crime lab

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Crime Labs Often Reach Dubious Conclusions
Forensic Scientists Often
Produce Dubious Results
LONGFORM
May 28, 2022 4:00 PM CDT

Forensic Scientists Often Produce Dubious Results

For decades, flawed and fabricated evidence has been used to convict innocent people

(Newser) - G. Michele Yezzo worked for 32 years as a forensic scientist in Ohio. She resigned in 2009, after being reprimanded by her supervisor for "interpretational and observational errors" that "could lead to a substantial miscarriage of justice." By then, Yezzo had amassed a 449-page personnel file loaded...

Lab Worked on a 1984 Murder. Did a Goof Lead to Suicide?
The DNA Results Came Back.
And They Were Weird
in case you missed it
Feb 9, 2020 7:33 AM CST

The DNA Results Came Back. And They Were Weird

Kevin Brown's widow argues the SDPD was reckless in its investigation

(Newser) - Claire Hough was found murdered on San Diego's Torrey Pines State Beach in August 1984, and the 14-year-old's case languished for decades. In 2012, it was reopened so DNA testing could be carried out. By the end of 2014, someone else was dead—a crime lab worker employed...

Crime Lab to Test If Blanket Was on Lincoln's Deathbed

President died 150 years ago today

(Newser) - The Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory is testing unusually old blood samples: some that could be from Abraham Lincoln himself. Today marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, and the start of a story around a beige bedspread. It's said Lincoln was laid on it at a rooming house...

Sorry, CSI Fans: Real Crime Labs Suck
 Sorry, CSI Fans: 
 Real Crime Labs Suck 
OPINION
Oct 13, 2010 1:53 PM CDT

Sorry, CSI Fans: Real Crime Labs Suck

Corruption, incompetence widespread

(Newser) - CSI and its endless spinoffs paint crime labs as magical places where brilliant scientists use cutting-edge science to solve impossible cases. But “that image is quite far from reality,” writes Professor Douglas Starr in the Boston Globe . Real-life crime labs are “wildly inconsistent: many labs have poorly...

Court: Defendants Can Question Crime Lab

Scientists must be brought to court

(Newser) - A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling yesterday gives defendants the chance to face authors of crime lab reports in their cases. Prosecutors who want to use lab testing undertaken for a given case will be required to bring its authors to court, where the defense can confront them. The ruling shows...

Crime Labs Employ Shoddy Science: Report

Experts will call for independent agency to oversee forensics

(Newser) - The country's crime labs are seriously deficient, according to a new report that's expected to shake up the field of forensics, the New York Times reports. Evidence portrayed as incontrovertible is often far from it, says the report, which Congress commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences. Forensic analysis often...

Heart Sticker Adorned Duct Tape Covering Caylee's Mouth

Pooh blanket was also with body, cops say

(Newser) - A heart-shaped sticker was placed on the duct tape covering 2-year-old Caylee Anthony's mouth, revealed Florida prosecutors in hundreds of legal pages released today. A Winnie the Pooh blanket accompanied the child's clothing inside the cloth laundry bag that held  the toddler's remains, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

7 Stories