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In The News

2019-11-05 | Contamination of Homes with Methamphetamine: IsWipe Sampling Adequate to Determine Risk?
Contamination of domestic dwellings from methamphetamine cooking or smoking is an increasing public health problem in many countries. To evaluate the extent of contamination,sampling generally focusses on the collection of surface wipe samples from walls and other surfaces of a potentially contaminated home. Here, we report the contamination levels of many household materials and items sampled from a home that was suspected to be the premises used to cook methamphetamine, it was then sold, lived in for several years by the new owners and then left unattended for several more years. Although the time since the cooking had taken place was significant (over five years), the levels of contamination were extremely high in both household items that were part of the house when cooking was taking place (blinds, carpets, walls, etc.) and also in articles brought to the house post-cooking (rugs, toys, beds, etc.)

2019-10-18 | Did Tennessee execute the wrong man for a horrific 1980s murder? Alcoholic who confessed but then recanted before his 2006 death may have been INNOCENT as cops suspect an ex-pastor arrested last year
A new suspect in the the brutal murder of a young female marine more than 30 years ago has been identified by authorities after another man was already executed for the slaying. Sedley Alley was put to death by the state of Tennessee 15 years ago for the 1985 murder of Suzanne Marie Collins, a 19-year-old Marine who left her barracks for a jog and never returned.

2019-10-17 | The physics of blood spatter
Joe Bryan, once a popular and respected high-school principal in a small Texas town, has been in prison for over 30?years. He is serving a 99-year sentence for the shooting and murder of his wife in 1985. The evidence incriminating him involved spots of the victim’s blood found on a hand-held torch. A witness, who was rated as expert in the forensic technique of blood pattern analysis (BPA), interpreted these spots as placing Bryan near his wife when she was shot – a testimony that was at the forefront of Bryan’s conviction. It overrode countervailing evidence that he was in fact at a conference 120?miles away – an alibi that made it nearly impossible for him to have shot his wife, as he would have had to leave the event, travel home, commit murder and return to the conference within a specific time frame. Bryan maintains his innocence to this day.

2019-10-13 | Justice delayed: Info requests reveal DPS crime lab backlog exceeds 2,500 cases
The Texas Department of Public Safety recognizes that its crime lab system across the state has been unable to meet the demands of the criminal justice community. DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said as much in a Sept. 26 letter to state Rep. Terry Canales, of Edinburg. Canales chairs the House of Representatives Transportation Committee, which helps decide how DPS is funded. McCraw was responding to a letter Canales penned that was prompted by a story in The Monitor, which highlighted the chronic backlog of DNA testing at the Weslaco crime lab. That backlog has resulted in serious criminal cases dragging on for years as well as speedy trial violations. “Defendants are frequently and unnecessarily spending years in jail waiting for forensic evidence to be processed so that they can have their day in court,” Canales wrote. “This gross reality threatens the very essence of our legal system and the fabric of our democracy, and it devalues the credibility of the state’s governing bodies and law enforcement agency.”

2019-10-01 | The Messy Consequences of the Golden State Killer Case
The immediate cause of the fracture was a series of decisions by GEDmatch, the genealogy site best known for helping ID the suspected Golden State Killer. GEDmatch does not offer DNA tests itself, but it allows anyone to upload results from companies such as 23andMe or Ancestry or, as it turns out, forensic labs. At one point, the site secretly allowed police to upload DNA from the scene of a violent assault—following a personal appeal from the detective to one of GEDmatch’s co-founders.

2019-10-01 | Integrated Laser Sensor (ILS) for Remote SurfaceAnalysis: Application for Detecting Explosivesin Fingerprints
Here, we describe an innovative Integrated Laser Sensor (ILS) that combines four spectroscopic techniques and two vision systems into a unique, transportable device. The instrument performs Raman and Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy excited at 355 nm and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) excited at 1064 nm, and it also detects Laser Scattering(LS) from the target under illumination at 650 nm. The combination of these techniques supplies information about: material change from one scanning point to another, the presence of surface contaminants, the molecular and elemental composition of top target layers. Switching between the spectroscopic techniques and the laser wavelengths is fully automatic.

2019-09-24 | 3-D printed ‘ghost guns’ pose new challenges for crime-scene investigators
Although not perfect, ballistics evidence helps police pull suspects off the streets. NIBIN has yielded over 110,000 matches since it was launched in 1999. But a new type of gun — made of plastic using 3-D printers — may bring new challenges for forensics experts.

2019-09-18 | NEW FORENSICS METHOD WORKS ‘BACKWARD’ TO DNA
DNA evidence has revolutionized forensic science in the past few years, cracking open cold cases and bringing both convictions and exonerations. The same techniques help archaeologists and anthropologists studying remains from ancient peoples or human ancestors. But DNA is a relatively fragile molecule that breaks down easily. That’s where proteomics comes in. By reading the sequence of amino acids from fragments of protein, scientists can work backwards to infer the sequence of DNA that produced the protein.

2019-09-17 | A Safer Way for Police to Test Drug Evidence
Scientists have demonstrated a way for police to quickly and safely test whether a baggie or other package contains illegal drugs without having to handle any suspicious contents directly. The new technique can limit the risk of accidental exposure to fentanyl and other highly potent drugs that can be dangerous if a small amount is accidentally inhaled.

2019-09-15 | Cannabis use as a risk factor for causing motor vehicle crashes: a prospective study
Findings We obtained toxicology results on 3005 injured drivers and police reports on 2318. Alcohol was detected in 14.4% of drivers, THC in 8.3%, other drugs in 8.9% and sedating medications in 19.8%. There was no increased risk of crash responsibility in drivers with THC<2 ng/ml or 2?THC<5 ng/ml. In drivers with THC?5ng/ml,the adjusted OR was 1.74 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.59–6.36;P= 0.35]. There was significantly increased risk of crash responsibility in drivers with blood alcohol concentration (BAC)?0.08% (OR = 6.00;95% CI = 3.87–9.75;P<0.01), other recreational drugs detected (OR = 1.82;95% CI = 1.21–2.80;P<0.01) or sedating medications detected (OR = 1.45;95%CI = 1.11–1.91;P<0.01).Conclusions In this sample of non-fatally injured motor vehicle drivers in British Columbia, Canada, there was no evidence of increased crash risk in drivers with?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol<5ng/ml and a statistically non-significant increased risk of crash responsibility (odds ratio = 1.74) in drivers with?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol?5ng/ml.