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In The News

2017-11-22 | Faulty Forensics: Explained
In our Explainer series, Fair Punishment Project lawyers help unpackage some of the most complicated issues in the criminal justice system. We break down the problems behind the headlines — like bail, civil asset forfeiture, or the Brady doctrine — so that everyone can understand them. Wherever possible, we try to utilize the stories of those affected by the criminal justice system to show how these laws and principles should work, and how they often fail. We will update our Explainers monthly to keep them current.

2017-11-22 | Texas Man Confesses to 18-month-old Homicide Days After Release of DNA Phenotype Profile
It wasn’t until Nov. 15 that Riggs confessed at North Lake Community Church in Brownwood, and then gave police “a full confession” with details that matched up to the evidence of the case, Hill said. The sheriff said the “Snapshot” played a large role in Riggs’ apprehension, and that he had not been on their "radar" prior to the phenotype analysis.

2017-11-22 | Local Pennsylvania Police Use Rapid DNA Hit for First Time, Nabbing Alleged Killer at Hospital
The bloody clothing of a patient admitted to a hospital with a stab wound was linked to a bloody trail at a crime scene, leading to homicide charges within hours. Rapid DNA, a quickly-spreading technology that got a boost with federal legislation this summer, was what allowed the quick resolution of the murder of 35-year-old Rhyhiem Hodge on Nov. 12 in Carlisle Borough, Pennsylvania, according to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.

2017-11-09 | NY Chief Judge Directs Judges to Remind Prosecutors, Defense Attorneys of Their Duties
The new order “provides a mechanism by which to educate inexperienced prosecutors and defense attorneys—and remind experienced ones—about their constitutional and ethical duties,” the Empire State’s court system said in their Wednesday announcement. The Brady material would include all exculpatory material that could be favorable to the defendant, either through attacking the credibility of witnesses, reducing the scope or severity of the crime, or otherwise offsetting the prosecutions’ arguments. The defense attorneys would have to keep the client informed about the case, provide reasonable advice for plea offers, and conduct investigations of case facts and relevant case law, they add.

2017-10-20 | Federal Judge Unseals New York Crime Lab’s Software for Analyzing DNA Evidence
Caproni’s ruling comes amid increased complaints by scientists and lawyers that flaws in the now-discontinued software program may have sent innocent people to prison. Similar legal fights for access to proprietary DNA analysis software are ongoing elsewhere in the U.S. At the same time, New York City policymakers are pushing for transparency for all of the city’s decision-making algorithms, from pre-trial risk assessments, to predictive policing systems, to methods of assigning students to high schools. DNA evidence has long been a valuable tool in criminal investigations, and matching a defendant’s genetic material with a sample found on a weapon or at a crime scene has impressed many a judge and jury. But as new types of DNA analysis have emerged in recent years to interpret trace amounts or complex mixtures that used to be dismissed as hopelessly ambiguous, the techniques are coming under fire as overly ambitious and mistake-prone.

2017-10-18 | Court: Examine if Austin crime lab botched death penalty evidence
“Areli Escobar’s capital murder conviction rests on forensic evidence developed by incompetent scientists using bad science,” defense lawyers with the state Office of Capital Writs said in his latest appeal. Austin police officials closed the DNA portion of the crime lab in June 2016 after an audit by the Texas Forensic Science Commission found that some staff members were not properly trained and that incorrect methods were used to examine DNA samples. “In light of these developments, a comprehensive, independent review of … Mr. Escobar’s case is critical,” defense lawyers told the Court of Criminal Appeals.

2017-10-17 | Judge Orders Murder Retrial Based on ‘Invalid’ DNA Mixture Analysis
Before the second trial, a San Diego Police DNA analyst cut open the gloves, took more swabs and again used the combined probability of inclusion (CPI) methodology to determine whether Florencio Jose Dominguez was the one wearing the gloves at the time of the murder of 15-year-old Moises Lopez. The results showed a better likelihood that Dominguez had worn them. The accused was convicted after three days of jury deliberation. But what was never mentioned in the proceedings was that the DNA mixture protocols in San Diego had changed just days before the second trial—something the jury never heard in court.

2017-10-17 | Report Finds State Lab Withheld Breathalyzer Test Results
“We conclude that OAT leadership made serious errors of judgment in its responses to court-ordered discovery, errors which were enabled by a longstanding and insular institutional culture that was reflexively guarded . . . and which was inattentive to the legal obligations borne by those whose work facilitates criminal prosecutions,” the report found.

2017-10-13 | Likelihood Ratios—Can Objective Odds Come From Subjective Decision Theory?
A new study by two statisticians at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) contends LRs should be used sparingly in American courtrooms—since the attempt at objectivity is actually only a mathematical model of an expert’s subjective reasoning process. “We are not suggesting that LR should never be used in court, but its envisioned role as the default or exclusive way to transfer information is unjustified,” said Steve Lund, one of the statisticians, in a NIST statement on the work. “Bayesian theory does not support using an expert’s opinion, even when expressed numerically, as a universal weight of evidence. Among different ways of presenting information, it has not been shown that LR is most appropriate.”

2017-10-05 | DNA Mixtures Topic of ISHI Talks, NIST Testing—and ‘Conflict of Interest’ Accusations
DNA mixtures are a growing concern in the world of forensic science. The detection of even miniscule touch DNA in a pool of blood, or the skin cells left behind on the handle of a kitchen knife that later becomes a murder weapon, is now more possible than ever before with hypersensitive instruments. Forensic experts contend detectives and scientists need to be able to understand how the invisible ATCG alphabet soup at a crime scene may implicate a murderer, an innocent person—or both.