On July 22, 1933, he and another man kidnapped wealthy Oklahoma City oilman Charles Urschel. Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, was found dead in a flat she shared with Knox and two Italian women. Since the discovery of Dookhans conduct, at least 1,100 criminal cases have been dropped or dismissed and at least $8.5 million has been spent attempting to account for her mountain of faked lab data. The Zhang case demonstrates that the availability of network data presents opportunities to investigate user activity in non-cyber cases, (i.e., a theft of trade secrets matter). 1. Microscopic analysis can narrow down a suspects race, hair color, dye treatments, thickness, and many other characteristics, but it cannot determine if the hair is an exact match to a suspect. Forensic analyst James Bolding demonstrated overwhelming incompetence and willful dishonesty in his work, appearing not to grasp even the basics of blood sample analysis, while providing courtroom testimony that wrongfully imprisoned men like George Rodriguez, who languished behind bars for 17 years for a rape he didnt commit, and Josiah Sutton, who was wrongly incarcerated for four years. 6. But when the unit faced blistering criticism over a barrage of bungles that allowed a prolific rapist to prey on more than 70 women and another to victimize up to 102 people, a number of Sapphire investigators categorized cases incorrectly, attempting to artificially reduce the number of unsolved sexual assaults. Securing the Evidence Items were photographed without being labeled and logged, making it difficult, if not impossible, to link the photos to any specific area of the scene. Before mitochondrial testing, the hair of a suspect was tested using microscopic analysis, which shows if the hair has a similar appearance to hair taken from the scene of a crime. Guede was given a 16-year sentence after a plea bargain. In that moment, Lowry single-handedly torpedoed the prosecutions of at least 28 alleged drug offenders, many of whom are thought to be part of dangerous gangs, and he potentially compromised an additional 150 cases. One of them, Briton Meredith Kercher, was murdered on . Oscar Pistorius' defence team accused a South African police photographer of mishandling the crime scene during day 12 of his trial in Pretoria. The newer mitochondrial testing of hair is more expensive, but it does exactly match hair to a suspect through DNA. Coworkers at the medical examiners office had to work around the clock double-checking the fired technicians findings. The mess-ups: A review of 88 of his cases found that 65 had incomplete documentation, 32 had administrative errors, and in eight cases, evidence had been misplaced. In the face of brazen inaction by Scotland Yards sex crimes investigators, a drastic rejiggering of the force followed. At least 18 of those prisoners have been proven innocent through updated DNA testing. Gerald M. LaPorte Westend61, Getty Images (see reuse policy). The whole situation was a bloody mess and a complete forensic fail. In addition, eight officers were ultimately convicted for their crimes, reversing a longstanding trend of wrongfully incarcerating innocent people in the city of the Liberty Bell. 1 The Central Park 5. Overstating the utility of common forensic methods has serious consequences. During the June 2011 appeals trial, experts uncovered the numerous flaws in the forensic evidence levied against Knox and Sollecito. Boney ultimately claimed it was Camm who murdered the family. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 2,030 people have been proven innocent through DNA testing. You can get free samples of her books here or watch free tarot videos on her YouTube channel here. Still convinced of Knox and Sollecitos guilt, the prosecution spun a narrative claiming the couple had partnered with Guede in Kerchers murder. However, the prosecutors were able to get their hands on 88,000 e-mails and other messages on Michelle's . At least 140 people have been released from death row during that time because of forensic evidence which was tainted, flawed, or outright false. Photos were taken of critical evidence without scales in them to aid in measurement taking. In Fuhrmans book, he stated that at one point he was even accused of killing Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman himself. Prosecutorial misconduct complaints against several lawyers and police officers who worked regularly with Erdmann claimed that the lawmen bribed, threatened, or encouraged the doctor to provide whatever evidence was needed to secure a conviction. Both had been shot. B efore he became a true-crime celebrity, forensic scientist Henry Lee took the stand at a wildly bloody murder trial in Connecticut. To read about times when forensics worked much better, check out Top 10 Murder Mysteries Finally Solved Using Forensics and 10 Notorious Historical Murders Solved Using Early Forensics. In 2006, he faked DNA evidence that was used to solve the murder of Jessica OGrady. A graduate of West Virginia State College, Zain had only managed to pass some of his chemistry courses by the skin of his teeth, while utterly failing in others. Cameron Todd Willingham Conspiracy theorists helped spread the rumor that a racist cop had killed both Nicole and Ron to frame O.J. After 36 years of appeals, the evidence was finally located on the top shelf of a forensics storage room. One of the greatest tragedies in the criminal justice system is the conviction of a person for a crime he or she did not commit. And, from what is known, its clear that Zains dissembling reach was tremendous. Yet, at some point during his five years as a Washington, D.C. FBI agent, he lost his way and was eventually found at the wheel of an FBI vehicle under the influence of drugs. For nine years, Annie Dookhan worked as a crime lab chemist in Massachusetts, performing drug tests for criminal cases. But a small number of cases around the country have . One of the most renowned cases involving problems with the chain of evidence was the O.J. DNA testing then proved that he wasnt a murderer. Coworkers at the medical examiner's office had to work around the clock double-checking the fired technician's findings. He estimated internal organ weight measurements for subjects that had never been cut open. He could not prove his whereabouts during this time. Right from the start, there seemed to be a mountain of mishandled evidence, yet none was more compelling, or more badly bungled, than the blood forensics. While the abundance of evidence certainly provided more than enough to do so, the doubts cast by the sloppy police work were enough of a window. O.C. Lauren. DNA wasn't always widely accepted as valid evidence in court cases the way it is today. Shocking reports have been filed against crime labs, police departments, and sheriffs offices concerning improper, underfunded, and outrageously inadequate forensic storage facilities. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. On October 24, 2015, after spending 13 years in prison for the deaths of his wife and two children, David Camm was acquitted and released. After various appeals and retrials, students from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalismincluding award-winning NPR journalist Laura Sullivanpresented new evidence in 1996. The millionaire who gunned down the high-society architect. Ironically, the work of a man determined to secure criminal convictions, regardless of innocence, may allow an apparently guilty man to go free. Deaver said bloodstain pattern analysis is a "visual examination" and since he did not see blood on the shirt it was not tested. Rather, she had been faking test results at a rate of thousands per year. This case involves defendant James Franqueira, a 32-year-old Vermont resident. One of the examiners most aggravating mistakes was the loss of an entire head, which contained a bullet from the killers gun. What remained to be a mystery for more than 30 years was finally solved via digital forensics in the early 2000s. Eric Garner. Lowrys unchecked indiscretions fly in the face of claims that the FBI has a rigorous drug testing policy and raise numerous questions about why the length of time he held onto evidence wasnt questioned, ultimately implicating the FBI as an irresponsible actor. district attorney drops or reduces charges in 67 cases over mishandled evidence Dist. Key pieces of evidence left by the killer were passed around by reporters. Fred Zains academic record does not reveal the makings of a person fit to wield a beaker, let alone work in a forensics lab. O.J. Frank Lee Smith, for example, died of cancer on death row, after serving 14 years for a rape and murder he did not commit. "Even after the state Supreme Court threw out Ralph Armstrong's conviction based on evidence of his innocence, the prosecutor continued to withhold yet more evidence of his innocence." The Innocence Project got involved in Armstrong's case in 1993 and has worked on the case ever since with Wisconsin attorneys Jerome Buting and Keith Belzer. There's a case out of British Columbia called Regina v Hamdan that goes into some detail on the lack of proper digital evidence collection. 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Other items of evidence were also never logged or entered into the chain of custody, which gave the impression that sloppy forensic collection had been carried out at the scene. The security of LAPD storage and labs was also brought under scrutiny when it was discovered that some pieces of evidence had been accessed and altered by unauthorized personnel. California O.C. Nearly everyone in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey, seemed to know that Reverend Edward Wheeler Hall and choir singer Eleanor Reinhardt Mills were in love. He was sentenced to death and currently sits in prison on death row. One piece of key evidence that was overlooked was Michael's navy blue shirt. Shirley Kinges plight was one of at least 36 instances of evidence planting perpetrated by members of the New York State Troopers C Division and at least one member of Troop F. Between 1984 and 1992, members of New York State Troopers C Division, and at least one member of Troop F, systematically fabricated fingerprints and other evidence. He spent 26 years in jail before a group called The . The defense noted several items that had gone missing, including a vial of blood from OJ Simpson. Her shoddy forensic work allowed 200 convicted defendants to be freed from custody while their cases were reviewed by officials.[2]. Not only is there a huge volume of data collected for current investigations, but there is also a huge volume of digital forensics that must be stored indefinitely, in case of later appeals. But the evidence of his wrongdoing, along with the actions of other Brooklyn officers, was enough to throw out 400 different drug cases and secure the release of over two dozen people wrongfully arrested on drug charges. The case took a turn as there were no eyewitnesses and no physical evidence. In hindsight, one might characterize the scandal as a logical offshoot of the very system which condemns its criminality. 9. In 1999, the Ford Heights Four won a $36 million in damages from Cook Countythe largest settlement for a civil rights case in U.S. history. She had been shot in the head . Without perfect organization and updated records, things inevitably go missing, and when they do, defendants end up paying a very steep price. Throughout the investigation, there were issues with how evidence was secured. It was spring of 1989 and the then-50-year-old Chinese . The detectives who took over Fuhrmans shift apparently were never aware of the print and eventually, it was lost or destroyed without ever being collected. Unfortunately, DNA testing proved him innocent 11 months after he died. In reality, not all blood spatter can be seen with the naked eye. Items were photographed without being labeled and logged, making it difficult, if not impossible, to link the photos to any specific area of the scene. She then compounded the problem by testifying about her findings during criminal trials. Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old boy, was found dead with multiple trauma wounds on March 22, 2013. Filomena Romanelli, the third roommate, returned home following a phone conversation with Knox. The jurors agreed that the DNA testimony was difficult to appreciate since expert witnesses were not able to put their evidence in terms that the jury could understand. Authorities suspected something might be amiss when Massachusetts forensics chemist Annie Dookhan somehow managed to process a large volume of samples in a relatively short time. Experts dispute key evidence concerning alleged murder weapon and Sollecito DNA on Meredith Kercher's bra, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Amanda Knox arrives for the appeal hearing in Perugia, Italy. Individuals like 54-year-old Betty Patterson spent three years in prison on false charges of selling cocaine thanks to planted evidence. Blood was also found in O.J. The jurors have to unanimously decide guilt or innocence. In fact, she didnt even have the masters degree she claimed to have earned. Erdmann pleaded no contest to seven felonies regarding false evidence and botched autopsies. Over the course of this three-year period, Coleman-Farrow not only neglected to interview suspects, but also forged victim statements, allowed video evidence to remain untouched, and failed to bring forensic evidence to the proper channels. The carnage disturbed Knox, who described her roommate as neat and tidy. Knox had spent the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and she attempted to get into Kerchers room, which was locked. The ensuing investigation resulted in guilty pleas from five troopers and a criminal conviction of the sixth. Several inquiries and protests have been made by experts within the legal system regarding the deplorable way that forensic evidence is being stored across the country. Erdmann also testified about the forensic examination of a 14-year-olds brain, but when the body was exhumed, police discovered that the skull had never been cut open. Dr. Ralph Erdmann had a reputation as an excellent witness to call to the standif you were a prosecutor. Notably, all three of the interviewed professors highly recommended a strong core of hard science courses to thrive in forensics careers. The experts at the appeal court were scathing yesterday in their criticism of the reliability of that evidence. Police even used a blanket that came from inside the house to cover Nicole Browns body, contaminating the body and anything surrounding it. This case is documented as the first to establish the modern law of negligence. Troop Cs incorrigible corruption might have gone unchecked were it not for a miscalculation by former trooper David Harding. Here are a few famous cases where digital forensics played a crucial role. Subsequent exploration of Kofoeds other cases revealed a pattern of dubious handiwork. Without the head, police couldnt run forensic tests on the bullet or match it to their suspect. While he has not been charged yet, he has been suspended while the authorities investigate these allegations. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He listed one cause of death as pneumonia, even though a suspect later confessed that hed shot the victim in the head. 3 Duke University Lacrosse Team. 1. A press release given by the FBI in 2015 revealed one of the biggest fails in forensic science history. He fled on foot and attempted to fight an officer. When detectives arrived at OJ Simpsons home to inform him of the death of his ex-wife, they noticed blood on Simpsons white Ford Bronco. Grigson cited Willinghams tattoo of a skull and serpent and some of his music posters as evidence that he was a sociopath. But they said it could not have been the murder weapon as its profile was inconsistent with the slash wounds on Kercher's throat. Failure to secure the scene was just the beginning of this forensic fiasco. The Knox case. Sollecito tried to force the door open and failed, prompting him to call the police. Witnesses may be unreliable, and memories might be foggy, but scientific evidence doesnt lie. In the meantime, the criminal justice system will be left to clean up the countless messes caused by a single person with too much incentive to lie and too little oversight. Once the thieves discovered that the information was useless, they had no idea what to do with the server or how to abandon it without arousing suspicion. At trial, several issues became evident, including: Roughly 1.5 ml of Simpson's blood was mysteriously absent from a container; The blood was not immediately entered into the chain of custody; To better understand the tragic rippling effect of the lost evidence in this case, keep reading. Evidence showed that Epstein had transferred over $30 million to Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend, during and after a stretch of years from 1994 to 2004 when they were most closely connected . 4.2 Suzanne Johnson. But, according to law enforcement, those drugs were being used to pay informants for information that would lead to major arrests in a case of noble cause corruption. Three years later, the public was blindsided by the news that the tale of evil woven by New Yorks finest was also a cover for the intentional arrest of innocent people. According to the Innocence Project, out of 329 wrongful convictions overturned by new DNA testing, 74 were due to erroneous microscopic hair evidence. The following are ten cases where shocking forensic fails bungled the case and allowed murderers to walk away from justiceor sent innocent people to prison. Over her career, Dookhan completed as many as 60,000 analyses, making her partly responsible for an estimated 11,000 criminal convictions. The BTK Killer You can't talk about criminal cases and digital forensics without mentioning the infamous BTK killer case. Photograph: Stefano Medici/AP. William A. Coupled with confessions from the murderers and DNA evidence, Williams, Adams, Rainge, and Jimerson were finally exonerated after 17 years in prison. Erroneous convictions can have immeasurable consequences for exonerees, original crime victims, and families. Gorkski, a Polish meat factory worker, is appealing his conviction for the murder of Shirley Finlay in Ballymena. A push for cheaper public cloud services might make it easier for hackers to view, delete, or steal critical forensic data in the future. As one would expect, the costs of cleaning up after the trail of investigative mayhem have been astronomical. For Zains many victims, exoneration and compensation are the only justice possible. The time was 5:55 p.m. The Austin Police Department, for example, stores at least 600,000 items, with approximately 60,000 new pieces of evidence being processed each year. The Ford Heights Fourall black menwere tried by an all-white jury. Nor had the police "respected international standards for the collection and bagging of exhibits", they maintained. Simpsons Bronco truck, his driveway, the foyer of his home, and his bedroom. It began during the trial of a suspected Oxycontin dealer, when the court discovered that confiscated drugs had vanished and been replaced with heart medication. Without a search warrant, Detective Mark Fuhrman jumped over the external wall and opened the gate for the other three detectives present, claiming they believed Simpson might have been injured and went to investigate. Nov. 22, 2019. 130796. In many cases, security for the labs consisted of nothing more than a few cameras and a wire fence. If evidence with Simpsons blood showed traces of EDTA, the defense claimed, then that blood had to have come from the lab, which meant that it was planted. [7] More than 400 terrorist investigations may have been compromised by evidence lost in the fires. His parents were both charged and convicted of murdering Gabriel due to signs of abuse. Two Rome University professors said there was no certainty that traces of DNA, found on a knife allegedly used in the murder, belonged to Kercher. In at least 26 cases, the technician missed biological evidence that could have been useful for a rape trial. [1] An investigation revealed that Dookhan had been dry labbing many of her assignmentsreporting results without performing the actual tests! Bolding, and the hundreds of cases he compromised, were emblematic of a culture of inadequacy at the Houston crime lab, where numerous technicians knowingly conducted unreliable analyses in a lab which itself was woefully sub-par. In the results-driven world of laboratory work, her virtually inhuman ability to amass test results placed Dookhan in a position of distinction. With examples of misconduct extending into the 1980s, the Houston crime lab precipitated a lengthy reign of errors that has led to two mandatory shutdowns. Somehow, these flashing signs of inability didnt prevent him from landing jobs as a police chemist for the state of West Virginia and chief of physical evidence in Bexar County, Texas. The first edition of Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations and Actions: Representative Court Decisions and Supplementary Materials was published in February of 2016. They lose lives. During a Reddit " Ask Me Anything . Helmsman of the drug lab for nearly two decades, and himself suspected of professional improprieties, Callery had overseen a spate of irresponsible hiring decisions. The victim's sweater was found neatly folded by the truck. For aspiring forensics professionals, these documented abuses of the science are presented as cautionary tales. An internal investigation conducted two years ago by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the findings of which were not made public at the time, uncovered systematic mishandling of evidence . What happened in the trial of O.J. In West Virginia alone, Zain may have lied in as many as 182 different cases. IDAHO, PETITIONER v. LAURA LEE WRIGHT. For example, the Innocence Project aims to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment. Founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, it has helped to free 350 people on DNA evidence and identified 149 alternative perpetrators as of June 2017. The National Institute of Criminology, considered the most important forensic testing center in Belgium, was also hit by arsonists in 2016. Evidence to be used against European terrorists, including those suspected in the most recent attacks against Paris, has been burned, lost, or compromised during the fires. However, additional evidence later led authorities to the actual perpetrators of the double homicide and exposed Kofoeds deception. Preliminary testing revealed that the doctor had faked at least 100 of his autopsies, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. He surrendered his medical license in August 1992, but the huge testimony fail he created is still causing ripples in the system. Disorganization was rife, and records were regularly falsified. After pleading guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice, and evidence tampering, she received a prison sentence of three to five years, followed by two years of probation. From the beginning, there were issues involving evidence collection. The overwhelming evidence of lab misconduct has already resulted in the dismissal of 200 drug cases and reduced sentences in 60 more. Lawyers, experts say forensic evidence was too experimental for courtroom. With the rate of laboratory malfeasance far outpacing the capacity of authorities to address it, we may never fully ascertain just how many lives were ruined or potentially lost thanks to the Houston Police Departments forensic infractions. As a private contractor, he performed more than 3,000 autopsies in 41 jurisdictions spread out over West Texas. It wasnt until many years later that investigators would attribute his wounds to Willingham being in the fire before the flashover (i.e., when the entire room suddenly ignites in flames). Method used to test air for decomposition made its courtroom debut in this trial. A card left by the killer was handled by dozens of people in the crowd, making fingerprint forensics useless in court. The retribution was prompt and costly. Forensic data storage is also a problem. Even those at the upper echelons of criminal justice have been found guilty of fraud in forensics. In addition to the untold numbers of people who have been convicted on faulty evidence, a fair number of known violent drug offenders have also been released, leading to an increase in the crime rate and time spent rearresting offenders released because of fabricated evidence. Furthermore, Simpsons Bronco, which had been impounded at an LAPD facility, was entered at least twice without authorization. Coupled with confessions from the murderers and DNA evidence, Williams, Adams, Rainge, and Jimerson were finally exonerated after 17 years in prison. According to Officer Steve Anderson, who himself was caught partaking in the scheme, this translated into undercover narcotics agents handing over some of the drugs purchased during covert operations to officers who were struggling to meet arrest quotas. Independent experts have seriously disputed much of the scientific evidence relied on in the case. And some of the labs forensic data is believed to have been falsified. She was also accused of taking cocaine from positive samples and adding it to negative samples to help secure convictions. During the first trial in 1978, state serologist Michael Podlecki testified that at least one of the rapists had type A secretor blood, a trait shared with approximately 25 percent of the population. On Monday, Rudy Guede, who has also been convicted and jailed for the 2007 murder, repeated his claim that the pair had carried out the killing. Janssen-Ortho Inc. vs. Novopharm Limited. Boneys history included attacking women. The victims were from one jurisdiction, but their bodies were found in another, leading to disagreements about which department should collect the forensic evidence. Dookhan was indicted on 27 charges, including obstruction of justice for tampering with evidence, perjury, and even falsifying her university degree. She served only three years in jail for her crimes and is now free, just like the dangerous Dookhan Defendants she put back on the streets. Theyd been stabbed multiple times. Even before the shoddy evidence testing began, samples were often contaminated via a leaky roof. False or misleading forensic evidence was a contributing factor in 24% of all wrongful convictions nationally, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, which tracks both DNA and non-DNA based exonerations.1 This includes convictions based on forensic evidence that is unreliable or invalid and expert testimony that is misleading. All the while, she outpaced her colleagues in productivity, sometimes by a factor of three. HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Forensic Science Center says it fired a crime scene investigator after it discovered she violated policy and protocol, affecting two sexual assault cases. Cases Where Digital Evidence Was Not Accepted. The world watched every detail of the case on Court TV, which highlighted the many mistakes of forensics investigators as an epic fail. Dubbed "The Phantom of Heilbronn," the anonymous woman's genetic material was detected at the scene of more than forty crimes over a two-decade period. 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