Senate Judiciary Committee Demands DOJ Cases Using Discredited Bullet-Matching Test

Source: Washington Post

By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded that the Justice Department turn over to Congress all cases involving the FBI lab's use of a now-discredited bullet-matching forensic test and criticized the department for failing to alert defendants whose convictions were affected by the flawed science.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told Attorney General Michael Mukasey he should be prepared to face questions at an oversight hearing in January about problems with the science known as comparative bullet-lead analysis that were documented in a joint investigation by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes.

"The new revelations about bullet-lead analysis are just the latest examples of the Department's inadequate efforts to ensure that sound forensic testing is utilized to the maximum extent to find the guilty rather than merely obtain a conviction. Punishing the innocent is wrong and allows the guilty party to remain free," Leahy wrote.

The science, dating from the mid-1960s, used chemical analysis of lead to match crime scene bullets to those in a gun or ammunition box owned by suspects. The FBI in 2005 dropped the technique because of concerns about its reliability.

The Post and 60 Minutes reported Sunday that after ending the tests the FBI never alerted defendants who were convicted with the help of the science -- even though the bureau knew that its experts in many cases had given inaccurate testimony or made statistically flawed matches. Instead, the bureau sent letters across the country stating the FBI remained confident in the test's scientific underpinnings....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/21/AR2007112101768.html?hpid=topnews

Leahy just ruined a bunch of Thanksgiving gatherings.

And, for others, new hope.

1997 Congressional Hearings - Intelligence and Security

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Mr. Chairman and Other Distinguished Members of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime:

Thank you for affording me this opportunity to speak on behalf of my client, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), a non-profit, non-partisan, professional bar association with 9,000 direct members, and 78 state and local affiliates with another 25,000 members, including private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, judges and law professors committed to preserving fairness within America's criminal justice system.

We commend you, Mr. Chairman, for convening these important oversight hearings into the recent revelations by the report of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) into the liberty-threatening misconduct and mishaps of the forensic laboratory of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI Laboratory: An Investigation into Laboratory Practices and Alleged Misconduct in Explosives-Related and Other Cases (DOJ April 1997) ("Lab Report"). We speak from a non-governmental perspective about the importance of restoring integrity to, and citizen confidence in the FBI lab.

...

Paul Craig Roberts, "Whatever Happened to Justice?," Washington Times, May 7, 1997, at A13, wherein he observes: "Getting convictions has become more important than getting the right person. A recent 517-page report by the inspector general of the Justice Department shows what has happened. * * * he report concludes that the FBI's explosives expert and key witness in the World Trade Center trial 'worked backward.' Instead of objectively examining the evidence, the agent 'first determined the result he wanted and then tailored his testimony to reach that result.' The inspector general is 'deeply troubled that his testimony on direct examination may have misled the court.'" In the Oklahoma City case, the report concludes that the FBI 'repeatedly reached conclusions that incriminated the defendants without a scientific basis.' When the FBI ceases to give suspects the benefit of the doubt and, instead, tailors evidence to obtain their conviction, justice is dead."