An update on an earlier post about the sad case of Todd Cameron Willingham, executed by Texas in 2004 for a crime experts now say he did not commit. Four of the nation’s top arson investigators were asked to independently review the evidence used to convict Willingham of the alleged arson that resulted in the […]

I’ve been in jury trial these last few days but I’ve got some free time now. This morning my jury came back with their verdict. There were many issues in the case, but one point I drove home in cross examination and final argument was that, of the five police cars that pulled up to […]

Are Polygraphs junk science or underutilized forensic technology? They occupy the most unusual position in the hierarchy of forensic instruments, universally rejected in courts as not even meeting the Frye test of acceptability in the scientific community, yet enjoying huge mindshare within law enforcement and an astonishing growth rate within the federal government.
With the […]

The pressure to close an unsolved murder case is great, and it’s even greater when police have a 26 year-old case and a suspect they *want* desperately to convict but are held back by a disappointing lack of evidence. That didn’t stop prosecutors in Toledo, Ohio from charging a 68 year old priest with the […]

Just a follow-up on the last post regarding the challenges facing Chris Herion in his “Donations” (read “Bribery”) case below. After Herion filed a motion to recuse the entire Benton County bench from presiding over any hearings in the case, he got into a nasty on-the-record argument with the judge. The judge threatened Herion with […]

It’s hard to believe that this story, getting attention across the nation, is happening in my backyard. I first heard about it when Attorney Chris Herion (pictured above) posted a rather lengthy message on a local listserve describing the whole ordeal he encountered in the course of representing clients charged with DUIs. What he discovered […]

I’ve talked about it here and seen it in action in my own practice. The “CSI Effect” is entrenching itself into mainstream public perceptions of the criminal process. With DNA exonerations becoming as newsworthy as tomorrow’s weather, and the utter saturation of crimeshow television, public expectations have set the technology bar high: if you don’t […]

In what can only be described as the height of prosecutorial arrogance, Federal prosecutors in Washington state decided that their right to seize the assets of suspected drug dealers reaches right into the mouths of the accused. Flenard T. Neal Jr. and Donald Jamar Lewis were awaiting trial and hadn’t been convicted of any offense […]

Gregory Wallis was 29 years old when he was arrested and tried for a burglary and attempted sexual assault. He swore he didn’t do it, and after an inconclusive DNA test using old technology, a Texas jury convicted him and the judge gave him 50 years in prison. Now, 18 years later, with the benefit […]

It’s bad enough when a completely factually innocent man has to spend 10 years of his life in prison for something he had nothing to do with — that’s got to shock the conscience of most anyone. But these tragedies hurt on so many other dimensions. When Neil Miller was wrongfully convicted of a rape […]