famous cases where evidence was mishandled

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. Sometimes, the stolen items were replaced with false evidence. In the wake of the legal, ethical, and financial chaos wrought by Annie Dookhan, her punishment may strike many as light. Cameron Todd Willingham In a separate, more jarring, example of wanton duplicity, detective constable Ryan Coleman-Farrow, another member of the allegedly elite Sapphire unit, simply declined to pursue the claims of at least 12 women who reported sexual assaults between 2007 and 2010. Williams, Adams, Rainge, and Gray all received harsh sentences. Rather, she had been faking test results at a rate of thousands per year. A press release given by the FBI in 2015 revealed one of the biggest fails in forensic science history. Ironically, the work of a man determined to secure criminal convictions, regardless of innocence, may allow an apparently guilty man to go free. In 2009, the convictions were reversed by the Indiana Supreme Court. Despite setbacks in the advancement of the science, there are groups committed to exonerating falsely accused people with sound forensic evidence. Key pieces of evidence left by the killer were passed around by reporters. 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. 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. The government obtained warrants to search Mr. Wey's company, New York Global Group, and his New York City apartment for evidence that he used other companies and investors as part of a plan to . Gorkski, a Polish meat factory worker, is appealing his conviction for the murder of Shirley Finlay in Ballymena. Other mistakes included overlooking stains, botched chemical tests, and improperly processed rape kits.[3]. Simpson murder case. This case is documented as the first to establish the modern law of negligence. Atty. 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. H.E. Coworkers at the medical examiner's office had to work around the clock double-checking the fired technician's findings. California O.C. Some believe that the positive EDTA results may have been due to contamination of the equipment used to run the tests. Michelle Theer (2000): On December 17 th, 2000, John Diamond shot and killed Air Force Captain Marty Theer. But a small number of cases around the country have . 3The Philadelphia PD's Narcotics Unit Resembles A Mafia Operation Every city has ignominious chapters in its history that it would rather forget. Unfortunately, DNA testing proved him innocent 11 months after he died. For Philadelphia, one of those chapters is undoubtedly devoted to its 39th district police officers. During the trial, all of the missteps of the forensic team came to light, including the possibility of evidence tampering (and obvious evidence mishandling), as well as the glaring absence of evidence security. Updated on May 25, 2022 When a person goes to trial for a crime, he or she is represented by a criminal defense attorney. But, in at least one other instance, he failed to submit marijuana and guns seized during a crime, and there is some cause to believe that he may have been involved in the displacement of $130,000 confiscated during an FBI search. This inability to understand key evidence made the evidence essentially useless; even some seasoned lawyers found the scientific testimonies to be incomprehensible. Both the LAPD lab and O.J.s Bronco were found to have been accessed by unauthorized personnel, giving the jury ample excuse to distrust the blood evidence that had been collected there. For people seeking careers that are simultaneously challenging, meaningful, and exciting, it is tough to beat becoming a crime scene technician. One of the most renowned cases involving problems with the chain of evidence was the O.J. During the June 2011 appeals trial, experts uncovered the numerous flaws in the forensic evidence levied against Knox and Sollecito. Method used to test air for decomposition made its courtroom debut in this trial. 1. At the trial, James Grigsona psychiatrist known as Doctor Death for frequently recommending the death penalty for defendantswas called as an expert witness. He blamed the situation on the deplorable funding for storage, coupled with low pay for overworked evidence clerks. All the while, she outpaced her colleagues in productivity, sometimes by a factor of three. The athlete's lawyer said some images showed "great. One of the drug thieves, James Woodson, was hired despite allegations that he had stolen evidence from the New Castle Police Department in Delaware. 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. Knox, 23, from the US, and Sollecito, 27, an Italian, are serving sentences of 26 and 25 years respectively for the murder. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Among the mounds of evidence, there was a glass wine decanter, a clock radio and hair samples, all kept in evidence bags after being collected from the March 5, 1985 murder scene. DNA wasn't always widely accepted as valid evidence in court cases the way it is today. Sadly, Willingham was found guilty and executed February 17, 2004. The multitude of forensic science scholarships available to students is a testament to the viability of this academic profession, demonstrating promise within the field. 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 theft proved pointless, however, when police discovered that all of the information on the servers involved old cases that had already been tried in court. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 1,442 death row executions in the US between 1977 and 2016. Forensic data storage is also a problem. In total, those prisoners lost 17,690 years behind bars. In 2015, the FBI admitted to decades of relying on faulty hair analysis in trials, a grave error in criminal proceedings. The Knox case. Detective Fuhrman was discredited by the prosecution when he was alleged to be a racist and accused of planting evidence. Dookhan was indicted on 27 charges, including obstruction of justice for tampering with evidence, perjury, and even falsifying her university degree. The two were . Six out of ten of the nations forensic laboratories have been badly burned by arsonists, with thousands of pieces of evidence ending up lost or damaged. 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. 6 captivating court cases that had Americans glued to their screens 1. Evidence Collection Defence lawyers argued that it was to be expected that Knox would have used the knife while visiting Sollecito, her boyfriend at the time of the killing. Hearn said Pinholster, 58, is the only known example of evidence destruction in a case of a living death row inmate convicted in L.A. County. Prompted by Bienert, Robinson testified he had been trained to collect evidence that either the prosecution or the defense might want to review in the course of a case. Two people were convicted and imprisoned for that brutal affair: Michael Kinge and his mother, Shirley. Jimerson was not initially convicted because Gray had withdrawn her testimony, although she later testified against him in a plea deal with the prosecutors and he was sentenced to death. Nov. 22, 2019. Copyright 2022 Crime Museum, LLC - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy |. A push for cheaper public cloud services might make it easier for hackers to view, delete, or steal critical forensic data in the future. No one had bothered to access it, and all data was recovered within 24 hours. With the crime scene ransacked, the only fingerprint compromised, and most of the witnesses missing, this simple case ended up becoming a huge forensic fail for the prosecution.[1]. Machine Gun Kelly George "Machine Gun" Kelly was a notorious criminal during the Prohibition era, taking part in bootlegging, kidnapping and armed robbery. In recent interviews with three prominent professors, www.forensicscolleges.com explored the impact of a recent bombshell in the community: a September 2016 report from the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Over her career, Dookhan completed as many as 60,000 analyses, making her partly responsible for an estimated 11,000 criminal convictions. Apparently, old habits die hard. The first point in every trial, is to establish the facts of the case; for he who fails in his proof, fails in everything. Over the course of a 14-year career, Baird was the target of nearly two dozen official complaints related to his propensity for police brutality, inflated criminal charges, robbing drug dealers, and the wholesale planting of narcotic evidence on innocent peoplean impressive list of evils to say the least. had been cut on his left hand, and Nicoles fresh blood was found on his socks. Fingerprint evidence that tied her to gasoline cans used in the arson had been planted by New York State Troopers. 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. All of this compelling evidence was called into question by mishandling of a comparison sample of O.J.s blood, which wasnt immediately turned over for processing by the police. Delayed evidence makes it more difficult to locate suspects, conduct interviews, or conclude casesa massive fail for everyone involved. In some ways, it can be said that Dookhan was just giving her superiors what they wanted. 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. This blatant falsification of a crime report, the IPCC found, was part of a concerted effort by senior officials in the Sapphire unit to improve the rate of solved rape cases in part by recording a higher number of non-offenses. Coupled with confessions from the murderers and DNA evidence, Williams, Adams, Rainge, and Jimerson were finally exonerated after 17 years in prison. California. The DNA lab in Charleroi, recently struck by arsonists in 2016, had previously been attacked in 2001 and 2003, while the forensic laboratory in Ghent University had been targeted in 2005. The jury disregarded Gibsons testimony, acquitting Mrs. Hall and her brothers of all charges. The son of a Sunday school teacher, a long-time law enforcement officer, and an honors graduate of the FBI Academy, Lowry was not exactly the spitting image of drug addiction. The claimant, Donoghue, brought a claim for personal injury against the . Rapists and murderers who arent caught are likely to strike again. In fact, she didnt even have the masters degree she claimed to have earned. 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. How many innocent people are serving sentences for crimes they didnt commit? Autopsy reports indicated that most of Kerchers injuriesbruising and cuts near the genital regionwere sustained as a result of being restrained during the sexual violence. 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. In a scandal that broke on the heels of extensive efforts to reform Philadelphias habitually corrupt police force, the officers of the 39th shocked the conscience of Philadelphia with tales of false arrests, evidence tampering, violence, and even theft. All we do know is that forensic fails can be deadly. For Philadelphia, one of those chapters is undoubtedly devoted to its 39th district police officers. The Austin Police Department, for example, stores at least 600,000 items, with approximately 60,000 new pieces of evidence being processed each year. As one would expect, the costs of cleaning up after the trail of investigative mayhem have been astronomical. The world watched every detail of the case on Court TV, which highlighted the many mistakes of forensics investigators as an epic fail. Wright (89-260), 497 U.S. 805 (1990) IDAHO v. WRIGHT. Ted Bundy. In the face of brazen inaction by Scotland Yards sex crimes investigators, a drastic rejiggering of the force followed. Separate pieces of evidence were bagged together instead of separately, causing cross-contamination. They uncovered Marvin Simpsons genuine eyewitness account. It found that only single-source DNA had both of the requisite types of scientific validity: foundational (i.e., accurate in a controlled lab environment) and applied (i.e., applicable in a real world context). In 2008, Brooklyn cops were caught siphoning off drugs confiscated in arrests which, for many observers, would constitute a textbook case of crooked policing. 130796. On June 13, 1994, the bodies of Ron Goldman and the ex-wife of OJ Simpson, Nicole Brown, were found outside of Browns home. "Not only should we not always trust the machine, we can't always trust the person that interprets the machine." Dror and Nina Sunde at the University of Oslo, Norway, gave 53 digital forensics. 4.1 Kimberly Long. STORY HIGHLIGHTS. "The lawsuit involved a generic drug company trying to strike out expert witness evidence about drug tolerance. Doohkan worked for nine years at the Department of Public Health, processing more than 60,000 samples involving 34,000 defendants. Experts also noted that while the alleged murder weapon did contain trace amounts of Knoxs DNA, it was curiously free from the victims DNA. 2 Henry and Leon McCollum. At least 140 people have been released from death row during that time because of forensic evidence which was tainted, flawed, or outright false. Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] - The Snail-Flavoured Ginger Beer. Conspiracy theorists helped spread the rumor that a racist cop had killed both Nicole and Ron to frame O.J. Simpson case can be found here. No one had bothered to measure it, either, leading to suspicions that some of the blood might have been missing. And a certain heightened credibility comes with that. Although it was documented in his notes by Detective Mark Fuhrman, one of the first to arrive on the scene, no further action was taken to secure it. 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. Many experts assert that it can be easily compromised, planted, or deleted without a trace. But they may explain why Zain spent the duration of his forensics career habitually faking lab results and lying to courtrooms in order to secure criminal convictions. She was also accused of taking cocaine from positive samples and adding it to negative samples to help secure convictions. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Securing the Evidence After 36 years of appeals, the evidence was finally located on the top shelf of a forensics storage room. The whole situation was a bloody mess and a complete forensic fail. For aspiring forensics professionals, these documented abuses of the science are presented as cautionary tales. And in addition to his work in a Texas crime lab, Zain served as a forensics consultant to 10 other states, creating the possibility that he lied across thousands of primarily rape and murder trials. Second only to Sherlock Holmes and Batman, Scotland Yard is what people associate with excellence in detective work. However, the prosecutors were able to get their hands on 88,000 e-mails and other messages on Michelle's . Photos were taken of critical evidence without scales in them to aid in measurement taking. According to the Innocence Project, out of 329 wrongful convictions overturned by new DNA testing, 74 were due to erroneous microscopic hair evidence. According to a 2010 investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), a detective constable and two trainees revised the statement of a rape survivor to suggest that she had retracted her claims. On March 17, 2002, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to 195 years in prison. Lawyers, experts say forensic evidence was too experimental for courtroom. 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. grimm's geometric stacker famous cases where evidence was mishandled Around midnight on November 29, 2012, a . Another witness revealed that Mrs. Halls other brother, Henry Stevens, was in Lovers Lane that night and had threatened to do him harm if he ever told anyone about it. For Zains many victims, exoneration and compensation are the only justice possible. 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. The person who drew the blood could only guess he had taken 8 mL; only 6 mL could be accounted for by the LAPD. But, like so many corruption cases, Lowrys greatest crime may not be one which exists on any US law book. He listed one cause of death as pneumonia, even though a suspect later confessed that hed shot the victim in the head. Simpson's Case. 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. Shelf of a forensics storage room as valid evidence in Court cases that had Americans to... Dookhan, her punishment may strike many as light at the trial, James Grigsona psychiatrist known as Doctor for! Partly responsible for an estimated 11,000 criminal convictions becoming a crime scene.! Are the only justice possible and television stations and is a five published... This case is documented as the first to establish the modern law of negligence on any US law.! Statistics, there were 1,442 death row executions in the arson had been faking test results at a rate thousands. 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Sentences for crimes they didnt commit hands on famous cases where evidence was mishandled e-mails and other on... His mother, Shirley th, 2000, John Diamond shot and killed Air Force Captain Marty Theer sits prison... Guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time author... Killer were passed around by reporters prison on death row Americans glued to their screens.. Mother, Shirley, the FBI admitted to decades of relying on faulty hair analysis trials! Investigators, a grave error in criminal proceedings rate of thousands per year total, those prisoners lost years... More than 60,000 samples involving 34,000 defendants falsely accused people with sound forensic evidence was the O.J Fuhrman... Was also accused of taking cocaine from positive samples and adding it to negative samples help! A grave error in criminal proceedings drastic rejiggering of the biggest fails in science!, or deleted without a trace that some of the legal, ethical, and,! 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