• 
  
  
  Home
• 
  
  Backlog
  Reduction
• Laboratory
  Assessment &
  Enhancement
  Services
• 
  
  Customized
  Training
• 
  
  Biometric
  Identification
  • What is it?
  • Why Is It Important? »
    • Corporate Responsibility
  • What Is It Used For? »
    • Kidnap/Ransom
    • Disaster Situations/
                     Incident Investigation
  • Modes of Identification »
    • DNA
    • Friction Ridge Skin
    • Facial Recognition
    • Iris Capture
    • Dental X-Ray
    • Other Modes
  • Risk Assessment & Custom BI
  • FAQs
• 
  
  Other
  Services
  • Law Enforcement
  • Corporate/Insurance
• 
  
  
  Resources
• 
  
  
  About Us
  • Matt Schwarz
• 
  
  
  Contact

In The News

2016-11-20 | How to keep up with the scientific literature
Few aspects of scientific work may be as crucial—and yet as easy to neglect—as reading the literature. Beginning a new research project or writing a grant application can be good opportunities for extensive literature searches, but carving out time to keep abreast of newly published papers on a regular basis is often challenging. The task is all the more daunting today, with the already vast literature continuing to grow at head-spinning speed.

2016-11-16 | New plan to fix Austin’s DNA Lab after closure due to widespread issues
In a letter obtained by KXAN, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt carefully explains to the legal community, including the incoming district attorney and sheriff, the “major downstream effect” caused by the problems uncovered at the Austin Police Department’s DNA lab. The widespread issues at the crime lab led to its closure in June.

2016-11-14 | ‘Junk science’ law exonerates woman of murder
Later evidence found the toxicologist’s report was faulty and that the fire was started accidentally. Cacy was released from prison on parole, but was never exonerated and had to report to a parole officer once a month for 17 years.

2016-11-07 | State Crime Lab improving, but police still need to fill gaps
The State Crime Lab economizes in some ways. Starting last year, the lab suspended a long list of services like testing guns used in suicides. It also tests just enough evidence. In the recent conviction of Rontel Royster for cocaine trafficking, for instance, there were several large bags of white powder. The lab tested enough to meet the legal standard for trafficking. The rest of it, Royster’s lawyer could claim, was just untested white powder. “When the lab does not test some of the evidence, it looks like a shoddy investigation,” Johnson said.

2016-11-03 | Questions about ex-BCI scientist may cast doubt on convictions
Their concerns included that she presented evidence in the best light for prosecutors instead of objectively, used suspect methods while examining trace evidence from some crime scenes, and made mistakes that, as one former attorney general put it, “could lead to a substantial miscarriage of justice.”

2016-11-01 | New Portable Forensic Tech Captures Shoe Prints Instantly in 3-D
Researchers are developing a new type of portable crime-scene forensics technology designed to take precise high-resolution 3-D images of shoeprints and tire tread marks in snow and soil. The system will cost around $5,000, which is about one-tenth the cost of systems commercially available, and represents an alternative to the traditional method of plaster casting, said Song Zhang, an associate professor in Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering.

2016-10-28 | DPS forensic analyst questioned about lab sample mistakes
The deposition had nothing to do with any allegations of prosecutorial misconduct but rather the questions surrounding the on-going testimony of one of the state’s leading witnesses in DWI cases. His testimony was so troubling, seven Collin County judges ordered the deposition, and representatives from several county district attorney’s offices were present.

2016-10-21 | Court: Forensic Errors Call for Reviews
Arkansas’ high court issued opinions Thursday sending two cases back to lower courts to consider whether flawed testimony from FBI forensics experts is enough to overturn the convictions of two men. The justices said there was enough evidence to ask the lower courts to consider the arguments made by attorneys in both cases for writs of error coram nobis, a legal move that allows a court to reopen a case when a substantial error is found that did not appear in the original judgment. In the cases Thursday, the error at issue is the testimony of an FBI expert on microscopic hair analysis.

2016-10-18 | DWI forensic expert accused of perjury, mixing up lab tests
Grant says Youngkin has testified multiple times about that incident and given conflicting accounts. "He's given different answers in different trials that are the opposite of each other, and only one of them can be true,” she explained. Defense Attorney George Milner says his client, who did not want to be shown on camera, was recently acquitted in a DWI case where Youngkin admitted his 2013 error. "The jury told me after the trial, they didn't believe anything he said,” Milner said.

2016-10-13 | Firearms Evidence Allowed in Chicago Hobos Gang Trial – Despite PCAST Argument
The judge ruled against the defendants’ Daubert motion last week, saying that the PCAST report had not invalidated all firearms comparisons – and the evidence was pertinent to the ongoing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, proceedings. “In short, the PCAST report does not undermine the general reliability of firearm toolmark analysis or require exclusion of the proffered opinions in this case,” the judge ruled last week.