Wednesday, November 11, 2009

New Search for Bonnie Cale

To update my note of June 19 2008, a new search is on for evidence in the disappearance of Bonnie Lueann Cale who went missing in March of 2002. This week's online edition of The Parsons Advocate has the story. http://www.parsonsadvocate.com/breakingnews2.html

Friday, November 6, 2009

Motion for DNA Testing Granted

The student attorneys and their professor of the Clinical Law Program at West Virginia University have successfully argued the case before Judge Phil Jordan, Circuit Judge 21st Judicial Circuit, Tucker County for DNA testing on physical evidence in this case.

Judge Jordan made his ruling on 4 Nov 2009. The WV State Crime Lab is ordered to conduct the necessary testing and provide the results to the Court within 120 days.


Monday, October 19, 2009

"Justice is a restaurant without a kitchen"

from an anonymous posting on a popular forum

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Strengthening Forensic Science in The United States: A Path Forward

The National Academy of Sciences has just released a prepublication pdf of -
Strengthening Forensic Science in The United States: A Path Forward

This important work has resulted from the collaboration of scholars from multiple disciplines leading to 13 recommendations for the improvement of forensic science in the US.
It is available from The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. www.nap.edu

Saturday, January 24, 2009

January 24

Today would have been Timmy Roberts 44th birthday. That's 27 years of life lost. May he rest in peace.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Contact Page in WebSite

The contact page in my website - http://www.mmstoddart.com/ has not been working for some time but has just now come to my attention. My apologies. Anyone wishing to send me a message please do so via this blog or my email margaret@nativefusion.com
Sorry for the trouble.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Homicide?

How can a man be convicted of homicide when no homicide was proven?
The medical examiner failed to prove that a homicide occurred.
The medical examiner misunderstood wound ballistics. He wrote on the autopsy report that the manner of death was homicide without scientific evidence. The medical examiner misapplied a ballistics test and ruled on a manner of death in the absence of scientific fact and contrary to scientific knowledge… with disastrous results.

Does this matter today? Should we care? Is there any benefit to be gained from correcting that error now? How many lives would it affect? Is that even a gauge we should use when deciding if it is worth fixing?

We are not talking about expensive forensic testing. Just a common sense look at known facts of wound ballistics available to anyone who cares to do a little internet research and … SHAZAM!! there it is. Proof of error. Not just a small error. An error that cost a man his freedom for life. His family’s honor. The victim’s family’s peace of mind. And on and on and on.

Now what?

Should the forensic science community be concerned with upholding its integrity? Should the justice community be concerned with repairing the errors it committed while trusting the forensic community?

Should the people, when made aware of this error, expect it to be corrected?