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In The News

2017-05-16 | State Forensic Science Commissions Final Report
A report recently released by NIJ provides an overview of considerations in planning for and developing a state-level forensic science commission, taking into account the substantial differences among states regarding governance, culture, statutes, and crime laboratory systems.

2017-05-16 | DNA from Bomb Fragments Focus of Sam Houston State Study
The Sam Houston State University scientists looked at three different methods of analyzing touch DNA traces on shrapnel: STR analysis, insertion/null (INNUL) markers, and SNPs via the latest “next-generation” sequencing. Ten pipe bombs loaded with Tannerite were exploded by the scientists. The devices had shrapnel touched with trace blood from people of three different races – to mimic the wounds of victims. But the wires that fused the pipe bombs together were touched with a miniscule of DNA cells from the “bomber.” The 10 bombs produced 83 fragments. Forty-four of those had quantifiable amounts of DNA. The nine wire samples remaining produced seven full STR profiles.

2017-05-08 | Leading DNA scientist sacked, 27 criminal convictions in doubt, WA Attorney-General says
A North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) spokesperson said Path West had launched a thorough investigation and told the ODPP as soon as it found out about an alleged breach of protocol "in relation to individual results being communicated verbally and by email without peer review". "Commencing in 2015, the investigation included the review of selected cases over a 15-year period where a court report had been provided by the scientist," the NMHS spokesman said in a statement. "The review revealed the issuance of non-peer reviewed verbal or emailed individual results did not compromise the validity of the final court report that is used as evidence, thereby no incorrect results were ever communicated to the Police or the ODPP.

2017-05-08 | SLED’s faulty gunshot residue tests delaying some prosecutions around South Carolina Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article149066069.html#storylink=cpy
“There were no cases where it showed positive where it was in fact negative,” said SLED Chief Mark Keel in an interview. Police agencies around the state depend on SLED’s labs to process crime scene evidence. Due to the near quarter-million-dollar cost of the machine used in the gunshot residue tests – which doesn’t include an additional $25,000 a year for maintenance and service – SLED has the only gunshot analysis lab in South Carolina.

2017-05-06 | SLED’s faulty gunshot residue tests delaying some prosecutions around South Carolina
All 227 cases, from January 2015 to November 2016, are the work of one analyst, Whitney Berry, who resigned from SLED in February after the flaws were discovered, SLED officials said. She could not be reached for comment. During her SLED career, which began in 2013, Berry testified in court about gunshot residue findings in 39 cases.

2017-05-06 | Former Crime Lab Chemist Charged With Stealing, Using Drugs
In February, Ieraci was sent to a medical facility for a drug test after displaying slurred speech and poor motor skills in the lab. According to the criminal complaint, he tested positive for marijuana and Alprazolam, an active ingredient in the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Investigators reviewed security footage from the lab that showed Ieraci going into a drug evidence storage vault locker and handling evidence, Powder later collected from the locker shelves and floor tested positive for Alprazolam, the complaint stated.

2017-05-01 | Mobiles to offer crime scene access to fingerprint database
Fingerprints left at murder scenes could soon be checked against a national biometrics database using a mobile phone under plans being considered by Police Scotland. The use of handheld devices in police forensic work is being looked at by the national force as part of its 10-year strategy. The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said the technology could provide a significant boost in murder inquiries where the first “golden hour” is vital in the collection of evidence.

2017-05-01 | Baton Rouge DA, Innocence Project tangle over missing evidence in rape case
Roy Morgan was convicted and sentenced to life in 1983 for rape of a victim identified only as L.H. In an application for post-conviction relief, attorneys with The Innocence Project New Orleans wrote that Morgan has always denied committing the rape and that "the only direct evidence of his guilt was a single eyewitness identification by the victim." In 2010, Morgan asked the court to submit various evidence for DNA testing, which wasn't available when his case was first considered by the court. Specific evidence he wanted tested includes the rapist's sunglasses knocked off in a struggle, blood left at the crime scene from a cut on the assailant's arm, the victim's bed sheets, which could be tested for blood and semen, and the results from a sexual assault kit collected at a hospital. The 19th Judicial District Court denied Morgan's request because the evidence could not be located for testing, his request states.

2017-05-01 | PathWest DNA mix-up: Investigation launched after wrong man convicted
The man was arrested in 2004, aged in his early 20s, after DNA found at the scene of a home invasion According to the Government, the man initially protested his innocence before pleading guilty on the advice of his lawyer, who told him he would not be believed. He received a suspended jail sentence and spent over a decade with a criminal record.ion was incorrectly identified as his. The DNA apparently belonged to someone with the same name as the man and a laboratory worker mixed them up.

2017-04-30 | State opens investigation into Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office
The investigation follows revelations last month through court records of infighting between Spokane police and Spokane County prosecutors about how to proceed with charges in connection with the 2012 death of 20-year-old Kala Williams. Howard determined five years ago that Williams’ cause of death was undetermined despite court records indicating that she had defensive wounds and was cut in half.