STORY: "Faulty forensics: With the FBI and Justice Department now reviewing thousands of criminal cases with questionable forensic evidence, how many questions will be overturned?"by lawyers Rick Collins, Robert McDonald and Marc Gann, published in their firm's Blog on July 20, 2012.
GIST: "Here on Long Island — after seeing the fallout from the now shuttered Nassau County Crime Lab — the idea of flawed forensic evidence and potential crime lab errors doesn’t come as a surprise. However, for such a major review of forensic evidence to take place (with reports estimating that the FBI is starting with more than 10,000 cases referred to all hair and fiber examiners), it is becoming more and more clear that mistakes do happen when it comes to using forensic evidence to secure a conviction … and becoming more apparent that something needs to be done to ensure that these types of crime lab errors don’t end up ruining the lives of innocent people. As crime labs across the country continue to face increased scrutiny, and as this major undertaking of the review of thousands of cases gets underway, we can only hope that any wrongful convictions due to “faulty forensics” are not only identified, but rectified. While forensic evidence remains a critical component to many cases, we need to make sure that there are no flaws in forensic techniques and that careful attention is paid to the review and testing of any, and all, forensic evidence. Mistakes like this shouldn’t happen in our criminal justice system – and innocent people shouldn’t go to prison for crimes they did not commit."
http://cmgesqblog.com/2012/07/%E2%80%9Cfaulty-forensics%E2%80%9D-with-the-fbi-and-justice-department-now-reviewing-thousands-of-criminal-cases-with-questionable-forensic-evidence-how-many-convictions-will-be-overturned/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmithThe Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
