PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Nizam Peerwani has had the following 'correction' placed in some newspapers:
"This story has been edited to clarify that an investigation into the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office was related to dozens of mistakes in autopsies by a deputy medical examiner that were cited in an audit report by Peerwani. Separately, in March, a Tarrant County District Court judge found that Peerwani provided false, inaccurate and misleading testimony in a death penalty case that ended in a conviction in 2006. Peerwani said his retirement was planned prior to those events, and he disputes the judge’s characterization of his testimony, which is under appeal."
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Publisher' note: Scott Henson, publisher of "Grits For Breakfast," a widely respected criminal justice Blog, was the ideal person to comment on Tarrant County's tainted death investigation system, and the respective roles that Marc Krouse and Nizam Peerwani played within it. Here is his (April 11, 2021) post following the awarding of a new trial to Tilon Lashon Carter because of Dr. Peerwani's 'fall from grace.'
APRIL 11: 2021: Tilon Lashon Carter; Texas: (Part Two): Granted new trial after being sentenced to death in 2004 because Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani gave false and misleading testimony...Scott Henson, the brains behind 'Grits for Breakfast' (one of my favourite sites because of its lucid, informed, relevant, interesting commentaries) analyzes Peerwani's 'fall from grace', in the context of Texas's "long, misbegotten history with corrupt medical examiners giving false testimony" - and concludes that, Perhaps Peerwani's fall from grace is a good opportunity to begin appointing forensic scientists to lead the FSC Texas Forensic Science Commission) instead of politically connected medical examiners? It was always an odd fit."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In the the complex and multi-faceted world of criminal-justice reform, forensics and medical examiners are roughly a fourth-tier concern: Police brutality, mass incarceration, an impoverished indigent defense culture, pretrial detention, overcriminalization of juveniles, and myriad other topics grab a greater share of the public's and advocates' attention." But forensic science is a mess and as the Forensic Science Commission has been larded with new responsibilities including professional licensing, it has become less aggressive over time in using its platform to confront bad science."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Between the Forensic Science Commission and its first-in-the-nation junk-science writ, Texas has created the infrastructure needed to root out flawed forensics. But its political will to do so seems to have dissipated since the heady days when DNA exonerations seemed to be happening every other month. That's too bad because the slowing of DNA exonerations isn't because innocent people aren't being convicted anymore. Only 10 percent or so of violent crimes involve DNA evidence, so finding those few doesn't help the other 90 percent convicted on the same bad evidence. DNA exonerations exposed flawed policing methods - including less-than-reliable forensics - but for the most part, the system kept using them. To the extent that's been because the Forensic Science Commission has been led by medical examiners who're too embedded in the system to critique it, it's probably time for that to change."
COMMENTARY: "Tarrant medical examiner who led Forensic Science Commission (FSC) found to have mislead jury in murder case," by 'Grits for Breakfast', published on April 11, 2021. (Grits for Breakfast: Former professional opposition researcher and political consultant Scott Henson leads a team of writers who discuss law enforcement and criminal justice issues in Texas.)
GIST: "A man who was sentenced to death in a 2004 Fort Worth murder case should get a new trial because of false and misleading testimony by Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani, a judge has ruled.
In a 51-page finding, Tarrant County District Court Judge Mollee Westfall said Peerwani made “false, inaccurate or misleading” statements in at least 10 crucial elements of the prosecution case.
The timing of the judge's ruling is remarkable because Peerwani recently placed his longtime former top deputy, Dr. Marc Krouse, on administrative leave after an audit of 40 death investigations last year found he made 59 mistakes. Krouse was barred from conducting autopsies in homicide cases in November.
In the the complex and multi-faceted world of criminal-justice reform, forensics and medical examiners are roughly a fourth-tier concern: Police brutality, mass incarceration, an impoverished indigent defense culture, pretrial detention, overcriminalization of juveniles, and myriad other topics grab a greater share of the public's and advocates' attention.
But forensic science is a mess and as the Forensic Science Commission has been larded with new responsibilities including professional licensing, it has become less aggressive over time in using its platform to confront bad science.
Texas has a long, misbegotten history with corrupt medical examiners giving false testimony. Perhaps Peerwani's fall from grace is a good opportunity to begin appointing forensic scientists to lead the FSC instead of politically connected medical examiners? It was always an odd fit.
Now the question is raised: If Peerwani was willing to give "false, inaccurate, or misleading" statements to a jury in a death penalty case, should we accept pronouncements from the FSC during his tenure that exonerated allegedly flawed practices?
Your correspondent stopped tracking the FSC closely after I left my gig at the Innocence Project of Texas: Forensics reform is an issue that requires professional-level engagement; it's hard to do as a sideline. But my impression is that progress has stalled. They've addressed much of the low hanging fruit but elided calling more commonly used forensic methods into question. And even where they've rebuffed old, flawed, forensic methods, the Government Always Wins faction on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has frequently refused to then excise them from the courts.
Between the Forensic Science Commission and its first-in-the-nation junk-science writ, Texas has created the infrastructure needed to root out flawed forensics. But its political will to do so seems to have dissipated since the heady days when DNA exonerations seemed to be happening every other month.
That's too bad because the slowing of DNA exonerations isn't because innocent people aren't being convicted anymore. Only 10 percent or so of violent crimes involve DNA evidence, so finding those few doesn't help the other 90 percent convicted on the same bad evidence. DNA exonerations exposed flawed policing methods - including less-than-reliable forensics - but for the most part, the system kept using them.
To the extent that's been because the Forensic Science Commission has been led by medical examiners who're too embedded in the system to critique it, it's probably time for that to change."
