Wayne Williams Fiber Evidence Case Study

The body of this paper will examine the case of Pamela Foddrill and compare what happened in that real criminal investigation to the theory of criminal investigation discussed in our course textbook, Criminal Investigation: The Art and the Science. I will first examine the forensics evidence and

There is indeed a crisis to a certain extent in the use of forensic science in the prosecution of individuals in criminal cases; this is because some judges and juries over value the objectivity of forensics, without evaluating the timeline and crime scene as a whole. This was particularly evident in the 1995 case of Mallard. In this case Andrew Mallard was convicted for the 1994 murder of Mrs Laurence, a jewellery shop owner in Perth. Mallard is now considered innocent of the murder; however this innocence was only obtained through two appeals. In the second appeal of Mallards, forensic evidence was put forward, but it is alleged that it had not been properly disclosed to the legal team of Mr Mallard when the trial commenced. Thus one of the

In this position paper I have chosen Bloodsworth v. State ~ 76 Md.App. 23, 543 A.2d 382 case to discuss on whether or not the forensic evidence that was submitted for this case should have been admissible or not. To understand whether or not the evidence should be admissible or not we first have to know what the case is about.

While investigations were going on to determine how victims died, there was a discovery of fibers on the victims’ bodies. The goal of the investigator was to determine if any fibers in Wayne Williams home or person matched those fibers found on the victims. Williams denied killing

Now a day’s evidence can change a person’s life in the blink of an eye. “People were often punished for crimes based on the word of one or two individuals, with little concern given to sorting out the truth of the affair” (Hunter 12). But today a person must be tried and some physical evidence is needed in order for a person to be convicted of a crime.

The city of Atlanta had experienced over a two year period from 1979-1981 of egregious acts of murders committed on more than twenty African American adolescent males. However, Wayne Williams, a native of Atlanta, was the center of law enforcement investigation, which implicated his involvement in at least two of the children murders around that time. Nonetheless, law enforcement linked Wayne Williams to those murders because of detailed evidence found on the victims, which was later discovered that evidence was from Williams apartment (Curriden, 1992). Furthermore, the evidence which was found was a unique fiber from the carpet of Williams apartment and the number of people having this fiber was very small in number (Curriden, 1992)). The fiber evidence was the main part of the case to associate Williams with

The expert testimony in the Wayne Williams case was vital in explaining the evidence to the jury (Imwinkelried, 1983). It is reasonable to concede that jurors have no prior knowledge of forensic science. Additionally, jurors will most likely have no prior knowledge of the different variations, color spectrums, moreover the uniqueness of various items presented as evidence in this case. As a prosecutor, it would important to include the testimony of fiber experts with extensive knowledge of the article presented. This expert would be able to articulate to the jury the unique qualities as well as characteristics of the fibers.

In the case of Lobato v. the State of Nevada, it is hard to see how someone could be convicted with evidence that does not make very much sense at all. My groups responsibility was to cover the prosecution side and five pieces of evidence of the case using the information from the news article by Joshua Longobardy titled, “Kirsten Blaise Lobato is accused in a gruesome slaying. Did she do it?”. Upon the detective arriving to the scene of the crime, they removed the debris that covered the body from complete view. This debris included a full sheet of cardboard with a bloody footprint on it and a clear plastic bag wrapped around the groin region. Once this was removed it was discovered that the penis had been sliced off from the base, as well as six of his teeth were found near his body. After several days they were able to identify the man as Duran Bailey, a 44-year-old black male. Another piece of evidence recovered at first with Baileys personal belongings was a piece of chewed gum. When the detectives called Lobato in for questioning, she gave them a statement of how she pulled a knife on a man who tried to attack her. This statement however was for a completely different altercation than what the police were questioning for. Other evidence that came into question were the tire impressions near the entrance of the enclosure, fingerprints lifted from the dumpster, and a foreign piece of hair on Baileys groin region. The argument being made from

Circumstantial evidence is probably one of the biggest ethical concerns when people are being convicted of crimes. Circumstantial evidence is: “Evidence not bearing directly on the fact in dispute but on various attendant circumstances from which the judge or jury might infer the occurrence of the fact in dispute”. (Dictionay.com, 2010). Many

The case of Kusmider v. State, 688 P.2d 957 (Alaska App. 1984), was a state appeal’s court case that addressed the chain of causation for a murder, which had occurred, and the actions of the trial court judge (Brody & Acker, 2010). In this case, the appellant, Kusmider, appealed his conviction for second degree murder, based on the fact that the trial judge did not let him introduce evidence, which may have shown that the victim may have survived his wounds, if not for the actions of the paramedics.

I. Before the 1980’s, courts relied on testimony and eyewitness accounts as a main source of evidence. Notoriously unreliable, these techniques have since faded away to the stunning reliability of DNA forensics.

The Garry Veeder case is one of many aspects. Garry Veeder was a 58-year-old forensic scientist who worked as a trace evidence technician for the New York State Police for over 34 years. In his job as a trace evidence technician, he examined things such as hairs, fibers, glass and other evidence collected during forensic investigations. Veeder worked in this position until late 2008 when he committed suicide after being investigated for falsifying data in many criminal cases he investigated. Investigators reported that Veeder “routinely failed to conduct a required test when examining fiber evidence, then falsely indicated in case records that he had performed the test. (Fisch p.6)” Veeders misconduct went unnoticed for many years because of the lack of supervision at the Investigation Center in which he was employed. As soon as Veeder became a target for investigation, the whole investigation center’s reputation began to spiral downhill. Forty-four district attorneys reviewed the criminal cases that Veeder investigated as a forensic evidence technician.

Forensic evidence has been shown to be reliable due to many factors of evidence such as DNA, blood, fingerprints, etc.; however, many cases have shown that

Forensic science is defined as the practice of utilizing scientific methodologies to clarify judicial inquiries. The field of forensic science contains a broad range of disciplines and has become a vital aspect of criminal investigations. Some forensic disciplines are laboratory-based; while others are based on an analyst’s interpretation of observable patterns (Kourtsounis, 2009). According to the Innocence project’s website; in greater than fifty percent of wrongful convictions, the use of invalidated or improper forensic techniques played a role in cases; which were later

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze the practices conducted by law enforcement during the investigation of the murder of Ashley Smith. The following pages will discuss the crime scene investigation, the evidence collection, the investigative steps following the initial crime scene investigation, the interviews of witnesses and suspects, and other strategies performed by the acting case investigators. Constitutional challenges have surfaced regarding specific pieces of critical evidence and a section of this paper will analyze the admissibility of this evidence. Lastly this case’s law enforcement processes will be contrasted with textbook processes in an effort to determine the validity of the case’s outcome.