/09/09)Watch a webcast of the full hearing.
Take action today: Tell Congress you support the creation of the National Institute of Forensic Science.
Tags: Roy Brown, Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics
New Report Examines Unreliable Dog Scent Lineups
Posted: September 22, 2009 3:10 am
A report released yesterday by the Innocence Project of Texas examines the practice of dog scent lineups, which is still employed in Texas cases despite serious questions about its reliability.
Scent lineups conducted by a Texas sheriff’s deputy named Keith Pikett are being challenged in two federal lawsuits, filed by men who were accused of crimes they didn’t commit based on faulty dog scent evidence. The new report alleges that scent lineups are completely unreliable and have contributed to wrongful convictions. A British police canine-handling expert reviewed a videotape of a scent lineup performed by Pikett and said:
“This is the most primitive evidential police procedure I have ever witnessed,” he said. “It goes against all the principles of tracking and trailing.”The Texas report alleges that Texas prosecutors use Pikett’s scent lineups to confirm suspicions about a suspect. The report quotes a prosecutor, who wrote on a public message board in June:
Woo-hoo! Just got word that Keith's dogs unanimously hit on my evidence today, just as we'd hoped. Did I mention that I'm a big fan!Download the full report at the Innocence Project of Texas website. IPOT is a member of the Innocence Network.
Learn more about the Innocence Project’s call for an independent federal agency to support the forensic disciplines and set science-based standards.
Tags: Forensic Oversight