FBI and Dept. of Justice on Microscopic Hair Analysis Cases

[J. Raymond Carroll]

This looks like a sequel to the bullet lead fiasco, in which the courts ruled that bullet lead comparisons a la Vincent Guinn are unscientific and inadmissible.

Offhand I can't recall that hair analysis was used to pin the rap on Oz, but the topic looks

interesting, and the Innocence Project is a worthy cause, so I hope its OK to post it here;

(Washington, DC – July 18, 2013) Today the Innocence Project, the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and its partners announced a groundbreaking and historic agreement with the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review more than 2,000 criminal cases in which the FBI conducted microscopic hair analysis of crime scene evidence. The agencies agreed to undertake the review after three men who had served lengthy prison sentences were exonerated by DNA testing in cases in which three different FBI hair examiners provided testimony which exceeded the limits of science and contributed to their wrongful convictions. The review will focus on specific cases in which FBI Laboratory reports and testimony included statements that were scientifically invalid.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Innocence_Project_and_NACDL_Announce_Historic_Partnership_with_the_FBI_and_Department_of_Justice_on_Microscopic_Hair_Analysis_Cases.php

[Thomas H. Purvis]

This looks like a sequel to the bullet lead fiasco, in which the courts ruled that bullet lead comparisons a la Vincent Guinn are unscientific and inadmissible.

Offhand I can't recall that hair analysis was used to pin the rap on Oz, but the topic looks

interesting, and the Innocence Project is a worthy cause, so I hope its OK to post it here;

(Washington, DC – July 18, 2013) Today the Innocence Project, the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and its partners announced a groundbreaking and historic agreement with the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review more than 2,000 criminal cases in which the FBI conducted microscopic hair analysis of crime scene evidence. The agencies agreed to undertake the review after three men who had served lengthy prison sentences were exonerated by DNA testing in cases in which three different FBI hair examiners provided testimony which exceeded the limits of science and contributed to their wrongful convictions. The review will focus on specific cases in which FBI Laboratory reports and testimony included statements that were scientifically invalid.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Innocence_Project_and_NACDL_Announce_Historic_Partnership_with_the_FBI_and_Department_of_Justice_on_Microscopic_Hair_Analysis_Cases.php

FBI Agent Paul Strombaugh, who was declared a "Hair & Fibers" Expert Witness provided the "link" between LHO and the blanket in which the Carcano rifle was reportedly stored in the Payne Garage.

Strombaught later, after retirement, made a livlihood by giving "EXPERT WITNESS" testimonies, yet he had never received training at any educational institute in these subjects. And, his FBI credentials gave him the weight (to juries) to merely make up crime scene scenarios and present them, even though his entire career with the FBI was devoted to being a laboratory technician.

He was known as a "Hoover's Man", who pretty much went along with the flow.

Thankfully, DNA has now gotten rid of those such as Paul Strombaugh.

Tom