Thursday, June 25, 2015

Kyle Unger: James Driskell; Thomas Sophonow; Frank Ostrowski; David Milgaard; Canada; Georgialee Lang (AKA the Law Diva) looks at "The junk science responsible for wrongful convictions" and observes; "What is most startling, however, is that the scandal of faulty hair analysis has just surfaced in the United States, although evidence of its problematic nature has been known for years."


POST: "Junk science responsible for wrongful convictions," by Georgialee Lang  on "The Law Diva's Blog" on June 23, 2015.

GIST: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department have finally admitted there may be hundreds of wrongfully convicted persons languishing in prison, some on death row because of “junk science”, notably microscopic hair analysis. They recently revealed that for over thirty years so-called FBI “experts” have provided flawed testimony in almost every criminal case where human hair was found at the crime scene. The government’s review of cases where hair evidence was a central part of the case against an accused has led to a finding that 26 out of 28 FBI microscopic hair experts unwittingly provided flawed testimony in 95% of the 268 criminal trials that have been scrutinized. Unfortunately, most of the time the experts opined to a scientific certainty that the accused’s hair matched hair found at the crime scene, making hair analysis an important evidentiary weapon relied on by prosecutors around the country. Assisted by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Innocence Project, thus far the review indicates 32 people were given the death penalty, and of those 32, 14 have already died in prison or been executed. What is most startling, however, is that the scandal of faulty hair analysis has just surfaced in the United States, although evidence of its problematic nature has been known for years.  In 2004 Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper highlighted a groundbreaking study from Manitoba that arose from the wrongful murder convictions of two innocent men.........Thankfully, DNA testing has now overtaken the flawed science of hair analysis, but that still leaves other areas where the science may be more illusory than accurate, including footprint analysis, bite mark analysis and the Canadian cornerstone of difficult prosecutions: Mr. Big."

The entire post can be found at:

https://lawdiva.wordpress.com/tag/kyle-unger/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 
 
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

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/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;