STORY: "Hair Analysis Review: Dozen States Looking at Criminal Cases," by Senior Science Writer Seth Augustine, published by Forensic Magazine on January 6, 2016.
GIST: FBI
examiners had presented scientifically-flawed hair analysis at criminal
cases nationwide for multiple decades, occasionally resulting in
innocent people being convicted for crimes they did not commit, the
Bureau admitted in 2015. Nearly two years later, criminal cases in a dozen states over several
decades featuring the hair assessments are now being combed through,
the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers told Forensic Magazine. Groups in Iowa, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Texas, California, New
York, Washington, Virginia, Washington D.C. are currently reviewing
criminal cases involving the hair-analysis techniques, said Vanessa
Antoun, senior resource counsel with the NACDL, which is keeping track
of the efforts, which are done on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction level. Coupled with other states monitored by the Midwest Innocence Project, the number of states is roughly a dozen, she added. But not all those efforts have yet been made public, she told Forensic Magazine in a recent interview. The vast majority of the cases in which FBI hair examiners testified
were at the state as opposed to federal level, according to Antoun. But some states did have their own examiners trained at a two-week
hair and fiber school run by the Bureau, she added. One of those states
was Florida, which had its own experts testifying in cases statewide.
(Some 48 states had sent experts to the FBI training in the years it was held).
Approximately 3,000 cases involved the flawed FBI hair analysis from 1985 to 1999.
The FBI is still reviewing those cases for errors by examiners, who
were using subjective measures in testimony and determinations about
matches from suspects to crime scenes. That announcement was made by the
Bureau in April 2015. But from the outset, the Innocence Project and
other defense advocates said the pool of potentially-related criminal
cases could be much larger than the initial 3,000. The Bureau said it
had difficulties identifying cases prior to 1985, when it started its
computer system – and the federal agency initially started its hair
analysis program in the 1930s FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to U.S. governors in June 2016
in which he assured the states that after 1999, the FBI had added
mitochondrial analysis to further validate the testimony of experts. Comey asked the governors to ask state and local crime labs to review
their own cases to validate the hair evidence presented at courts
before 2000. “We want to make sure there aren’t other innocent people in jail
based on our work,” Comey wrote. “Unfortunately, in a large number of
cases, our examiners made statements that went too far in explaining the
significance of a hair comparison and could have misled a jury or
judge.” Nine prisoners were executed in the United States based on cases
based at least partly on hair evidence. Another five died while behind
bars. However, the Innocence Project, the NACDL and the FBI are not
identifying those prisoners, and are instead relying on surviving relatives to decide whether to speak to media.........A series of exonerations, retrials, and multimillion-dollar lawsuits
have resulted in DNA testing of cases featuring the hair evidence. One
of the foremost cases was that of Timothy Bridges, who served 25 years
in prison based on two hairs found at a rape scene; he was released in
2015, given a full pardon by the North Carolina governor last month, and has a major lawsuit pending."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/01/hair-analysis-review-dozen-states-looking-criminal-cases?et_cid=5766777&et_rid=979655504&type=headline&et_cid=5766777&et_rid=979655504&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2fnews%2f2017%2f01%2fhair-analysis-review-dozen-states-looking-criminal-cases%3fet_cid%3d5766777%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26type%3dheadline
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. 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/charlessmith. 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;
