Month May 2016

The California Supreme Court has granted the habeas petition, in an opinion released today here, of William Richards – in his case, the prosecution bite mark expert had recanted his opinion.  The Court concluded that under a 2014 post-conviction statute in… Continue Reading →

The Boston Globe reports here that the ACLU finally obtained through litigation a list of cases potentially affected by ex-state chemist Annie Dookham’s work – a full “quarter of the successful prosecutions by the district attorneys that used her laboratory.”… Continue Reading →

Frank Green of the Richmond-Times-Dispatch describes in this story how “A review of old blood-typing cases prompted by the recent exoneration of a man who spent 33 years in prison for a murder he did not commit won the blessing… Continue Reading →

Read this about the California Innocence Project client Bill Richards’ case, which went before the state Supreme Court last week for reconsideration.  The forensic dentist’s recanted testimony he gave at Richards’ 1997 trial – Richards now seeks a new trial. “Richards… Continue Reading →

Read here about controversy surrounding an account of epigenetics research in the last issue of the New Yorker.  The article is by Siddhartha Mukherjee – and in response, scientists, including Jerry Coyne, called the piece “superficial and misleading”due to its focus on… Continue Reading →

From the New Yorker, here, as archaeologists have tried to assess what path the Carthaginian general Hannibal took, with soldiers, elephants, and horses, in the legendary crossing of the Alps: “Last month, a team of scientists published a two-part study… Continue Reading →

Kuwait is now the first country in the world making DNA testing mandatory for all visitors – any who do not comply face a $33,000 fine.  ScienceAlert reports, noting that  – “While countries such as the US, Australia, the UK,… Continue Reading →

A life webcast – you can read more about it here – on May 5-6.  “The technical colloquium aims to address different mathematical or statistical methods for quantifying the weight of evidence, their scientific underpinning, pros, cons, limitation as well… Continue Reading →