PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This post is part of a series I am running on DNA related issues. The issues in the series include flawed DNA tests (false positives really happen); opposition by prosecutors and appeal courts to post conviction testing (even after setting a date for execution); access to the source code for New York City’s proprietary DNA software, which some scientists and defense lawyers contend may be inaccurate in matching a defendant to a complex sample of genetic material; New York City's vast, ever-growing, unregulated DNA database that police are already using to connect suspects to evidence from crime scenes across the five boroughs; Untested rape kits. (Bad for victims; bad for innocent accused persons who could be exonerated by the DNA tests); Lots of grist for our mill.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: “DNA is the magic word. If you throw it into a trial, they eat it up. For me, it’s not magic at all.”
Mayer Herskovic: Brooklyn, New York;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This post is part of a series I am running on DNA related issues. The issues in the series include flawed DNA tests (false positives really happen); opposition by prosecutors and appeal courts to post conviction testing (even after setting a date for execution); access to the source code for New York City’s proprietary DNA software, which some scientists and defense lawyers contend may be inaccurate in matching a defendant to a complex sample of genetic material; New York City's vast, ever-growing, unregulated DNA database that police are already using to connect suspects to evidence from crime scenes across the five boroughs; Untested rape kits. (Bad for victims; bad for innocent accused persons who could be exonerated by the DNA tests); Lots of grist for our mill.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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STORY: "ProPublica Seeks Source Code for New York City’s Disputed DNA
Software," by reporter Lauren Kirchner, published by ProPublica on
September 25, 2017.
SUB-HEADING: "We’re asking a federal court for the code behind a technique that critics say may have put innocent people in prison."
SUB-HEADING: "New York City’s crime lab has been a pioneer nationally in analyzing especially difficult DNA samples. But the recent disclosure of the source code for its proprietary software is raising new questions about accuracy."
SUB-HEADING: "We’re asking a federal court for the code behind a technique that critics say may have put innocent people in prison."
SUB-HEADING: "New York City’s crime lab has been a pioneer nationally in analyzing especially difficult DNA samples. But the recent disclosure of the source code for its proprietary software is raising new questions about accuracy."
GIST "ProPublica is asking a federal court for access to the source
code for New York City’s proprietary DNA software, which some scientists
and defense lawyers contend may be inaccurate in matching a defendant
to a complex sample of genetic material. Known as a pioneer in analyzing
the most difficult evidence from crime scenes, the New York City
medical examiner’s office has processed DNA samples supplied not only by
local police, but also by about 50 jurisdictions nationwide. Employees developed the disputed software — known as the Forensic
Statistical Tool, or FST — to analyze evidence consisting of multiple
people’s DNA and determine the likelihood that a suspect’s DNA was
present. According to the medical examiner’s office, FST was used in
about 1,350 criminal cases from 2011 until this year, when it was phased
out. The office has long kept the source code secret, successfully
opposing requests in court by defense attorneys to examine it. A motion ProPublica filed today in the Southern District of New York asks Judge Valerie Caproni to lift a protective order she had issued in a recent case, U.S. v. Kevin Johnson.
While she became the first judge to require the lab to turn over the
source code to the defense, her order barred parties in the case from
sharing or discussing it. As reported earlier this month by ProPublica and The New York Times,
defense expert Nathaniel Adams, a computer scientist and an engineer at
a private forensics consulting firm in Ohio, reviewed the code and
found that “the correctness of the behavior of the FST software should
be seriously questioned.” However, the versions of Adams’ affidavits
available to the public were heavily redacted and the code itself
remains shielded by the judge’s order. The medical examiner’s office
characterized Adams’ criticisms as stylistic rather than substantive and
said FST’s calculations were reliable. FST played a key role in Johnson’s case. He was arrested after a
police search found two guns in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, where he
sometimes stayed. The DNA lab in the medical examiner’s office found two
people’s DNA on one gun; by FST’s calculation, it was 156 times more
likely than not to contain Johnson’s DNA. The second gun had three
people’s DNA and a formidable likelihood of 66 million. Johnson pleaded
guilty to illegal gun possession and Caproni sentenced him last month to
28 months in prison, most of which he has already served. ProPublica filed a public-records request for the FST source code in
July. The medical examiner’s office denied the request, citing its
“sensitive nature” and writing that “source code consists of information
that, ‘if disclosed, would jeopardize the capacity of [OCME] to
guarantee the security of its information technology assets.’” The
office’s special counsel denied ProPublica’s appeal in August. ProPublica is seeking to intervene in U.S. v. Johnson
with
the assistance of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at
Yale Law School, which offers pro bono services to news organizations.
Richard Tofel, president of ProPublica, said, “We are seeking
disclosure of this code because of the considerable public interest in
the accuracy of its predictions, and to further scrutiny of its impact.
If we prevail on our motion, we would envision publishing the code
alongside an analysis of its likely effectiveness.” Other nonprofit
organizations are also seeking to open
proprietary source codes for DNA analysis to wider scrutiny......... On
Sept.
13, the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation
filed briefs in California’s appeals court, supporting efforts by a man
convicted of sexual assault and burglary to gain access to the
algorithm behind a widely used software program called TrueAllele.
The DNA evidence in his case was so small and mixed that initial
analysis was inconclusive, but prosecutors say TrueAllele linked him to
three crime scenes in east Bakersfield. He was sentenced to life in
prison without parole. The developer of TrueAllele contends that its
code is a trade secret. Kevin Johnson’s attorneys, Sylvie Levine and Christopher Flood of the
Federal Defenders of New York, said they also plan to submit a motion
to make the FST source code public. Flood told Caproni in Johnson’s
sentencing hearing last month that Adams’ critique of FST “affects every
result that has ever been produced by that software,” so there is a
public interest in allowing him to discuss it freely. “It’s hard to imagine a justification for a public lab to be so
opaque, when science demands transparency,” Flood told ProPublica after
the hearing. A coalition of defense attorneys, including Flood, sent a letter to
New York state’s inspector general, Catherine Leahy Scott, on Sept. 1,
asking her to investigate the DNA lab and the thousands of past criminal
cases that relied on the results of either FST or a second
controversial technique called “high-sensitivity testing.”
Because the lab has kept problems with its “unreliable” testing and “unsound statistical evidence” secret from the public and the courts, the attorneys wrote, “innocent people may be wrongly convicted, and people guilty of serious crimes may go free.” Following the ProPublica/New York Times article, several elected officials have expressed concern about New York’s DNA testing methods. Three members of the New York City Council — Rory Lancman, Carlos Menchaca and Rafael Espinal — called for further investigation. ........The medical examiner’s office says it switched from FST to a new program, STRmix, because of changing FBI standards and not because of any deficiencies with FST. Dr. Barbara Sampson, New York City’s chief medical examiner, defended the lab’s DNA testing methods in a Medium post she wrote in response to the ProPublica/New York Times article. In addition to the Johnson case, attorneys in other ongoing criminal proceedings are citing FST’s perceived unreliability as a basis for defenses and appeals. Mayer Herskovic, a Hasidic Jew and Brooklyn father of two who was sentenced to four years in prison for gang assault after the lab said that his genetic material matched a complex sample of DNA found on the victim’s sneaker, is now appealing his conviction. His lawyer plans to argue that FST was never tested on a population as insulated as the Hasidic Jews of Williamsburg, who very likely share many of the same ancestors, and therefore much of the same DNA. “DNA is the magic word,” Herskovic told ProPublica. “If you throw it into a trial, they eat it up. For me, it’s not magic at all.”
The entire story can be found at:
https://www.propublica.org/
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/c
Because the lab has kept problems with its “unreliable” testing and “unsound statistical evidence” secret from the public and the courts, the attorneys wrote, “innocent people may be wrongly convicted, and people guilty of serious crimes may go free.” Following the ProPublica/New York Times article, several elected officials have expressed concern about New York’s DNA testing methods. Three members of the New York City Council — Rory Lancman, Carlos Menchaca and Rafael Espinal — called for further investigation. ........The medical examiner’s office says it switched from FST to a new program, STRmix, because of changing FBI standards and not because of any deficiencies with FST. Dr. Barbara Sampson, New York City’s chief medical examiner, defended the lab’s DNA testing methods in a Medium post she wrote in response to the ProPublica/New York Times article. In addition to the Johnson case, attorneys in other ongoing criminal proceedings are citing FST’s perceived unreliability as a basis for defenses and appeals. Mayer Herskovic, a Hasidic Jew and Brooklyn father of two who was sentenced to four years in prison for gang assault after the lab said that his genetic material matched a complex sample of DNA found on the victim’s sneaker, is now appealing his conviction. His lawyer plans to argue that FST was never tested on a population as insulated as the Hasidic Jews of Williamsburg, who very likely share many of the same ancestors, and therefore much of the same DNA. “DNA is the magic word,” Herskovic told ProPublica. “If you throw it into a trial, they eat it up. For me, it’s not magic at all.”
The entire story can be found at:
https://www.propublica.org/
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/c
