"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. The Justice Department
announced last year that several experts had overstated the strength of
similar forensic evidence dating back decades. The Arkansas cases are
two of more than 250 identified nationwide by the Justice Department,
which stressed that the flawed forensic testimony did not necessarily
establish the defendants' innocence. Lonnie
Strawhacker was convicted of rape in Washington County in 1990 based
partly on testimony from an FBI hair-comparison expert during his trial.
Eugene Pitts was convicted of capital murder in the 1979 kidnapping and
slaying of a North Little Rock veterinarian also based partly on
testimony from the same FBI expert, identified as Michael Malone. John Wesley Hall, a lawyer for Pitts, said the rulings Thursday are far from the last word in the appeals. "This
is not a retrying. It's to establish whether (Pitts) is entitled to a
new trial.........As
for future issues with forensic testimony, the Justice Department
issued a memo in September saying it was developing a new code of
professional responsibility for its forensic science laboratories,
including asking forensic examiners and prosecutors to no longer use the
phrase "reasonable scientific certainty" in their reports or testimony."
http://www.dailyprogress.com/arkansas-court-says-cases-need-review-after-flawed-forensics/article_18403dc1-a027-5f94-9382-dbd3783db13a.html
