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FBI Admits Flawed Forensic Test Results May Have Led To Hundreds Of Wrongful Criminal Convictions

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) admits that hundreds of flawed or “inaccurate” forensic testing results were submitted as evidence in hundreds of criminal trials over the last 30 years.

This means that there could be as many as hundreds of innocent convicted people in prison for crimes that they did not commit, dating as far back as the 1980s.

Unfortunately, among the possible wrongfully convicted were 32 people who received the death penalty; of which 14 of those people have been executed, based on forensic testing results submitted during trial.

The US Justice Department does acknowledge fault and said (via statement) that they and the FBI are “committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance.”

What does this mean for the hundreds of people who may have been wrongfully convicted?

Wrongful incarceration is not only an injustice to the innocent, but also to the victim(s) as well as the community collectively. Incarcerating the wrong person for a crime certainly doesn’t make the neighborhood any safer and the taxpayers foot the bill.

R&B singer and philanthropist John Legend recently launched “FREE AMERICA”, a nationwide campaign established in efforts to raise awareness about America’s incarceration problem and help find solutions to end mass incarceration throughout the U.S.

Follow Let’s Free America for more information.

forensics — Flawed evidence was given by 26 forensic examiners in the agency’s microscopic hair comparison unit which affected 268 trials.

The FBI has admitted large scale failings in the evidence some of its forensic experts gave in hundreds of criminal trials in the 1980s and 1990s.

Flawed evidence was given by 26 forensic examiners in the agency’s microscopic hair comparison unit which affected 268 trials, the Washington Post reported.

In more than 95 per cent of the cases forensic matches were overstated in favour of prosecution arguments, the newspaper said.

The cases included 32 in which defendants received the death penalty, and 14 of those have since been executed or died in prison.

The Washington Post said the figures had been established by the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers and the Innocence Project.

Defendants involved in the cases are in 46 states and are being notified to consider if there are grounds for appeal.

An investigation began in 2012 after the Washington Post reported that flawed forensic matches of hair may have led to wrongful convictions.

In a statement the FBI and US Justice Department said they were “committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance.

“The department and the FBI are also committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science.”

Sons Of True Crime Author Accused Of Robbing Her For Over $100K

KIRO-TV – Seattle

True crime writer Ann Rule’s sons are charged with theft and forgery. Prosecutors say they stole more than $100,000 of their mother’s money.

According to charging documents, Michael Rule is accused of forging $103,628 of his mother’s checks.

His brother, Andrew Rule, is accused of coercing or harassing his mother into giving him $23,327.

“I have never in my life, as God as my witness, stolen anything whatsoever from my mom,” said Andrew Rule.

Investigators were tipped off about the charges of financial exploitation last month when her son-in-law emailed the King County Prosecutor’s office.

Court documents also show that when some checks were overdrawn, one of Ann Rule’s caregivers helped her download an app at a bank where she has an account. Through the app, the documents say, Rule discovered her checks were being forged.

According to prosecutors, “Andy would pester and bully Ann relentlessly for money, sometimes, threatening suicide, sometimes trying to make her feel guilty, sometimes screaming obscenities at her, until she would finally give in and write him a check.

We asked Andrew Rule, “Did you steal money or harass your mom for money?”

He replied, “Absolutely not. Absolutely not.”

When asked about the allegations, he said, “Basically I used to have a gambling problem but I don&’t anymore and I have absolutely no idea why I was pulled in at the same time my brother was.”

No one came to the door at Michael Rule’s house when KIRO-TV tried to ask him about the forgery allegations.

Ann Rule is a true crime writer best known for “The Stranger Beside Me,” about serial killer Ted Bundy, and her book about child murderer Diane Downs, “Small Sacrifices.”

Former Police Commissioner Testifies That Jamaica Was Fortunate Security Forces Responded To Dudus Coke’s Tivoli Gunmen

The former Chief of the Jamaican Defense Force stated in his testimony that Jamaica was fortunate that the security forces responded in May 2010 to the threat posed by gunmen associated with then Tivoli Gardens don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. At the same time, he expressed deep disappointment with the level of social intervention in Tivoli Gardens following the security forces’ operation to arrest Coke.

Ellington, the former police commissioner, made the remarks while being questioned by Professor Anthony Harriott, a member of the panel of three commissioners looking into the operation by the security forces in May 2010 to apprehend Coke — who also goes by the name Omar Clarke — and restore law and order to the West Kingston area and sections of the Corporate Area and St Catherine.

“Jamaica is fortunate that the security forces responded to the threat as quickly as they did and with the impact it had,” Ellington said, adding at one point that “it would be anybody’s guess where Coke’s office would be today” if his Presidential Click criminal gang was successful in its bid to spread the resources of the security forces thin, and broke its will with its planned co-ordinated attacks.

Ellington likened the gang to “insurgents” and said that it presented itself as a “surrogate government”, which sought to expand its power and “perhaps political influence”. He also said that the gang threatened the operation of the Government with its targeted attacks leading up to the May 24, 2010 operation that led to the death of just over 70 civilians. A member of the Jamaica Defence Force was killed in the operation and several other members of the security forces injured.

“We were left with no choice,” Ellington said, noting that the police did everything they could to avoid a violent confrontation with the gang, and again expressed regret at the loss of civilian lives.

Coke is now serving time in the United States following his extradition.

Yesterday, Ellington said he was disappointed with the social intervention in the community. “I am very, very disappointed that not much has happened, save and except for the work of the security forces. If you go there you will see that the police and soldiers have become permanent fixtures and you will see the work they are doing on the ground,” he said.

“If we had followed with improved political leadership and better economic opportunity for the citizenship we would not be here contemplating the future of Tivoli Gardens and other marginalised communities across Jamaica,” he said in response to questions from Harriott.

Questioned by Peter Champagnie, one of the attorneys for the Jamaica Defence Force, Ellington said “all the elements were there” to make the circumstances surrounding the efforts by criminals to prevent the apprehension of Coke a war against the State. He said that, in his 30-plus years in the force, he had never seen anything like it.

The former top cop added that he described the situation to the Government as a “challenge to the sovereignty” of the State.

He testified also that the police got intelligence that an aeroplane with illegal weapons landed at the airstrip in Vernamfield, Clarendon, days before the operation to apprehend Christopher Coke commenced.

The former top cop said he had not immediately been made aware of the report of the illegal shipment.

He testified also that it had been reported by police, who were by the Kingston Harbour, that 15 row boats with heavily armed men were heading toward Portmore in St Catherine.

Jamaica Observer