I'm starting to wonder if there are any honest or capable people working in forensics at all. It will always be fact that humans make mistakes though, and as such all DNA in every case, past, present and future, should be tested automatically.
A 53-year-old Houston man is innocent and should be released from prison after serving 22 years for a rape and robbery, his lawyer said Friday, because faulty forensics and false testimony from the Houston crime lab secured his conviction.Here is the best reason to eliminate the death penalty, everywhere. There is always going to be some asshole who can't do his job properly or tampers with evidence or accepts bribes to say what people want to hear. Always. To be so naive to think an innocent man has never been put to death in the USA with scum like this running CSI departments, is like believing in the tooth fairy at 30. Straight up stupid.
A jury convicted Gary Alvin Richard in a 1987 attack on a nursing student in a trial based largely on blood-typing evidence from the Houston Police Department crime lab. But, prosecutors and the defense attorney agree, new tests completed Friday show that an HPD analyst misled jurors at Richard’s trial and failed to report evidence that may have helped him.
Based on the new tests, both sides will ask a judge next week to release Richard on bond while they sort out what happened in his case.
Another evidence mistake from HPD crime lab surfaces
Accusations against Omaha's CSI commander could make Nebraska's largest city the latest to become embroiled in a crime lab scandal.It's not all bad news. Timothy Cole's name given to new legislation that compensate's the wrongfully convicted.
Such scandals have played out across the nation in recent years, including assertions of misconduct and errors at labs in Houston, Detroit and Baltimore.
Brandon Garrett is a University of Virginia law professor whose interests include criminal procedure and wrongful convictions.
He says in Omaha's case, the accusations are all-the-more consequential because the lab technician accused is the commander of the crime scene unit. He says that calls into question evidence gathered in more cases than just the ones in which Kofoed handled evidence, because he supervised everyone in the unit.
Conviction questioned in wake of CSI charges
With a picture of a teen-age Tim Cole of Fort Worth displayed at the front of the chamber, the state House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation bearing his name to help wrongfully convicted men make the often harrowing transition to life on the outside after their release from prison.This is awesome, too. The more criminal justice students hear stories like Steven Barnes', the more likely it is that these incidences of wrongful convictions will become rarer in the future.
House votes to boost compensation for wrongfully convicted
Students in the criminal justice program at Utica College saw a whole new side of the justice system on Thursday.Technorati Tags: innocence, wrongful convictions, dna testing, timothy cole, prison
As most of you already know, Steven Barnes was released from prison last year, after The Innocence Project proved he was wrongfully convicted of raping and killing Kimberly Simon more than 20 years ago.
On Thursday, Barnes had a chance to share his story with students.
Wrongfully convicted Steven Barnes speaks with criminal justice students
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