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"Reformers have for years recommended that all forensic labs be independent from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies' and this is a key reform promoted by The Justice Project (2008). But fixing these problems is only half the answer' because half of the wrongful convictions attributed to misleading forensic evidence involved deliberate forensic fraud' evidence tampering' and/or perjury.
From "The Elephant in the Crime Lab," by co-authored by Sheila Berry and Larry Ytuarte; Forensic Examiner; Spring, 2009; http://www.t-mlaw.com/blog/post/the-elephant-in-the-crime-lab/
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"According to the Columbus Dispatch,
a career forensic scientist who worked for the state crime lab may have
compromised the integrity of potentially hundreds of convictions in
Ohio, “slanting evidence to help cops and prosecutors build their
cases.” In an article published on Sunday, the Dispatch
wrote that it has reviewed more than 800 pages of personnel records of
G. Michelle Yezzo, who worked as a forensic scientist for the Ohio
attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and whose
credibility in the lab and at trial often came into question over the
course of her 30-year career. The documents illustrate “a disturbing
pattern of behavior” which included erratic and abusive actions toward
her colleagues, lack of documentation of how she obtained lab results,
an inability to properly explain her findings to jurors and bias toward
law enforcement. The Dispatch reports that “two former attorney generals,
defense attorneys, a judge, a former BCI superintendent and a nationally
renowned forensic expert from the FBI all say that Yezzo has
credibility issues that may have poisoned cases she touched.” One such case is back in court. Kevin Keith was convicted of a 1994
triple murder based largely on the expert testimony that Yezzo gave at
his trial. But on Friday, Keith—represented by the Assistant Ohio Public
Defender Rachel Troutman—asked the court for a new trial, claiming that
Yezzo’s testimony has come into question. According to the Dispatch,
in 2010, a “retired FBI forensic expert said that Yezzo’s conclusions
were baseless and her methods were shoddy in Keith’s case.” That and
other evidence, which points to another man, led Ohio’s then-governor to
commute Keith’s sentence to life without parole. Career forensic expert, William Bodziak, said that Yezzo’s work on
the Keith case “was below standards for even scientists in training,”
reported the Dispatch. But Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
said that after two separate reviews of her work, he found “no issues
with her work,” according to the Dispatch."
