FBI To Examine 27 Death Penalty Cases For Potentially Inaccurate Testimony

A Federal Bureau of Investigation review of more than 21,000 cas­es has revealed 27 death penal­ty cas­es in which the FBI’s foren­sic experts may have exag­ger­at­ed the sci­en­tif­ic con­clu­sions that could be drawn from their tes­ti­mo­ny, mis­tak­en­ly link­ing defen­dants to crimes they may not have com­mit­ted. It is pos­si­ble that some of these cas­es involve inmates who have already been exe­cut­ed. Under par­tic­u­lar scruti­ny is tes­ti­mo­ny regard­ing hair evi­dence. Although FBI lab­o­ra­to­ry reports have long stat­ed that pos­i­tive iden­ti­fi­ca­tions could not be made through hair asso­ci­a­tion, sev­er­al agents tes­ti­fied that dif­fer­ent hairs could be iden­ti­fied as com­ing from the same per­son with near cer­tain­ty. The FBI is work­ing with the Department of Justice, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to iden­ti­fy trou­ble­some cas­es, and has agreed to noti­fy both pros­e­cu­tors and defen­dants if they find that agents made mis­takes in tes­ti­mo­ny or reports. The Department of Justice will also waive dead­lines and oth­er rules that restrict appeals and test DNA evi­dence if request­ed by a judge or pros­e­cu­tor. Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, called the review a ​“major step for­ward to improve the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem and the rig­or of foren­sic sci­ence in the United States.” The review is still in its ear­ly stages, but has already led to a stay of exe­cu­tion for Willie Manning (pic­tured) in Mississippi. In Manning’s tri­al, an FBI agent had tes­ti­fied that a hair from the crime scene belonged to Manning. The FBI lat­er admit­ted that the tes­ti­mo­ny ​“exceed­ed the lim­its of the sci­ence,” and a stay of exe­cu­tion was granted.

The prob­lem is larg­er than just cas­es where FBI experts tes­tifed. The FBI has offered train­ing to state foren­sic labs that may have led to oth­er mis­in­for­ma­tion. Some state labs are review­ing cas­es involv­ing hair evi­dence. The Texas Forensic Science Commission direct­ed all labs under its juris­dic­tion to review such cases.

(S. Hsu, ​“U.S. review­ing 27 death penal­ty con­vic­tions for FBI foren­sic tes­ti­mo­ny errors,” Washington Post, July 17, 2013.) Read the Innocence Project’s Press Release about the FBI announce­ment. See Innocence and Arbitrariness. One hun­dred and forty-two (142) peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row since 1973.