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In The News

2017-06-16 | Michigan Man Convicted on Single Hair Freed After 41 Years
"It took me years to get to this point. I don't want to touch another law book," Watkins said. He is the second Michigan inmate to be released in recent weeks after having a decades-old conviction thrown out. Desmond Ricks was freed in late May after having served 25 years for the killing of a friend outside a Detroit restaurant. An analysis of two bullets taken from the victim showed they didn't match the gun that prosecutors offered as the murder weapon at Ricks' 1992 trial.

2017-06-16 | Michigan Man Convicted on Single Hair Freed After 41 Years
Watkins was 20 years old when he was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1975 shooting death of 25-year-old Yvette Ingram during a robbery at her home. Police lab analysts tied Watkins to the crime based on a single hair found at the scene, according to the Innocence Project at the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School, which took up Watkins' case and asked a court in January to set aside the conviction.

2017-06-14 | Orlando Fingerprint Examiner Suspended Over Possible Misconduct in 2,600 Cases
The report states that the state’s attorney’s office hasn’t identified a specific reason why it removed the examiner from duty, but it sent a letter to every defense lawyer involved in the nearly 3,000 cases the examiner worked on stating that the examiner was taken off fingerprint analysis due to performance issues that included “clerical errors, failure to identify prints of value, and mislabeling of print cards.”

2017-06-14 | Orlando Fingerprint Examiner Suspended Over Possible Misconduct in 2,600 Cases
According to a recent Washington Post report, there may be a new item to add to the list. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando, Florida announced it has suspended a fingerprint examiner for “reasons that aren’t totally clear.” At the time of his suspension, the examiner had worked on over 2,600 cases dating back to 2001. The report states that the state’s attorney’s office hasn’t identified a specific reason why it removed the examiner from duty, but it sent a letter to every defense lawyer involved in the nearly 3,000 cases the examiner worked on stating that the examiner was taken off fingerprint analysis due to performance issues that included “clerical errors, failure to identify prints of value, and mislabeling of print cards.”

2017-06-08 | Prosecutor Agrees to New Trial after DNA from Bite Mark Excludes Convicted Murderer
Should the state seek a new a trial, a conviction could prove more difficult after new DNA testing excluded Swinton as the source of saliva found in a bite mark on Terry's breast or on clothing that state investigators originally thought Terry had worn the night she was murdered. Another round of DNA testing conducted in the past few months on material found under Terry's fingernails excluded Swinton, according to Rosenthal's motion. "Although we understand that the state hasn't determined whether to proceed with a new trial, there is no forensic evidence linking Mr. Swinton to the victim, no confession, and no eyewitnesses to the crime," Rosenthal wrote.

2017-06-06 | Virginia man spent nearly 10 years in prison for crime he did not commit
He constantly worried about his aging parents and missed his daughter's wedding. "My daughter getting married and me not being able to walk her down the aisle, that really hurt a lot," Bush said. Then less than a year before his release date, a call out of the blue from his lawyer, who told him another man, Christian Amos, had come forward and admitted to robbing the banks.

2017-06-02 | Fort Detrick lab slated to close handles thousands of pieces of evidence for FBI
A Fort Detrick laboratory slated for closure has processed about 14,000 pieces of evidence in criminal investigations involving biological threats such as ricin and anthrax, the FBI confirmed this week. And it’s the only laboratory in the country that can do this special brand of investigation and analysis. “The capabilities offered at the NBFAC [National Bioforensic Analysis Center] are unique and unparalleled,” FBI spokesman Matthew Bertron said in a written response to questions from The Frederick News-Post. “No alternative facility is available to support the FBI with this mission.” Bertron said the FBI relies exclusively on the NBFAC to provide 24-hour forensic analysis on biological threat investigations.

2017-05-31 | Houston CSU: Police Union Wanted Off Civilian-led Force
The Houston Forensic Science Center announced last week they would have only civilians on their CSU by the end of the year. That would mean the last eight Houston Police Department officers currently on the unit would be reassigned to duties other than collecting evidence. But the police union actually wanted it this way. Officials told Forensic Magazine that the union not only supported the move—they even initiated their members’ removal. “When it implodes, they won’t be able to blame HPD,” said Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. “That place is a disaster waiting to happen.”

2017-05-30 | Motherisk scandal prompts review of Ontario’s forensic labs
The Motherisk scandal, which was revealed by a Star investigation in late 2014, has cast doubt over thousands of child protection proceedings across Canada that relied on the lab’s discredited hair-strand drug and alcohol tests from the late 1990s to the spring of 2015, when Sick Kids closed the lab. It also exposed oversight gaps at Sick Kids and in the justice system, which failed to ensure that Motherisk’s hair tests met the high bar for evidence presented in court, and has served as yet another reminder of the dangers of flawed forensics.

2017-05-26 | Fighting Forgery with Paper 'Fingerprints'
One way of protecting against fraud is to embed electronics such as RFID chips within the document. This solution is currently used in e-passport to prevent forgery. However, the security of these relies on the tamper-resistance of the chip and the more secure systems bring with them a significant cost. As an example, with the addition of a "tamper-resistant" RFID chip to the U.K. passports in 2006, the cost of an adult passport sharply rose from £42 in 2005 to £72 in 2007. While on the surface a sheet of paper may seem like any other sheet, manufacturing paper is a complex process and each sheet is unique.