This Just In....

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.-Aristotle

Recent items of interest have been collected from the internet and provided below. In the event that you wish to alert SFR to articles for “This Just In….” please do not hesitate to submit a link to mike@spenceforensics.com

A collection of articles focusing on classic criminal cases can veiwed here on this website at: Most Fascinating Criminal Cases

Below is an illuminating example of a link to a recent special edition of CBS 60-Minutes aired on June 26, 2008. The segment focused on the highly controversial genetic genealogy scam:

The Hopes and Limitations of Genetic Genealogy.

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DNA EXONERATION COUNT: 254 wrongfully accused individuals have been set free as a consequence of DNA testing.

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February 4, 2010: WOW! The DNA EXONERATION COUNT HAS NOW HIT 250! Freddy Peacock was the 250th individual to be exonerated by the power of DNA testing. The 60-year-old mentally ill man from Rochester, New York spent almost six years in prison for a 1976 rape that he did not commit.

The conviction was based largely on a false confession compelled by law enforcement officials. When Peacock was released on parole in 1982, he enlisted the help of the Innocence Project. Once DNA testing revealed the semen of an unknown male on the underpants of the 24-year old rape victim, it was only a matter of time before Mr. Peacock’s conviction was overturned.

Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project declared, "New York becomes the nation's capital of false confessions." The confession wasn't written down, videotaped, audiotaped or "recorded in any way and he didn't sign anything," Neufeld said. Since 2002, ten New Yorkers have been exonerated by DNA testing after false confessions or admissions leading to faulty convictions.

New York: The nation's capital for false confessions.

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September 18, 2009: The following text is quoted directly from an Innocence Project website article entitled:

Cameron Todd Willingham:

An Innocent Man Executed in Texas

“Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004. Willingham was convicted of murder in 1992 after his three young daughters died in a fire at his Corsicana, Texas, home.

The prosecution claimed he intentionally set fire to his home in order to kill his own children. Willingham, who was asleep in the home when the fire started, always said he was innocent. He was convicted based on the testimony of forensic experts who said the fire was intentionally set and a jailhouse informant who said Willingham had confessed to him.
In the days leading up to Willingham's execution, his attorneys sent the governor and the Board of Pardon and Parole a report from Gerald Hurst, a nationally recognized arson expert, saying that Willingham's conviction was based on erroneous forensic analysis. Documents obtained by the Innocence Project show that state officials received that report but apparently did not act on it.

Months after Willingham was executed, the Chicago Tribune published an investigative report that raised questions about the forensic analysis. The Innocence Project assembled five of the nation's leading independent arson experts to review the evidence in the case, and they issued a 48-page report finding that none of the scientific analysis used to convict Willingham was valid.

In 2006, the Innocence Project formally submitted the case to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, asking the empowered state entity to launch a full investigation. Along with the Willingham case, the Innocence Project submitted information about another arson case in Texas where identical evidence was used to send another man to death row. In that case, Ernest Willis was exonerated and freed from prison because the forensic evidence was not valid.

In 2008, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed to investigate the case. The commission hired renowned arson expert Craig Beyler to review all of the evidence in the case. In August 2009, Beyler submitted his report to the commission, finding that the forensic analysis used to convict Willingham was wrong - and that experts who testified at Willingham's trial should have known it was wrong at the time.

The state Forensic Science Commission is reviewing that report and has said it will issue a report with its conclusions on the case in 2010. Meanwhile, an investigative report in the September 7, 2009 issue of the New Yorker deconstructs every facet of the state's case against Willingham. The 16,000-word report by David Grann shows that all of the evidence used against Willingham was invalid, including the forensic analysis, the informant's testimony, other witness testimony and additional circumstantial evidence.”

Wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

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March 6, 2009: In 1984, Joseph Fears Jr. was convicted of two sexual assaults in separate jury trials. He was labeled a sexual predator, with a judge noting that "his denial of guilt made it unlikely he would benefit from programs to lessen his chances of re-offending."

Fears spent over 25 years in an Ohio prison for crimes he could not have committed. Fourteen years ago, Fears began requesting DNA testing. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien opposed it. Eventually, Fears was told that his case evidence was ‘missing’.

Would you be angry? After forfeiting the prime of his life, from age 35 to 61, Fears FINALLY became the 233rd person in the U.S. to be exonerated by DNA testing. Understandably furious, Fears lashed out, "My reaction to this is: I think it's a bunch of bull and this was a cover-up. Ron O'Brien doesn't deserve any credit. I first asked for a DNA test in 1995, and they never did anything. Then they tell me my evidence is gone." Although relieved that he has been released from prison, Fears will hire an attorney and pursue compensation from the state of Ohio.

Things started to turn around for Fears when Robert McClendon was released from an Ohio prison in August, 2008 after serving 18 years for a child rape that DNA testing showed the he didn't commit. Like the Fears case, McClendon's efforts to obtain DNA testing had been ignored for years. A recent evidence search ordered by Ron O’Brien uncovered microscope slides from one of Fears alleged rape victims. DNA from the slides didn't match the convict. Male DNA from the slides was used to conduct a search of the national DNA database-CODIS. The DNA type matched a deceased convict from Michigan-a man confirmed to be in Columbus, Ohio at the time of the sexual assault.

Underpants from the other alleged victim were also located. The state crime lab in Ohio didn't detect any male DNA on it. This finding was consistent with Fears contention that the woman fabricated the sexual assault in the first place.

233rd wrongful conviction confirmed by DNA:
Convicted man paid a 25-year price.

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February 6, 2009: Timothy Cole was a student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. In 1985, he was arrested and accused of being a campus serial rapist. The young African-American man had virtually NO criminal record. Despite this fact, he was convicted largely on the testimony of ONE eye witness. In 1986, Cole was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The real rapist, Jerry Wayne Johnson, waited for the statute of limitations to toll in 1995 and began repeatedly writing his confessions to the courts.  These communications were ignored by the judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials who wrongfully obtained Cole’s conviction. Presumably, it would have been a bad career move to admit their errors-nearly a decade after the fact.

Finally, in 2007, a confession letter from Johnson reached Cole’s mother.  It was too late. In 1999, Timothy Cole died in prison, the victim of an asthma attack. Recent DNA testing confirmed that Cole had told the truth all along. Once DNA proved Cole’s innocence, signs began to accumulate that the investigation was mishandled from the beginning. Witnesses to Cole's alibi were ignored. The lack of physical evidence tying him to the attack was also ignored. Incredibly, investigators ignored the comment from the rape victim that her attacker was “A chain smoker.” A chain smoking, asmatic suspect, ….sounds promising. Prosecutors and investigators developed tunnel vision and molded their case around poorly acquired accounts of events.

"The investigation goes from trying to solve a case to trying to make a case against an individual that the police have started to focus on," said Mike Ware, head of Dallas County's conviction integrity unit. Prior to a recent hearing designed to once-and-for-all clear Timothy Cole’s name, Cole’s family had yet to hear directly from any Lubbock County official, past or present. The Innocence Project’s Jeff Blackburn angrily commented before the hearing, "They're cowards."

Failure to 'own up' in Lubbock
80's serial rapist walks free.

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January 9, 2009: Chaunte D. Ott, a 35-year old Milwaukee man, wrongfully accused of homicide, has been released from prison. This development came as a result of assistance provided by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which began working on Ott’s case in 2000.

After serving over thirteen years of a life sentence, recent DNA tests have pointed to an unknown male assailant. In addition to the 1995 tragic death of the murder victim, 16 year-old Jessica Payne, the unknown murderer has apparently killed again, ….twice. In June 1997, the same male DNA found on Payne’s body was also recovered from 41 year-old Milwaukee homicide victim, Joyce Mims. In 2007, only a short distance away from the two previous homicides, blood from the same male perpetrator was found on the body of 30 year-old Ouithreaun Stokes.

Two of Ott’s associates, Richard Gwin and Sam Hadaway, testified against Ott. Gwin was murdered in 1997. Hadaway later recanted his testimony. None of the three men provided a DNA match to that which was found on Jessica Payne’s body.

Wrongful conviction in Wisconson allows
at large killer to strike again, ......twice.

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December 28, 2008: The following is one of those cases that did not involve DNA testing, ...but was too intriguing to ignore: A Washington state appeals court recently erased James S. Anderson’s conviction for armed robbery. Despite the fact that Anderson was in California at the time of the robbery in question, he spent over four years behind bars for a crime he could not possibly have committed.

Anderson was arrested in July 2004. But he quickly proved his innocence. Records from California established that he met with his probation officer in Los Angeles on the day of the armed robbery. But Pierce County Washington officials soon accused Anderson of a different robbery – one occurring on a different date. Two other robbery suspects provided statements implicating Anderson. Both suspects received significant time off their own sentences for their gracious cooperation. Again, Anderson insisted that he could not have committed the crime-offering to provide California probation records verifying that he was nearly 1000 miles away.

The case went to trial in 2005, with Anderson acting as his own lawyer. Unfortunately, Anderson was not able to obtain his records from the probation department in Los Angeles County. The jury didn't believe his testimony and a judge sentenced Anderson to nearly 17 years in prison.

If not for the efforts of Boris Reznikov, a student working with the Innocence Project Northwest at the University of Washington Law School, Anderson might have remained in prison for untold years. Now a litigation attorney in Palo Alto, California, Reznikov said, "I remember reading about 700 pages of the court transcript and getting more and more mad. I was thinking, wow, every time James is in court he's telling the judge, he's telling the prosecutor, 'I was in L.A. I met with my probation officer.' All his attempts fell on deaf ears. The records were just never produced."

All it took was one simple phone call,.....
and a ton of lawyering.

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December 14, 2008: About fifteen years ago a shotgun blast tore away half of Ricardo Rachell’s face.  He survived, but was badly disfigured.  In recent years, even worse atrocities have befallen Mr. Rachell. In 2003, he was wrongfully sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Houston jury.  While Rachell was locked up for nearly six years, the real perpetrator roamed free-a man who had sexually assaulted an 8-year-old boy while threatening the child with a knife.

Harris County prosecutors ignored the fact that their key witnesses never mentioned or testified to a perpetrator with a severely disfigured face. They also ignored the fact that DNA evidence was readily available-evidence that could have immediately pointed to the fact that the real child molester was still on the loose. Defying all standards of decency, prosecutors also ignored the fact that a series of strikingly similar assaults on children continued AFTER RACHELL’S IMPRISONMENT. Like Ricardo Rachell, the REAL assailant was repeatedly seen travelling by bicycle in the same area of Houston.

When the sexual assault kit from the 8-year old boy, collected in October 2002, was FINALLY tested, the DNA results proved Ricardo Rachell’s innocence and lead to his release from prison. Harris County prosecutors have reported that the serial child molester is now in custody, but have not provided his identity to the media.

Houston authorities choose to ignore the facts:
Meanwhile, the real child molester roams free.

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December 10, 2008: On the morning of August 17, 1981, the body of James Dvorak was discovered in wooded area near Canova Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast. The body was nude and severely beaten. Five days later, 22-year old William Dillon was with his brother at the beach when they were approached and questioned by law enforcement officers. Although the case was widely reported in the media, the officers were suspicious of Dillon’s awareness of the murder. They brought him to the station for further questioning. Prosecutors eventually charged the young man with the crime.

Dillon took the stand in his own defense and testified that he was miles away from the beach at the time of the Dvorak homicide. Witnesses corroborated his alibi. After a five-day trial, Dillon was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The jury based their verdict predominantly on flimsy testimony provided by various unreliable sources. One key witness was John Preston, the handler for a scent-tracking dog. William Dillon spent 27 years, more than half of his life, in a Florida prison-until he was recently freed by DNA testing.

Just three months after Dillon was sentenced in 1981, another local Florida man, Wilton Dedge, was convicted of a murder based on strikingly similar, shoddy testimonial evidence. The prosecution's case included testimony from the scent-tracking dog handler, John Preston. Like William Dillon, Dedge was a Florida Innocence Project client. He was exonerated by DNA testing in 2004 after serving 22 years in prison.

In recent years, John Preston’s qualifications have been subjected to careful scrutiny. By this time, Preston had participated in hundreds of scent-tracking cases, assisting with countless convictions. In 2008, when Preston’s dog failed an accuracy test, a Brevard County judge concluded that Preston was often being used by prosecutors “to confirm the state’s preconceived notions.”  Dog scent identification has yet to be validated as a reliable source of scientific data.

Scent tracking-going to the dogs in Florida.

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December 5, 2008: Darrell Edwards, 44, has been in a New Jersey prison since he was 31-years-old. A key evidence item-a sweatshirt-was collected from the scene of the homicide. However, testing on that item has recently revealed DNA originating from an unknown male, NOT from Darrell Edwards. In addition to that, a witness who previously claimed that she got a clear look at the killer, has now recanted her testimony. To further solidify her absence of credibility, the witness also mentioned a minor detail-that she was high on heroine at the time of the incident. The Innocence Project intends to continue working with the court to scrutize this case.

Innocence Project continues to persuade stubborn
New Jersey court to consider a retrial-based on DNA.

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November 25, 2008: In 1985, 16-year-old Kimberly Simon’s body was found near the Mohawk River in Whitestown, New York. The high school girl was sexually assaulted and murdered. Four years later, 23-year-old Steven Barnes was convicted of the crime by a jury in Oneida County.

Just prior to Thanksgiving 2008, Barnes was released from prison. This occurred nearly 20 years after Barnes was wrongfully convicted for the crime. A client of the Innocence Project since 1993, Barnes was released as a consequence of modern DNA testing. Eyewitness testimony at the homicide trial was shaky, but forensic testimony linked him to the crime scene. The questionable forensic evidence included an alleged ‘soil match’ from the tires on Barnes’ truck. Additional flawed testimony linked a fabric imprint, allegedly matching the victim, to a similar pattern found on the truck.

Analysis of fabric patterns and comparison of soil have not been tested to determine their scientific validity; as a result, it is impossible to know how many other soil samples might be similar to soil from the crime scene or the likelihood that other clothing items have the same fabric pattern. In New York, 23 people have been exonerated through DNA testing, and 10 of those wrongful convictions involved invalid or improper forensic science.

“Unvalidated and exaggerated science convicted Steven Barnes and cost him nearly two decades, but real science finally secured his freedom,” said Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project. Renewed efforts are underway to identify Kimberly Simon's actual killer.

23rd exoneration In New York.

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November 13, 2008: Perhaps you noticed the sudden jump in DNA-based exonerations from 221 to 227. Rather than a flurry of activity from the Innocence Project, the rescue of six innocent individuals involved reinvestigation of one case, yes ONE CASE, spearheaded by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. Good for them. This case sets a new national record for the number of wrongfully-convicted people cleared by DNA, ....in one case. In 1989, Joseph "Lobo" White, Thomas Winslow, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Deb Shelden, Kathy Gonzalez and James Dean were all wrongfully imprisoned for a 1985 rape/homicide that occurred in Beatrice, Nebraska. The victim was a 68-year old woman named Helen Wilson.

This 'mass exoneration' begs the question: How could six people be wrongfully convicted, including five who pleaded either guilty or no contest to parts of the crime?

The initial investigation went cold and wasn't revived until 1987, when a former Beatrice police officer, Bert Searcey, came forward with confidential informants. Searcey was hired by the Gage County Sheriff's Office and took over the investigation, focusing on White, Taylor, and a group of friends who consumed drugs and alcohol together. Investigators relied on idiotic, recklessly-conceived interview tactics centering on witnesses whose foggy memories were haunted by chronic substance abuse and psychiatric problems. As the interviews spawned a growing number of alleged perpetrators, more and more inconsistencies needed to be ignored. Glaring examples were as follows:

• How did seven people (including the victim) squeeze into her tiny residence without any outside bystanders hearing or noticing them?

• Why would any perpetrator of a sexual assault bring along ‘five friends’ to witness his crime?

• If robbery was a motive, as was alleged by the investigators, how did all six suspects overlook the victim's purse sitting in plain sight on a kitchen stool? The purse just happened to contain $1,300!

Recent DNA tests identified the real killer as Bruce Smith, a drifter from Oklahoma City, who has been walking free for 23 years. The DNA evidence showed no indication that any of the six exonerated individuals were ever at the crime scene.

A foul odor In Nebraska.

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October 15, 2008: At age 33, Arthur Johnson was convicted by a Sunflower County Mississippi jury of a sexual assault he did not commit. After the jury ignored the testimony of several alibi witnesses, Judge Ashley Hines sentenced Johnson to 55 years in prison. The man had no criminal record, and there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime.

Emily Maw, Johnson’s Innocence Project Attorney, was stonewalled by Mississippi officials from 2005 to 2007, in response to her efforts to utilize modern DNA technology. In November 2007, results from the DNA analysis conclusively established Johnson’s innocence. Oblivious to all standards of common decency, Sunflower District Attorney Dewayne Richardson insisted upon further delays by pursuing a retrial.

When Mississippi officials were shamed into running the DNA results through the convicted offender DNA database, the truth was finally revealed. Sixteen years after Johnson’s wrongful conviction, the actual perpetrator was identified. Richardson had no choice but to drop all charges against the man he had persecuted 16 years ealier. It was too late. The guilty rapist was already serving time in a Colorado for a 2002 sexual assault. A woman in Colorado was brutalized as a consequence of the collaborative buffoonery of Mississippi officials and Mississippi jury members.

Arthur Johnson is the fourth Mississippi man exonerated by DNA evidence since 2006.

Negligence in Mississippi.

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October 8, 2008: A jury in El Paso, Texas found Jose Lorenzo Esparza guilty of the August 2006 beating death of Maria Porras. As part of the same incident, the defendant was also found guilty of attempted murder for the severe beating of Ruben Munoz. The sentence that was subsequently handed down was life in prison, plus 20 additional years, to be served concurrently.

Aside from the verdict, one of the issues associated with this trial was the DNA recovered from the handle of a lug wrench - alleged as the possible murder weapon. The Texas DPS crime lab in El Paso reported at least three unknown DNA profiles on the wrench handle. The crime lab also reported that Jose Esparza could not be excluded as a contributor to the DNA mixture on the wrench. The lab went one step further by estimating the following: Supposing 250 randomly selected individuals were tested for DNA, the lab would predict only ONE individual to be consistent with the DNA mixture, whereas 249 people would be excluded.

After the crime lab testimony, the defense called their own DNA expert to the witness stand. Their witness was Dr. Michael Spence, a consultant with Spence Forensic Resources of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Dr. Spence testified that the DNA mixture on the lug wrench was far too complex to be suitable for interpretation or statistical estimates. Spence drew no further conclusions.

According to the 10/8/08 article in the Las Cruces Sun News, “They (counsel for the defense) asked why Esparza’s DNA was not on the lug wrench if he committed the crime.” In an interesting reversal of the prosecution’s stance, the Sun News reported that counsel for the prosecution “….later responded that DNA wouldn’t have been transferred if the person wielding the wrench wasn’t injured.”

The prosecutor’s statement begs a few intriguing questions. First, what happened to the crime lab’s decision NOT to exclude Esparza, …..with a theoretical 249 out of 250 random individuals expected to be excluded? Second, is it really true that DNA CANNOT be deposited on an item, just by handling the item? If so, …..this is news to all of the forensic biologists residing on planet earth. Perhaps the prosecutor needs to brush up on her knowledge of forensic biology. Third, what about the mixture of at least three unknown DNA profiles recovered from the handle of the wrench? Did all of those people injury themselves and bleed on the handle? If so, did the Texas DPS-El Paso forensic biologist observe blood on the handle? Did the analyst even conduct a test for blood on the handle? The Texas DPS analyst testified to no visual observation of blood, ….and consequently conducted no such diagnostic test on the item.

Homicide verdict in El Paso, Texas.

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September 22, 2008:Read an article focusing on the 20th DNA-based exoneration out of Dallas County, Texas. The article was authored by none other than Kirk Bloodsworth, the first ever Death Row inmate to be wrongfully imprisoned-and later released by DNA.

Twenty, .....and counting in Dallas County.

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September 18, 2008: After spending 23 years in a Tennessee prison, Paul House was freed by the order of a federal judge. District Attorney General Paul Phillips could drop all charges-depending on the results of DNA tests from the FBI Laboratory in Virginia. House was accused of the 1985 murder of Carolyn Muncey.

Retrial of Tennessee homicide suspect could
hinge on results from new DNA evidence.

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September 3, 2008: The primary focus of “This Just In” is DNA. Although the Ted White story does not involve DNA, this tale of corruption is too compelling to ignore. Readers will find themselves asking, “Where WAS the DNA evidence?”, or perhaps “Upon WHAT did the prosecution build their case?” A jury in Lee’s Summit, Missouri recently awarded Theodore W. White Jr. $16 million in damages for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. The case is a glaring example of how our system of Law Enforcement and Justice is often susceptible to a momentous crash-and-burn. White’s attorney, Sean O’Brien, stated, “This case highlights what can happen when crucial evidence is withheld from a defendant.” Ted White, a successful Missouri businessman, was suffering through a difficult divorce. Out of nowhere, Tina White accused him of molesting her biological daughter, Ted’s adopted child. To his shock, Ted was charged with the crime. What Ted didn’t know was that during the early stages of the investigation, the officer in charge of the case, Richard McKinley, became romantically involved with Tina White. Despite the flimsy case against him, Ted was convicted of child molestation in 1999. He fled to Costa Rica and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted”. Once captured, Ted was brutally beaten by law enforcement officers and extradited back to Missouri. After spending five years in a Missouri prison, Mr. White was granted a re-trial. His second jury favored his acquittal 11 to 1. ONE holdout juror! When a THIRD jury heard the case, several members of the second jury were in attendance of the proceedings in an unusual show of support for the accused. An astounding series of truths was provided to the third jury. Not only did the investigating officer become involved with Tina White, former prosecutors were aware of this fact-and decided that it was not important enough to disclose to the defense! While Ted suffered in a Missouri prison, Tina White became Tina McKinley when she MARRIED the investigator of the ridiculous child molestation claims. The truth goes from profound to outrageous. In a stunning development, it was revealed that Richard McKinley had read the diary of the alleged victim, Ted White’s adopted daughter. The investigator didn’t seize this evidence. Nor did he share it with the prosecution, ....and of course, NOT with the defense. No, the vital record of the child’s life--during the time frame of the alleged crime--mysteriously vanished! On August 29, 2008 husband and wife were convicted of conspiracy. Richard and Tina McKinley conspired to fabricate charges of child molestation. In the process,  they violated Ted White’s right to a fair trial. It took ten years to reveal the malicious scheme. Unfortunately, this scheme will now cost law-abiding taxpayers an enormous financial penalty.

The Ted White story.

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August 24, 2008: This insightful article can be found at an interesting website, www.thejusticeproject.org . The author, John Terzano, writes, "While forensic laboratories have yielded critical evidence in countless cases, preventable error has subverted justice, convicted the innocent, and jeopardized public safety. Law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the public at large all have a vested interest in making sure reforms are implemented to reduce the risk of mistakes and to elevate the quality and objectivity of forensic evidence and testimony." When you visit The Justice Project website, be sure to access and download the PDF file Policy Review entitled "Improving the Practice and Use of Forensic Science".

Fixing flaws in forensic science.

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August 18, 2008: In Mississippi, Judge Swan Yerger has allocated several thousand dollars in county funds to assist with legal defense costs for a homicide suspect. The defendant has been accused in the November 2007 murder of a Jackson State University co-ed. The funding will be used to retain a forensic expert for examination of case evidence. Many are hoping that this unusual-but enormously insightful judiciary ruling-will establish a national precedent. As stated by Roger Koppl and Dan Krane, the distinguished authors of this article, "....forensic evidence is often flawed. So, in fairness, defendants should have a right to forensic expertise, just as they have a right to an attorney."

The authors summarize their article with the following:

"The right to forensic expertise also would create the kind of checks and balances that will improve forensics. Here is how: In most criminal cases, one side or the other will want the forensic evidence reviewed. That side will have an incentive to document forensic science's shortcomings and bring them to the attention of the court whenever it is strategically appropriate. Slowly, case by case, the system will improve."

Forensics may be the best defense.

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August 16, 2008: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Philip Busey has been convicted of the 2005 kidnapping, rape, and homicide of Intel Executive, Kathryn Hauser. Aside from the verdict, the vital development associated with this trial was the apparent use of questionable analytical methods. As a consequence, much of the DNA evidence collected from the crime scene was ruled out during pretrial hearings. Elizabeth Johnson, a DNA expert for the defense, testified that she had never seen a forensic lab use 'Composite DNA' to facilitate DNA matches implicating a suspect. Judge Stanley Whitaker ruled that many of the DNA tests were unconventional and unsuitable for presentation in his court. In response to this ruling, Busey's attorney, Lelia Hood, commented, "Maybe there needs to be some sort of body over the DNA crime labs. Both are run by law enforcement, and maybe there needs to be some independence from law enforcement." The defense intends to appeal the conviction.

'Composite DNA' thrown out by the judge
presiding over an Albuquerque homicide trial.

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July 2, 2008: As stated in this article, "Online DNA testing services which promise to unlock the secrets of your ancestors are a waste of money. The companies boast they can go much deeper than a simple family tree to provide information that describes your genetic heritage." According to the consumer group, Which?, the tests provide such vague information, the results are hardly better than horoscopes. Which? Computing editor Sarah Kidner said: “One company, 23andMe, seemed to be hedging its bets when it said that the DNA sample came from somebody of Polish, Arab or Irish decent.” The consumer watchdog pointed out the fact that, thus far, these testing services are operating without any form of consumer regulation.

Online DNA tests are no more accurate than horoscopes.

Click Here for more reading on The DNA Ancestry Con-Game.

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