Tag: forensics

Colorado’s star forensic scientist, Yvonne “Missy” Woods, EXPOSED for alleged data fraud – those she sent to prison now want their convictions reexamined

One of the largest scandals in forensic DNA testing is unfolding in Colorado where a veteran forensic scientist abruptly quit her post last fall amid allegations that her data compilation methods are fraudulent.

Yvonne “Missy” Woods worked as Colorado’s star forensic scientist for nearly three decades supplying police and prosecutors with DNA testing data in some of the most high-profile and baffling crimes in the state’s history – that is, until she resigned in late 2023.

An internal review into Woods’ work revealed anomalies so severe that a criminal probe was launched. What many are now wondering is: Is Colorado’s criminal justice system legitimate?

In order to answer that question, the state says it needs to review and retest about 3,000 DNA samples that Woods handled. The end result could be thousands of cases thought to have been solved having to be looked at a second time, public defenders warn.

Those convicted based on Woods’ potentially corrupted DNA findings could end up suing the state, and prosecutors are now bracing for this onslaught. The state has also allocated nearly $7.5 million in preparation for these possible retrials and case reviews, along with retesting.

“This is a huge, unprecedented mess,” said George Brauchler, a former district attorney in the Denver suburbs whose office oversaw numerous cases in which Woods testified. “I want to know: What in the world did she do?”

Keep reading

Maryland Supreme Court Limits Testimony on Bullet-Matching Evidence

The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that firearms experts will no longer be able to testify that a bullet was fired from a particular gun. The decision is likely the first by a state supreme court to undercut the widespread forensic discipline of firearms identification, which is used in criminal cases across the country.

In a 4–3 decision first reported by The Baltimore Sun, the Maryland Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of Kobina Ebo Abruquah after finding that a firearm expert’s trial testimony linking Abruquah’s gun to bullets found at a crime scene wasn’t backed up by reliable science. In the majority opinion, Maryland Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader wrote that “firearms identification has not been shown to reach reliable results linking a particular unknown bullet to a particular known firearm.”

The ruling is a major victory for defense groups like the Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions and limit what it calls faulty forensic science in courtrooms. It’s also not the only one: Radley Balko recently reported at The Watch on a similar ruling from a Cook County circuit judge in Illinois.

But Tuesday’s ruling is the first by a state supreme court limiting such testimony that Tania Brief, a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project, which filed an amicus brief in the case, is aware of.

“One of the tensions in our work is that the law is always playing catch-up with the current scientific understanding,” Brief says. “And this is a real step forward in the law catching up with what the current scientific understanding is.”

Forensic firearms identification includes well-established uses such as determining caliber and other general characteristics, but examiners are also frequently called on to testify whether a particular bullet was fired from a particular gun. A gun’s firing pin and the grooves on the inside of a gun barrel leave marks on cartridge casings when a bullet is fired, so a firearm examiner compares crime scene bullets to samples fired from the suspect gun and looks for matching patterns under a microscope.

Keep reading