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In The News

2018-08-28 | Conviction Overturned After Chemist Testified While on Meth
A Montana judge ordered a new trial for a man convicted of possessing methamphetamine after learning a state crime lab employee ingested meth before testifying to convict him. “The manifest hypocrisy in this situation — when a Montana Department of Justice Employee with meth in his system testified and helped secure another man’s meth possession conviction — is abhorrent,” District Judge John Parker wrote Thursday. Chemist Derek Thrush’s testimony confirmed meth residue was found in a glass pipe James Donald Bachtell was carrying when he was arrested in June 2017.

2018-08-28 | After Deputy Scrubs Crime Scene, Defense Wants Charges Nixed
The cleaning service hired by Hoagland removed bloody carpet, linen and a mattress and scrubbed the walls in the room where Fisher’s body was found. “It seemed like it needed to be done,” Hoagland said. “When I got up there, it was already starting to smell and I was worried about insect infestation, a rodent problem in the house. I didn’t want the whole place to be destroyed because of that.”

2018-08-27 | DNA ‘Shedders’ Test Shows Men, Thumbs Leave More Traces
DNA forensic science has zoomed in on progressively microscopic genetic traces left at crime scenes. “Touch DNA” can now identify someone based off a simple, single tap of a finger. The problem is, some studies have shown a phenomenon called secondary transfer: that an innocent person’s DNA could be transferred by an object or even a handshake to a place where they’ve never been. But it depends on how many skin cells they are apt to shed.

2018-08-09 | An L.A. County deputy faked evidence. Here's how his misconduct was kept secret in court for years
Jose Ovalle, one of the deputies who also booked the evidence, had been suspended five years earlier for pouring taco sauce on a shirt to mimic blood in a criminal case. He nearly lost his job. Ovalle’s past was kept secret for years from prosecutors, judges, defendants and jurors, even though he was a potential witness in hundreds of criminal cases that relied on his credibility, according to a Times investigation.

2018-08-08 | Deputy AG: Forensic Science is Not Only Numbers, Automation
“Human observation, comparison, interpretation and judgment are core components of good science,” said Rosenstein, in his prepared remarks to the crowd of prosecutors and experts. “Some critics would like to see forensic evidence excluded from state federal courtrooms. You regularly face Frye and Daubert motions that challenge the admission of routine forensic methods.” Rosenstein touted the use of “uniform language” when it comes to fingerprints testimony, as unveiled in February. Such language is intended to make clear how good a likely “match” is—by carefully avoiding words such as that without context.

2018-08-07 | New Arizona Task Force Works to Right Wrongful Convictions Through Hair Evidence
One area of forensics, in particular, is now under heavy scrutiny: hair microscopy. A groundbreaking review conducted from 2012 to 2015 by the FBI, the Department of Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the nonprofit Innocence Project revealed significant flaws in statements regarding the analysis of crime-scene hair before 2000, when more-precise mitochondrial DNA testing became standard forensic practice. After finding fault with testimony from its own analysts in over 90 percent of the reviewed cases, the FBI sounded a nationwide alarm. The agency notified state governors and crime labs of its concerns, urging a review of all cases that involved such evidence.

2018-08-02 | NIST Publishes Landmark MIX13 DNA Study
John Butler, the special assistant to the director for forensic science in NIST’s Special Programs Office, told Forensic Magazine in an interview in April that “Case Five” and the other mock case histories were not only a way to gauge how labs were doing with their mixtures—they were also to provide a “teaching moment.” “The mixture itself was designed to not show too many alleles,” Butler said. “People would be tricked into thinking there are only two or three people there, instead of the four people that were really there. “The way that it was designed was on purpose, to kind of help people realize that CPI can falsely include people—that was its purpose,” he added. “And it demonstrated that really nicely.”

2018-08-02 | Kansas Police Agencies Oppose Innocence Case Reviews
The letter said the unit is a “clear deviation from the criminal justice system’s handling of manifest injustice claims.” Any cases that are mishandled would put communities at risk and could have adverse economic consequences, the letter said. State lawmakers recently passed legislation that would compensate people who have been wrongfully convicted. Dupree’s office said Tuesday that the unit would follow Kansas law. The pursuit of justice for potentially innocent inmates should outweigh concerns of economic costs, Dupree said. “Ensuring justice for the citizens of Wyandotte County through the (Conviction Integrity Unit) must be paramount,” he wrote.

2018-08-02 | Garrett-authored amicus brief highlights need for improved judicial scrutiny of forensic expertise, evidence
Professor Brandon Garrett, a leading scholar of criminal justice outcomes, evidence, and constitutional rights, has 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.

2018-07-25 | Erasing the Evidence: FBI Points to Massachusetts as the Place to Alter Fingerprints
The number of criminals trying to hide their identities by burning, hacking and mutilating their fingerprints is skyrocketing in the Bay State — and local law enforcement continues to see the number rise even as the FBI has targeted Massachusetts as an altered fingerprint hot spot. Massachusetts State Police officials have identified 867 suspects arrested with deliberately altered fingerprints — most within the past few years. The first three cases were logged in 2002, and by 2010 only 72 arrests were recorded. Year-by-year breakdowns were not available, but since 2010, police have made 795 altered-fingerprint arrests, according to state police spokesman David Procopio. The FBI flagged the Bay State as ground zero for criminal fingerprint erasures after studying records of altered prints across the nation, finding that, “Massachusetts officials had the most encounters with individuals who had altered fingerprints,” according to a 2014 FBI report.