Innocence Project Bournemouth

posted by Justice on Dec 20

A report released today by the Innocence Network delves into the cases of the 27 people exonerated this year through the work of the network’s 54 member organizations. The 27 exonerees served a total of 421 years behind bars. Yesterday, James Bain was freed from prison in Florida after serving 35 years for a crime he didn’t commit.

Friday Roundup: The Innocence Network Recaps a Successful 2009

A report released today by the Innocence Network delves into the cases of the 27 people exonerated this year through the work of the network’s 54 member organizations. The 27 exonerees served a total of 421 years behind bars.

Yesterday, James Bain was freed from prison in Florida after serving 35 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He served more time in prison than any other DNA exoneree in American history, and his case was featured on CBS Evening News last night.

University of Central Florida researchers set four one-bedroom apartments on fire yesterday as they tested methods of detecting arson. The forensic science behind arson investigations has come under fire recently amid controversy over the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas.

A trial is set to begin in March in Connecticut in the case of Duane Foster, the man accused of committing the sexual assault for which James Tillman served more than 16 years in prison. Tillman was freed in 2006 after DNA testing proved his innocence and implicated Foster.

The Houston Chronicle ran an editorial on the recent report revealing fingerprint errors in the Houston Police Department crime lab, writing that “Houston still needs to move forensic investigations out of its police department.”

A new article in the Marquette Law Review examines the legal system’s blindness to eyewitness identification problems. While some police in Kansas City said they would study new lineup procedures but local departments are reluctant to change. “At this juncture I’d be somewhat reluctant to make a bunch of sweeping changes just because it’s the vogue thing to do on the East Coast,” Liberty Police Lt. Mark Balzer told the Kansas City Star.

Four Maryland crime labs will receive $1.2 million in federal stimulus funds to clear DNA testing backlogs.

An editorial in the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana called for sweeping changes to prevent wrongful convictions in the state.

Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the day Clyde Charles was exonerated in Louisiana after serving 17 years in prison. Sadly, Charles passed away on January 7 of this year at age 55. This week also marks the exoneration anniversaries of Kerry Kotler, McKinley Cromedy, Phillip Leon Thurman, Clarence Elkins, Frank Lee Smith, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana.

Tags: legal aid, law, injustice

posted by Justice on Dec 20

A new report released yesterday by the New York Inspector General finds that a major State Police crime lab failed to detect and act upon systematic problems in the handling of evidence and the falsification of test results in hundreds of cases over 15 years. And as signs of misconduct began to appear, the report finds, lab officials hid evidence that the problem was widespread and pinned it on an analyst who had committed suicide in 2008

Report: NY Lab Hid Pattern of Misconduct

A new report released yesterday by the New York Inspector General finds that a major State Police crime lab failed to detect and act upon systematic problems in the handling of evidence and the falsification of test results in hundreds of cases over 15 years. And as signs of misconduct began to appear, the report finds, lab officials hid evidence that the problem was widespread and pinned it on an analyst who had committed suicide in 2008.

“Cutting corners in a crime lab is serious and intolerable,” the state’s inspector general, Joseph Fisch told the New York Times. “Forensic laboratories must adhere to the highest standards of competence, independence and integrity. Anything less undermines public confidence in our criminal justice system.”

The state police superintendent said the agency planned to hire an outside consultant to review forensic tests conducted in the lab. Several analysts whose conduct is questioned in Thursdays report remain in their jobs pending an internal review.

Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said the New York scandal is another clear sign that forensic reform is needed.

“It is a wake-up call to the forensic community,” said Scheck, director of the Innocence Project and a member of the New York State Commission on Forensic Science, which monitors all the state’s crime labs. “What’s alarming about this report and others that we’ve seen like it is it’s not so much the bad actors, it’s the fact that the system didn’t detect them earlier.”

Read the full story here. (New York Times, 12/18/09)

Download the full report here. (PDF)

Tags: Innocence Project, , law

posted by Justice on Mar 19

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.

An Overhaul of the Forensic System
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: Miscarriage of Justice, , legal aid

posted by Justice on Mar 19

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

New Study on Forensics and Wrongful Conviction
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: Layla D’monte, Miscarriage of Justice, Barrister