Defense Lawyers Need to Challenge Questionable Expert Testimony and Conclusions
By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair
In October 2010 we posted piece titled “Dog Witnesses Kicked Out of the Courtroom” concerning a capital murder case in San Jacinto County. The accused, all members of the same family—Richard Lynn Winfrey Sr. and his son, Richard Jr., and daughter, Megan—were arrested in 2006 for the brutal murder of Murray Wayne Burr, a longtime custodial worker at the high school attended by the Winfrey siblings. Local law enforcement officials considered Winfrey and his two children as “persons of interests” shortly after Burr was murdered in his home, even though DNA evidence found at scene excluded the Winfreys. The proverbial “break in the case” came in 2006 when Richard Sr., who was housed in the Montgomery County jail, told another inmate David Campbell that “some kind of gun and some kind of knife collection” had been taken from Burr’s home, as well as other details about the murder, including the victim’s body being dragged from one room to another. Campbell repeated this information to the authorities.
This new information spurred San Jacinto County investigators into action. Not deterred by the fact that the DNA evidence excluded the Winfreys, the police turned to what they believed was infallible science—the nose of specially trained dogs. They called in a renowned law enforcement bloodhound “expert” named Keith Pickett to conduct what is called a “dog scent lineup.” The lineup was conducted in 2007 at which time Pickett used three of his hounds: Quincy, James Bond, and Clue. Investigators provided Pickett with a scent sample from clothing worn by the victim on the night he was murdered and scent samples from six white males, including Richard Sr. All three dogs were “pre-scented” with the scent from the victim’s clothing. The dogs were then paraded past six paint cans containing the scent samples of the six white males. All three dogs “alerted” on the paint can containing Richard Sr.’s scent sample and later “alerted” on Richard Jr. and Megan’s scent sample as well. All three were tried and convicted of murder.
In 2009 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in Winfrey v. State, threw out Richard Sr.’s conviction, saying the dog “scent” identification was insufficient evidence upon which to base a criminal conviction. The Texas Tribune reported on December 4, 2011 that Richard Jr.’s conviction has also been thrown out. Both men have been released from prison. And the Court of Criminal Appeals will soon decide Megan’s fate, most likely with the same result reached in other two Winfrey cases. She is now into her third year of a life sentence.
On December 15, 2011 the Texas Tribune also reported that the Court of Criminal Appeals had remanded two death penalty cases (Steven Butler and John Matamoros) back to the trial courts for review of the evidence used to determine they were “intellectually competent” to stand trial.
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