Under the Microscope 2023 – Allison Lewis
There are many reasons the voice of the defense does not get considered during testing, hypothesis building, comparison and reporting of DNA evidence. It could be because testing is completed and consumed before counsel is assigned or any arrest made. It could be a defense request is made but the lab does not agree to […]
Using DNA to Help Exonerate the Innocent
With the rate of wrongful convictions being estimated between 2% and 6%, there are thousands of innocent people currently incarcerated in the United States. Over the years, multiple Innocence Project organizations have been founded to help exonerate the innocent, provide legal counsel, and to advocate for needed reforms within the justice system. Mike Ware […]
Under the Microscope – Meradeth Houston Snow
The intersection between identifying human remains that may be of Native American ancestry, and genetic testing, is one that is fraught with misunderstandings and cultural insensitivities. As the numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous persons (MMIP) continues to rise, the ability to bridge the world of forensic identification and cultural respect is becoming one that […]
Under the Microscope 2023 – Quentin Gauthier
Quantification of DNA in extracted samples offers key insights for an examiner’s decision on which downstream analysis to conduct. If the amount of nuclear DNA in a sample is too low for autosomal STR analysis, there may be the option to amplify the mitochondrial DNA present in the sample. Currently, however, these quantifications are achieved in […]
Under the Microscope 2023 – Colleen Fitzpatrick
Forensic Genetic Genealogy was recently introduced into court as an investigative lead in the trial of Patrick Leon Nicholas for the 1991 murder of high school senior Sarah Yarborough in Federal Way, WA as a way to address privacy concerns that the defense raised related to the state constitution. This landmark case has brought to the […]
Identification of War Victims in Ukraine Using an Innovative Mobile DNA Lab
On February 24th 2022, Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation, launched a special military operation leading to the invasion of Ukraine in the direction of the capital, Kiev. At the end of February, Russian forces took the city of Bucha located in the suburbs of Kiev and occupied the field for a month. […]
The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 as Told from Survivors and Descendants
Kavin Ross, Chairman of the Mass Graves Investigation Public Oversight Committee in Tulsa, Oklahoma, discusses the work that’s being done to locate and identify victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 when a white mob set the then-prosperous all-black community of Greenwood on fire. All told, all 35 city blocks were burned, including more […]
The Tulsa Race Massacre and Red Summer of 1919 with DeNeen Brown
In this interview, we meet DeNeen L. Brown, a reporter at The Washington Post. After her story on the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 was published on the front page of The Washington Post in 2018, the mayor of Tulsa announced the city would reopen an investigation into the search for mass graves that may […]
The Almost Perfect 7 Million Dollar Robbery
In September 2018, an elderly, wealthy local businessman was kidnapped early one morning by a group of masked assailants outside one of his stores. The attackers beat him, tied him up, put him in his own car, and drove to his house without asking for directions. The attackers knew personal details about him and his […]
