Month April 2016

Jay Koehler and John Meixner have written “An Empirical Research Agenda for the Forensic Sciences,” available now on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: After the National Academy of Sciences issued a stunning report in 2009 on the unscientific state of… Continue Reading →

In Pinellas County, TX, a person accused of using a credit card skimmer to steal credit card information from unsuspecting 7-11 customers was identified using a “touch DNA test,” and a CODIS cold hit, ABC news reports.

True Allele DNA, which focuses on DNA mixtures, was used to exonerate an Indiana man who was released from prison yesterday. This is the first time True Allele testing has resulted in an exoneration. The exoneree, Darryl Pinkins, had been convicted… Continue Reading →

Lucas Mentch, Maria Cuellar, William C. Thompson, and Clifford Spiegelman are re-examining the forensics in the Steven Avery case, sponsored by the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute, and with funding from the National Science Foundation – as described here…. Continue Reading →

Kamal Shah was removed from his position as a lab technician last December after he was observed faking results in a drug case. In February, the state Attorney General notified county prosecutors to alert defense attorneys in drug cases in… Continue Reading →

Annie Dookhan was released about a month ago after serving approximately 2 years and 4 months of a three- to four-year sentence after pleading guilty to faking laboratory tests that may have affected a thousand or more criminal cases. Dozens… Continue Reading →

Defendant Sonia Caci was convicted of murder by arson for the 1991 death of her uncle in house fire. At trial, an expert testified that there was evidence of an accelerant on the decedent’s clothes and on some of the furniture. Six… Continue Reading →

Keith Allan Harward was released Friday, April 8th after being exonerated by DNA evidence. The Virginia Supreme Court declared Harward to be innocent the day prior. Harward was convicted in 1982, largely due to testimony by forensic odontologists who testified “to… Continue Reading →

In the post-9/11 years, the FBI has been compiling a database of photographs for its biometric facial recognition system. While some of the photographs come from mugshots or soldiers who have taken pictures of suspected terrorists, other photos come from… Continue Reading →

The case of Keith Allan Harward (discussed earlier this week in this post) has presented a concern about the misuse of serology evidence. The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports: “a former forensic serologist identified a blood type in semen left at the crime… Continue Reading →