Fabricating Fake DNA, Defending the Accused in the New World
By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Billy Sinclair, Paralegal
We have blogged on several occasions in the recent past about the fallibility of forensic evidence, sharing the opinion of others that more often than not it’s “junk science.” However, DNA evidence has generally remained insulated from the ever increasing scientific indictment of forensic evidence in general. Not any more. The New York Times recently reported (August 18, 2009) about a paper published online by the journal Forensic Science Internal: Genetics. Citing this authoritative paper, the Times reported that scientists in Israel have established that it is now possible to fabricate DNA evidence, “undermining the credibility of what has been the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.”
Times reporter Andrew Pollack wrote that “the scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.”
That’s scary Orwellian kind of stuff. The Harris County criminal justice system has suffered through nearly a decade of revelations about how the Houston City Police Department’s Crime Lab routinely fabricated forensic evidence to secure convictions and long term sentences in sexual assault and capital murder cases. DNA evidence was the “silver bullet” that frequently came to the rescue in these cases and resulted in the exoneration of innocent individuals framed by the Harris County District Attorney’s office and the Houston crime lab. There have been at least six such cases, and defense attorneys say there are probably hundreds more in the Texas prison system.
We know the Government not only lies but routinely suborns perjury on a regular basis, especially in terrorism, narcotics and organized crime cases. Defense attorneys must now face the very real prospect that in high profile criminal cases, such as those involving “terrorism” and national security, the Government could literally manufacture a crime scene with the fabricated DNA evidence to convict suspected “home-grown” terrorists, drug cartel kingpins, and Mafia bosses. This is not just idle speculation by a criminal defense attorney with a vested interest. (more…)
Subscribe
