COMMENTARY: "Persistent Forensics Lab Problems Undermine Faith in Our Criminal Justice System," by John Malcolm, published by the Heritage Foundation. John Malcolm is Director, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and the Ed Gilbertson and Sherry Lindberg Gilbertson Senior Legal Fellow Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies;
POWERFUL STATEMENT: (This could be the mission statement of the Charles Smith Blog!) "Forensics scientists are not simply an arm of the prosecution team, yet some forensics examiners act as if their only job is to see to it that the defendant gets convicted. This can sometimes lead to tragic results. Scientific evidence can be very powerful evidence and, properly employed, a prosecutor’s ace in the hole. But when forensics experts tamper with or fabricate evidence, utilize shoddy testing procedures, testify about areas outside their expertise, overstate the value of their testimony, or present unsupportable scientific conclusions in order to obtain a conviction, their actions will likely lead to an injustice in the particular case and hasten the arrival of the day when judges and jurors no longer trust the government’s experts. That would indeed be a dark day, and if it does come, the government will have only itself to blame."
GIST: "I would like to focus my remarks on the role of forensic evidence and the problems that ensue when forensics experts lose their objectivity in their zeal to help the prosecutor obtain a conviction. In his law review article, Judge Kozinski does an admirable job of setting up and then shooting down various forms of “accepted wisdom” in the criminal justice system. One of these is that all forms of forensic evidence are scientifically proven and, therefore, infallible. As Judge Kozinski points out, many types of forensic tests that have long been accepted by courts and admitted into evidence have high error rates. He even goes so far as to say that “[s]ome fields of forensic expertise are built on nothing but guesswork and false common sense.”[9] I am not going to take issue with that, but I want to discuss another, more insidious problem that occasionally arises with forensics experts. Forensic evidence can and often does play an extremely powerful role in a criminal trial. Jurors watch programs like CSI New York and NCIS Los Angeles. When forensics experts speak, jurors—and many judges, too—listen and give them more credence than other witnesses, perhaps more than they deserve. People assume that men and women wearing white lab coats know what they’re talking about. This reality places, in my opinion, a special obligation on forensics experts not to overstate the value of the evidence they present. Forensics scientists may work for law enforcement agencies, but they are not, or at least shouldn’t be, simply an arm of the prosecution team. Some forensics examiners act, however, as if their one-and-only job is to see to it that the defendant gets convicted. This can sometimes lead to tragic results. In 2013, Annie Dookhan, a former chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Massachusetts, pled guilty to evidence tampering.[10] Her actions may have tainted cases involving as many as 40,000 people, hundreds of whom have already been released with many more seeking new trials. In 2014, Sonja Farak, another forensic chemist in Massachusetts, pled guilty to evidence tampering and stealing some of the drugs she was supposed to be examining.[11] Hundreds of her cases are now being reviewed. Dookan and Farak intentionally tampered with the evidence, increasing the likelihood that the defendants in the underlying cases would be convicted. Other forensics labs have had similar problems.[12].........Scientific evidence can be very powerful evidence. When properly employed, it can be a prosecutor’s ace in the hole. But when forensics experts tamper with or fabricate evidence, utilize shoddy testing procedures, testify about areas outside their expertise, overstate the value of their testimony, or present unsupportable scientific conclusions in order to obtain a conviction, this will not only likely lead to an injustice in the particular case; it will also hasten the arrival of the day when judges and jurors no longer trust the government’s experts. That would be a dark day indeed, and if it happens, the government will have only itself to blame."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/01/persistent-forensics-lab-problems-undermine-faith-in-our-criminal-justice-system
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
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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/
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http://smithforensic.blogspot.
