Science Thursday

A Missouri lab investigates a former forensic examiner for failure to conduct tests before submitting results and the Army crime lab discovers evidence missing. Here’s a roundup of this week’s forensics news:

 

A

forensic examiner at a Missouri lab resigned

after it was discovered that she was submitting marijuana lab reports when she had not conducted the test.   St. Louis County police plan to conduct an independent audit to review the employee’s work.

 

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, which is currently under multiple internal investigations, must now deal with

missing evidence in cases under investigation

.  At issue is the fact that lab examiners knew evidence was missing but did not report it within a reasonable amount of time.

 

A Wyoming man claims that a judge’s interference with computer forensic evidence in a case caused his

wrongful conviction on child pornography charges

.

 

The California Supreme Court reviewed a

San Francisco appellate court’s decision to strike down

a law approved by voters that expands the ability of law enforcement to obtain DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony in California.

 

Texas State University

dedicated a new Osteological Research and Processing Laboratory

(ORPL) to be operated as part of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State (FACTS).  The ORPL will support the university’s research into human decomposition.