In a shocking double fail, thieves in Kent, England, had very little trouble stealing a computer server from Forensics Telecommunications Services in 2007. Schmal had been raped seven times. To add to the problem, the blood was not immediately turned over as evidence but was carried around for several hours before it was entered into the chain of custody, allowing for speculation of when and how the 1.5 mL of blood may have disappeared. The carnage disturbed Knox, who described her roommate as neat and tidy. Knox had spent the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and she attempted to get into Kerchers room, which was locked. Beyond poor evidence collection techniques, sloppy maneuvering at the scene caused more bloody shoe prints to be left behind by LAPD than by the perpetrator. A press release given by the FBI in 2015 revealed one of the biggest fails in forensic science history. She found the bathroom she shared with her roommate, Meredith Kercher, covered in blood. Defense attorneys and organizations like the Innocence Project are pushing for standardized use of DNA tests on hair, as well as more accurate testimony about how hair can be similar, but not necessarily matched. Instead of attempting to cover up this hairy forensic fail, the FBI and all legal organizations involved admitted their mistakes and took full responsibility for preventing them in the future. After various appeals and retrials, students from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalismincluding award-winning NPR journalist Laura Sullivanpresented new evidence in 1996. 6. Jimerson was not initially convicted because Gray had withdrawn her testimony, although she later testified against him in a plea deal with the prosecutors and he was sentenced to death. At the time, tests were not readily available to differentiate between natural and contaminant EDTA or the differences in the level of EDTA in blood. In West Virginia alone, Zain may have lied in as many as 182 different cases. A Canadian Pacific . Cameron Todd Willingham A sample of 300 of his autopsy reports was examined by a panel of experts, who ruled that one-third of his patients had never been autopsied. All seven were examined and proved inconsistent with his findings. O.J. The cases were reported to include homicide investigations and officer-involved shootings. Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] - The Snail-Flavoured Ginger Beer. Forensic evidence is crucial to crime scene investigators. A bloody fingerprint at Nicoles house was noted by a policeman but overlooked by the forensics team. In addition, the US Department of Justice revealed that more than 400,000 stored rape kits have not yet been tested across the country because of insufficient funding. During a Reddit " Ask Me Anything . The real killer was later identified. How many innocent people are serving sentences for crimes they didnt commit? Three days later, Camm was arrested for the deaths of his family. 5 Contact a California Criminal Defense Lawyer at The Law Offices of Kerry L. Armstrong, APLC Today. This article explores five fascinating cases of fraud in forensics to underscore the importance of using scientifically valid and reliable methods in this growing career field. Blood was also found in O.J. Even those at the upper echelons of criminal justice have been found guilty of fraud in forensics. In 16 cases, pieces of evidence were returned to the wrong rape kit, hindering 19 investigations. 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Several inquiries and protests have been made by experts within the legal system regarding the deplorable way that forensic evidence is being stored across the country. 4 Wrongful Conviction Cases in California. Manuel Vasquez, a state deputy fire marshall, took the stand and testified to seeing puddle configurations (i.e., areas of rapid burning) suggesting the use of accelerants in the fire and indicating arson. [5] Bloody shoe prints matching O.J.s size and pattern were found at the scene of the crime, yet no one could locate his shoes to prove that they were an exact match. After the police refused, Romanellis friend broke through the door to uncover Kerchers bloody and partially naked body. Going in, the public were already influenced by Simpsons likeability and star power as a pro football player and beloved celebrity. Belgian prosecutors are angered over the lack of adequate security measures for scientific labs in their nation, especially since there was sufficient warning that the sites were vulnerable to attack. Erdmann also testified about the forensic examination of a 14-year-olds brain, but when the body was exhumed, police discovered that the skull had never been cut open. Over a span of 13 years, prosecutors in two states sought out Zains ostensibly expert opinions, never questioning the fact that he managed to produce evidence with a certainty that other lab technicians couldnt approach. 1 The Central Park 5. During the June 2011 appeals trial, experts uncovered the numerous flaws in the forensic evidence levied against Knox and Sollecito. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Because the police department did not have proper collection documents regarding Simpsons blood, it was argued that the police planted Simpsons missing blood on critical evidence and in critical areas of the murder scene. People are being sentenced to jail for life or are being put on death row. This blatant falsification of a crime report, the IPCC found, was part of a concerted effort by senior officials in the Sapphire unit to improve the rate of solved rape cases in part by recording a higher number of non-offenses. While a police power struggle ensued, reporters flocked to the site of the murder to take pictures, and civilians soon followed. Once Meredith Kerchers room was thoroughly searched, police uncovered fingerprints and DNA belonging to Rudy Guede, who had gone on a date with the victim the night of her murder. No one knows how many innocent men and women have been put to death because of faulty forensics or inaccurate experts. While some of those men were exonerated, the exact number of cases influenced by Zain is unknowable. The officer who arrested Oscar Pistorius on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed last year testified Friday that police at the crime scene mishandled evidence, including a ballistics expert who. The consequences of that complacency have been devastating for Massachusetts. Whatever the outcome, the jurors must feel that their decision is beyond a reasonable doubt. The victims were from one jurisdiction, but their bodies were found in another, leading to disagreements about which department should collect the forensic evidence. Helmsman of the drug lab for nearly two decades, and himself suspected of professional improprieties, Callery had overseen a spate of irresponsible hiring decisions. There's a case out of British Columbia called Regina v Hamdan that goes into some detail on the lack of proper digital evidence collection. Photos were taken of critical evidence without scales in them to aid in measurement taking. Over the course of a 14-year career, Baird was the target of nearly two dozen official complaints related to his propensity for police brutality, inflated criminal charges, robbing drug dealers, and the wholesale planting of narcotic evidence on innocent peoplean impressive list of evils to say the least. All the while, she outpaced her colleagues in productivity, sometimes by a factor of three. He spent 26 years in jail before a group called The . And, in that capacity, she seemingly set a bar for excellence that was prohibitively high. The person who drew the blood could only guess he had taken 8 mL; only 6 mL could be accounted for by the LAPD. The case caught a break in 2005 when the DNA of career criminal, Charles Boney, was matched to a sweatshirt at the scene of the crime. She was right. They uncovered Marvin Simpsons genuine eyewitness account. Disorganization was rife, and records were regularly falsified. The Thornes had just been named as the winners of the Opera House lottery, established to raise money to build Joern Utzon's masterpiece. When forensics fail, it isnt just the victims and their families who pay the price. Conspiracy theorists helped spread the rumor that a racist cop had killed both Nicole and Ron to frame O.J. Not Guilty: Famous Successful Defense Cases By Diana Aizman Esq. Erroneous convictions can have immeasurable consequences for exonerees, original crime victims, and families. In addition to the untold numbers of people who have been convicted on faulty evidence, a fair number of known violent drug offenders have also been released, leading to an increase in the crime rate and time spent rearresting offenders released because of fabricated evidence. On the the basis of falsified evidence, her presumed killer, Christopher Edwards, may now have legal grounds to overturn an otherwise convincing murder conviction. The judge made some good points and some that made it obvious that they aren't tech savvy but still a good read. Coleman is an author, screenwriter, university student, and tarot reader. The mistakes of a single unidentified lab technician forced the New York medical examiners office to review 843 rape cases for DNA evidence which could have been improperly processed. Microscopic analysis can narrow down a suspects race, hair color, dye treatments, thickness, and many other characteristics, but it cannot determine if the hair is an exact match to a suspect. The whole situation was a bloody mess and a complete forensic fail. The prosecution had expert witnesses who testified that the evidence was often mishandled. It began during the trial of a suspected Oxycontin dealer, when the court discovered that confiscated drugs had vanished and been replaced with heart medication. Simpson murder case. In another instance, a former employee had managed to hold onto an evidence locker pass key six years after leaving the job. In the results-driven world of laboratory work, her virtually inhuman ability to amass test results placed Dookhan in a position of distinction. The ensuing investigation resulted in guilty pleas from five troopers and a criminal conviction of the sixth. Criminal charges and convictions have been dropped against 67 people because of evidence mishandling at the Orange County Sheriff's Department, prosecutors revealed Wednesday. Changing that initial perception was going to be tough. Detective Fuhrman was discredited by the prosecution when he was alleged to be a racist and accused of planting evidence. In addition, O.J. During the first trial in 1978, state serologist Michael Podlecki testified that at least one of the rapists had type A secretor blood, a trait shared with approximately 25 percent of the population. Machine Gun Kelly George "Machine Gun" Kelly was a notorious criminal during the Prohibition era, taking part in bootlegging, kidnapping and armed robbery. But, despite even the presence of eyewitnesses who could attest to grotesque law enforcement misconduct, charges leveled against Baird and other officers were consistently dismissed as baseless until Philadelphia investigators and federal agents finally began pursuing the matter in 1991. While the abundance of evidence certainly provided more than enough to do so, the doubts cast by the sloppy police work were enough of a window. Silk Road Case: Mishandling of Critical Evidence Mishandling of Critical Evidence As we progress through the digital age, courts are addressing questions of whether digital evidence is reliable. The chance that blood found on Simpsons sock could be from someone other than Nicole Brown was 1 in 21 billion. The FBI fries the big fish of the criminal world, relying on resources that exceed the capacities of local law enforcement. The defense noted several items that had gone missing, including a vial of blood from OJ Simpson. The jurors have to unanimously decide guilt or innocence. Unfortunately, Dookhan wasnt some laboratory wunderkind with a passion for drug offenses. She was also accused of taking cocaine from positive samples and adding it to negative samples to help secure convictions. This inability to understand key evidence made the evidence essentially useless; even some seasoned lawyers found the scientific testimonies to be incomprehensible. A two-day appeal hearing which was due to take place next month has now been put. What had sealed the case against the pair at their trial, which began in January 2009 and ended with their conviction the following December, was testimony from police scientific experts which seemed to support the prosecutors' claim that Kercher died in a sex game involving all three defendants. Understanding Forensic Science In a separate, more jarring, example of wanton duplicity, detective constable Ryan Coleman-Farrow, another member of the allegedly elite Sapphire unit, simply declined to pursue the claims of at least 12 women who reported sexual assaults between 2007 and 2010. While interviewing with the CIA, Harding touted his evidence planting exploits as an example of his ability to conduct covert operations, somehow failing to comprehend that admitting to a string of serious crimes might get him in trouble with the government. After 36 years of appeals, the evidence was finally located on the top shelf of a forensics storage room. Boneys history included attacking women. With the rate of laboratory malfeasance far outpacing the capacity of authorities to address it, we may never fully ascertain just how many lives were ruined or potentially lost thanks to the Houston Police Departments forensic infractions. Willie owned a gun of the same caliber as the one that killed the couple, and he had complained to friends at a local pub that Edward was not giving him enough allowance from the family funds. And a certain heightened credibility comes with that. Firefox was used to access an address with "chloroform.htm.". 10. Among the mounds of evidence, there was a glass wine decanter, a clock radio and hair samples, all kept in evidence bags after being collected from the March 5, 1985 murder scene. "The international procedures for the inspection [of the scene of a crime] were not followed," Stefano Conti and Carla Vecciotti, both professors, said in their report. Additionally, a Dutch forensic expert found Boneys DNA under Kim Camms fingernails and her DNA on his sweatshirt, two pieces of evidence which sealed his conviction. Amanda Knox was a 20-year old American citizen living in Perugia, Italy, sharing an apartment with several other women. But, in truth, the lab had been plagued by corruption long before those thefts ever occurred. Both Knox and Sollecito were arrested and charged with Kerchers murder due to trace amounts of Knoxs DNA found on the kitchen knifethe presumed murder weaponand Sollecitos DNA found on Kerchers bra clasp. had been cut on his left hand, and Nicoles fresh blood was found on his socks. In some ways, it can be said that Dookhan was just giving her superiors what they wanted. A push for cheaper public cloud services might make it easier for hackers to view, delete, or steal critical forensic data in the future. 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