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A forensic scientist who tested as a defense witness in the Casey Anthony trial and the post-conviction hearing for death row inmate Tommy Zeigler was stripped of his expert status by a Denver judge last week.
Local attorneys said it was unlikely the ruling would affect Richard Eikelenboom’s participation in any Florida cases — namely because his work as a defense witness wasn’t used to convict anyone. But it could be used to discredit him in future proceedings.
“I don’t think this will compromise anything,” Eikelenboom said Tuesday from his Colorado office.
“People don’t get acquitted on DNA alone. You always have to put it in the context of the case, and there are lots of other clues that the wrong person was in jail.”
Prosecutors in a Denver sex assault case said Eikelenboom, who owns Independent Forensic Services with his wife, lacked adequate training to be considered an expert in DNA analysis and wasn’t recognized by the scientific community, according to a news release.
Eikelenboom, who has been tested in 90 trials, disputes the finding. He said his Netherlands-based lab was accredited by American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors the week of trial, which the organization confirmed.
The Dutchman specializes in DNA trace evidence recovery and bloodstain pattern analysis, according to an affidavit he submitted to the Orange-Osceola courts in the Zeigler case.
He worked as a forensic examiner in the biology department at the Netherlands Forensic Institute from 1993 until 2005, the affidavit states.
Eikelenboom doesn’t hold a Ph.D. or belong to any professional organizations, according to a transcript of the Denver proceedings.
Witnesses may be deemed experts based on work experience or academia, said former Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry, who presided over the Anthony trial.
In the Denver case, he said, it appears prosecutors “attacked the very foundation of the expert — the lab and the methods he used.”
Perry accepted Eikelenboom’s designation as an expert witness in the month-long trial against Anthony, who was accused of killing her two-year-old daughter.
Eikelenboom tested the child’s shorts and a bag found with the remains of Caylee Marie Anthony in 2008.
At trial, though, Eikelenboom couldn’t share all of his results.
They weren’t disclosed to prosecutors on time, but Perry found that Eikelenboom was not informed of the due date.
Before the jury heard his testimony, Perry read special instructions stating that Eikelenboom’s report was late, and that issue may be considered in evaluating the credibility of his testimony.
The jury acquitted Anthony of the most serious charges filed against her, including first-degree murder.
She was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of lying to law enforcement after his daughter disappeared.
J. Cheney Mason, one of Anthony’s defense attorneys, defended Eikelenboom after learning of the accusations on Tuesday.
“If that’s true, that shocks me,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind that this guy and his wife are qualified experts in DNA.”
Most recently, Eikelenboom testified in Orlando during a post-conviction hearing in March for Zeigler, who’s been on death row since his 1976 conviction for killing his wife and others on Christmas Eve.
Zeigler has long maintained his innocence.
In a hearing about future DNA tests, Eikelenboom detailed the tests he could conduct to possibly exonerate Zeigler, including a test that can determine whether blood or skin cells were transferred to another person or item during a struggle.
The judge denied the request for further DNA testing, which attorneys have since appealed."
https://northdenvernews.com/denver-judge-discredits-dna-expert-used-in-casey-anthony-trial-orlando-sentinel-news/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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