Saturday, April 5, 2025

Artificial intelligence, due process, and scientific evidence; Renowned Duke Law Professor Brandon Garrett, author of of 'Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World,' presents at an internet discussion sponsored by the NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, to be held on Friday April 18th, 3.30 to 5.30 PM ET. (It's free! I have enrolled under the 'international category): Much to learn, For good or for bad, Artificial Intelligence will provide considerable grist for this Blog's mill... Details below. HL.


  • Date: Friday, April 18th, 2025
  • Time: 3:30 – 5:00 pm ET | 12:30 – 2:00 pm PT
  • Cost: FREE, but registration is required
  • CLE: No CLE is being offered for this program..
——————————————————————————————

THE DISCUSSION: "AI, Due Process, and Scientific Evidence."  Posted on April 1, 2025. By Sarah Olson. (Forensic Resources);


"NACDL invites you to join us for a discussion exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the criminal legal system featuring Duke Law Professor Brandon Garrett, author of Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session led by NACDL President-Elect, Andrew Birrell.

AI is increasingly used to make important decisions that affect individuals, including in criminal justice settings. Due process rights are typically heightened in criminal cases, in which a person’s life, liberty, and public safety can be at stake. In criminal investigations, uses of AI have proliferated in areas such as: DNA mixture interpretation; facial recognition; recidivism risk assessments; and predictive policing. The program will discuss four issues that arise in these settings:

  • Whether due process ensures some access to discovery and information concerning how those technologies work, in criminal cases
  • Whether the AI is interpretable, or whether the factors and weights that it relies on is available to lawyers and judges
  • Reliability-related questions about whether the AI has been scientifically tested, and if so, what is the research available concerning its reliability and performance 
  • Whether under Daubert and related rules regarding experts, whether experts may testify about those types of technology.
  • Date: Friday, April 18th, 2025
  • Time: 3:30 – 5:00 pm ET | 12:30 – 2:00 pm PT
  • Cost: FREE, but registration is required
  • CLE: No CLE is being offered for this program.

Register Now


*Note: To encourage open discussion and dialogue, we will be following the Chatham House Rule. This allows attendees, including media representatives, to use the information shared during the program, but they cannot reveal the identity or affiliation of the speaker. For any questions regarding this policy, please contact Bonnie Hoffman, NACDL Director of Public Defense. 


Presenters:

Brandon L. Garrett, L. Neil Williams, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law

Brandon L. Garrett, a leading scholar of criminal justice outcomes, evidence, and constitutional rights, is the inaugural L. Neil Williams, Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, an initiative that brings together faculty and students to improve criminal justice outcomes.

Garrett’s current research and teaching interests focus on evidence, forensic science, constitutional rights, habeas corpus, corporate crime, and criminal law. He is the author of six books: Autopsy of a Crime Lab: Exposing the Flaws in Forensics (University of California Press, March 2021); The Death Penalty: Concepts and Insights (West Academic, 2018) (with Lee Kovarsky); End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice (Harvard University Press, 2017); Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations (Harvard University Press, 2014); Federal Habeas Corpus: Executive Detention and Post-Conviction Litigation (Foundation Press, 2013) (with Lee Kovarsky); and Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong (Harvard University Press, 2011). These books have been translated for editions in China, Spain, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. For more information, visit Garrett’s website.

In addition to numerous articles published in leading law reviews and scientific journals, Garrett’s work has been widely cited by courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, lower federal courts, state supreme courts, and courts in other countries. Garrett also frequently speaks about criminal justice matters before legislative and policymaking bodies, groups of practicing lawyers, law enforcement, and to local and national media. He has been involved with a number of law and science reform initiatives, including the American Law Institute’s project on policing, for which he serves as Associate Reporter, and a National Academy of Sciences Committee concerning eyewitness evidence. Garrett serves as co-director of CSAFE (Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence.) He also serves as the court-appointed monitor in the ODonnell v. Harris County misdemeanor bail reform consent decree. 
Garrett maintains online data sets relating to his research. These include:

Garrett received his BA in 1997 from Yale University. He received his JD in 2001 from Columbia Law School, where he was an articles editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Kent Scholar. After graduating, he clerked for the Hon. Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then worked as an associate at Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin LLP in New York City. Before joining Duke Law in 2018, Garrett was the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs and Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. In 2015, he was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University.

Register Now

Andrew S. Birrell, President Elect, NACDL

Andy Birrell is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers—an honor limited to the top 1% of lawyers in the State. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He is the former Chairperson of the Minnesota State Bar Association Criminal Law Certification Board and was the first lawyer in Minnesota to be certified by the Minnesota State Bar Association as a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist. Andy is a Board Certified Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a past President of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Lawyers. In addition to being selected a perennial Super Lawyer, he has four times been named one of Minnesota’s Top 100 Super Lawyers most recently in 2022. Andy is the second Vice President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He also is the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Defense.

Andy represents clients in all phases of criminal law and related matters from grand jury investigations through appeals in federal and state courts throughout the United States. He represents clients in matters implicating the most significant and difficult white collar criminal law matters, including those involving: RICO, money laundering, conspiracy, tax charges, mail and wire fraud, bank fraud and other related allegations.

Andy is an accomplished and seasoned appellate lawyer. He has argued before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., has successfully argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit and has won reversals of convictions and orders for new trials in the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

Register Now


Resources:

The entire post can be read at:

https://forensicresources.org/2025/ai-due-process-and-scientific-evidence/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ai-due-process-and-scientific-evidence


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

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/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


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;


—————————————————————————————————


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;

----------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by at

Isoke Robinson: Detroit: Technology: Licence plate reader: Flawed technology? Flawed policing! (Bad combination! HL): Once again, Detroit police have falsely accused a Black woman of a crime using the city’s multimillion dollar high-tech surveillance program — this time resulting in a $35,000 settlement, Atlanta Black Star reports, in a story headed, 'Wouldn't Stop Crying': At Least 10 Detroit Cops Wrongly Raid Black Woman's Home with Guns Drawn, Detain Her Toddler Over License Plate Reader Error."…"The incident is the latest in a long line of similar incidents that have taken place in Detroit and around the country where technology like face recognition wrongly implicate Black people 35 percent of the time, according to a 2018 ACLU study…"The cops were investigating a drive-by shooting that had taken place earlier that day but when speaking to witnesses, they were told the shots came from a white Dodge Charger but did not even give police a partial license number, the Detroit Free Press reported. Without a license plate number, police began working backwards, reviewing city license plate readers to see if they could spot a white Dodge Charger. The license plate reader they reviewed was two miles from the actual shooting but only two blocks from Robinson’s home and that was enough “evidence” for police to terrorize Robinson and her child. Furthermore, witnesses told police that the Dodge Charger involved in the shooting had only one working fog light. However, police never bothered to test the fog lights in Robinson’s car or check it for gunpowder residue during the entire three weeks they had it in their possession, according to testimony from Detective Corbin. And the man later convicted for the non-fatal drive-by shooting had no known connection to Robinson or her car."


QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "ACLU of Michigan is trying to get legislators to ban the practice of using license plate readers to match the description of vehicles without the actual license plate number. "That is the exact kind of concern that we have that you’ll be wrongfully identified as a suspect of a crime simply because you have a similar car,” Gabrielle Dresner told the Free Press. Paul Matouka, one of Robinson’s attorneys, agreed. “If you’re going to use this, you need to make sure you’re using it right,” Matouka told the Free Press.  “Showing up to her house at night with a SWAT team, essentially, is excessive. It terrifies the citizens. It makes them look like criminals to their neighbors, and it also increases the risk that there’s going to be an unfortunate incident where the cops shoot someone.”

----------------------------------------------------

STORY:" 'Wouldn't Stop Crying': At Least 10 Detroit Cops Wrongly Raid Black Woman's Home with Guns Drawn, Detain Her Toddler Over License Plate Reader Error. Now the City Must Pay Her $35K," by Reporter Carlos, published by The Atlanta Black Star, on April 3, 2025. "Carlos Miller is a veteran multimedia journalist who founded the award-winning police accountability news site, Photography is Not a Crime aka PINAC News in 2007, and ran it for 15 years before shutting it down in 2022. He also published the Citizen's Journalist Photography Handbook which maintains a 5-star rating on Amazon. He now writes about criminal justice and legal issues for Atlanta Black Star."


GIST: "Once again, Detroit police falsely accused a Black woman of a crime using the city’s multimillion dollar high-tech surveillance program — resulting in a $35,000 settlement for the woman that was announced this week.

Isoke Robinson was accused in 2023 of participating in a drive-by shooting through the city’s license plate reader program simply because she drove a Dodge Charger, which was the car described in the shooting — not because of any matching license plate numbers.

Identifying themselves only as the “gang squad,” at least 10 Detroit police officers showed up to her home in five patrol cars a few hours after the shooting, yelling at her with their guns drawn.

The cops handcuffed her in front of her home and placed her 2-year-old autistic boy who she said “wouldn’t stop crying” in the back of a patrol car as they searched her home and car without a warrant, according to the lawsuit filed last year in federal court by Detroit attorney Mark A. Magidson.

After repeatedly asking the cops why were they detaining her and searching her home, one of the cops told her that her car had been involved in a shooting.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded, according to an interview with the Detroit Free Press last year.

She also told them she has alibis, telling the cops that she had spent the day with her family. And the lawsuit states she has no criminal record.

Although they did not arrest her, they impounded her car with her legally registered gun and purse which contained her drivers license, credit cards and her employment badge for Stellantis, a car manufacturer where she had been employed for nine years.

Without her car, drivers license and work badge, she was unable to get to work, placing her in danger of losing her job as an assembly line worker. She eventually borrowed a friend’s truck to drive to work.

Despite no evidence connecting her to the shooting, Detroit police refused to release her car for three weeks, and only because she hired a lawyer who made several attempts to get them to return the car before police finally did.

“She is suffering immediate and irreparable harm in that the police acting within the scope of their authority confiscated her personal property including her vehicle, which she needs to get to and from work and to conduct other necessities, confiscated her driver’s license, employment badge, credit card, child car seat and weapon that she lawfully owns and is licenses to carry, without due process of law and without any warrant or court order, contrary to and in violation of the 14th and Fourth Amendments to the United states Constitution,” states the lawsuit filed in October 2023.

Listed as defendants in the lawsuit were Detroit Police Chief James White and Detective Dion Corbin who was leading the investigation into the drive-by shooting that led them to Robinson’s home along with “nine unknown police officers of the Detroit Police Department.”

“Gang Squad”

Robinson was sitting in the air-conditioned car with her child with the motor running when Detroit police swarmed her home around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2024, with guns drawn.

The cops did not identify themselves other than saying they were the gang squad. 

“The Nine Unknown named Police Officers of the Detroit Police Department are members of the so-called ‘Gang Squad,’ individuals who remained anonymous while pursuing their illegal and unconstitutional conduct,” the claim states.

The cops were investigating a drive-by shooting that had taken place earlier that day but when speaking to witnesses, they were told the shots came from a white Dodge Charger but did not even give police a partial license number, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Without a license plate number, police began working backwards, reviewing city license plate readers to see if they could spot a white Dodge Charger.

The license plate reader they reviewed was two miles from the actual shooting but only two blocks from Robinson’s home and that was enough “evidence” for police to terrorize Robinson and her child.

Furthermore, witnesses told police that the Dodge Charger involved in the shooting had only one working fog light.

However, police never bothered to test the fog lights in Robinson’s car or check it for gunpowder residue during the entire three weeks they had it in their possession, according to testimony from Detective Corbin.

And the man later convicted for the non-fatal drive-by shooting had no known connection to Robinson or her car.

The incident is the latest in a long line of similar incidents that have taken place in Detroit and around the country where technology like face recognition wrongly implicate Black people 35 percent of the time, according to a 2018 ACLU study.

Last month, Atlanta Black Star reported on another incident involving a Black woman named LaDonna Crutchfield who spent eight hours in jail after facial recognition software identified her as a suspect in an attempted murder.

In 2023, Detroit police used facial recognition software to falsely arrest Porcha Woodruff, a 32-year-old Black woman who was arrested on a warrant for robbery and carjacking while getting her kids ready for school.

Woodruff, who was pregnant, ended up spending hours in jail before she was released.

In 2019, civilian Detroit Police Commission member Willie Burton referred to facial recognition technology as “techno-racism.”

“Every black man with a beard looks alike to it. Every black man with a hoodie looks alike. This is techno-racism,” Burton said in a news interview at the time.

ACLU of Michigan is trying to get legislators to ban the practice of using license plate readers to match the description of vehicles without the actual license plate number.

“That is the exact kind of concern that we have that you’ll be wrongfully identified as a suspect of a crime simply because you have a similar car,” Gabrielle Dresner told the Free Press.

Paul Matouka, one of Robinson’s attorneys, agreed.

“If you’re going to use this, you need to make sure you’re using it right,” Matouka told the Free Press. 


“Showing up to her house at night with a SWAT team, essentially, is excessive. It terrifies the citizens. It makes them look like criminals to their neighbors, and it also increases the risk that there’s going to be an unfortunate incident where the cops shoot someone.”

The entire story can be read at: 

https://atlantablackstar.com/2025/04/03/detroit-gang-squad-terrorizes-innocent-black-woman-in-her-home-with-guns-drawn-then-forces-crying-toddler-into-patrol-car-after-license-plate-mix-up-city-settles-for-35k/


PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

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/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


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;


—————————————————————————————————


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;

----------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by at

Greece: Forensic examiners under scrutiny! Five had been suspended, facing allegations of misconduct and bribery, The National Herald (staff) reports, noting that allegations of misconduct "continue to surface."…"Christos Kravvaritis, a forensic pathologist in Larissa, was suspended following a preliminary disciplinary investigation. He is set to face the Justice Ministry’s disciplinary board for accusations of professional misconduct and unethical behavior, according to Kathimerini. The complaint against Kravvaritis claims that he falsified an autopsy report in exchange for a €10,000 bribe ($10,822). This alleged misconduct is connected to the 2021 death of law professor Achilleas Lambrakis, who was found hanged in October that year."


QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Prosecutor Vassiliki Dimopoulou condemned the forensic examiners, stating that their failures allowed Pispirigou to evade justice for years. “They lacked a sense of responsibility and failed to conduct a thorough and serious investigation into the causes of death of three young children,” Dimopoulou said. “Their work was sloppy and indifferent.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The suspension follows the earlier removal of three other forensic experts—Christina Tsakona, Angeliki Tsiola, and Sokratis Tsantiris—who provided questionable testimony in the case of Roula Pispirigou, a mother convicted of murdering her three children. Their testimonies have been referred to prosecutors, who are now examining potential perjury charges."

——————————————————————————

PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In a related case, Theodoros Nousias, who heads forensic services in northern Greece, was also suspended following his testimony at an appeal trial of a man accused of murder. The court has directed that the trial transcripts be sent to the prosecutor’s office for an investigation into whether Nousias committed a criminal act in connection with his testimony."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

STORY: "Greece Suspends Five Forensic Examiners, Alleging Misconduct, Bribery," by National Herald staff,  published on March 24, 2025.

ATHENS:  "Greece’s forensic examiners are facing increased scrutiny after the suspension of a fifth expert, as allegations of misconduct continue to surface, Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis announced.

Christos Kravvaritis, a forensic pathologist in Larissa, was suspended following a preliminary disciplinary investigation. He is set to face the Justice Ministry’s disciplinary board for accusations of professional misconduct and unethical behavior, according to Kathimerini.

The complaint against Kravvaritis claims that he falsified an autopsy report in exchange for a €10,000 bribe ($10,822). This alleged misconduct is connected to the 2021 death of law professor Achilleas Lambrakis, who was found hanged in October that year.

The suspension follows the earlier removal of three other forensic experts—Christina Tsakona, Angeliki Tsiola, and Sokratis Tsantiris—who provided questionable testimony in the case of Roula Pispirigou, a mother convicted of murdering her three children. Their testimonies have been referred to prosecutors, who are now examining potential perjury charges.

Prosecutor Vassiliki Dimopoulou condemned the forensic examiners, stating that their failures allowed Pispirigou to evade justice for years. “They lacked a sense of responsibility and failed to conduct a thorough and serious investigation into the causes of death of three young children,” Dimopoulou said. “Their work was sloppy and indifferent.”

In a related case, Theodoros Nousias, who heads forensic services in northern Greece, was also suspended following his testimony at an appeal trial of a man accused of murder. The court has directed that the trial transcripts be sent to the prosecutor’s office for an investigation into whether Nousias committed a criminal act in connection with his testimony."

The entire story can be read at:

 https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece-suspends-five-forensic-examiners-alleging-misconduct-bribery/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.

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/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985


———————————————————————————————


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;


—————————————————————————————————


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;

----------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
 
BlogNation.com