This week a workshop proposal was accepted by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) for the 2013 AAFS Annual Scientific Meeting to be held on February 18. My presentation is “Melendez-Diaz, Bullcoming, and Williams: Scientific Evidence and the Right to Confrontation.” Science is great. Scientific evidence has lead to the exoneration of many innocent…
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The McShane Firm Petitions The Supreme Court of The United States in the Case of Tyshaunt Love
Recently, Attorney Justin McShane of The McShane Firm filed a petition to The Supreme Court of The United States on behalf of his client Tyshaunt Love in his homicide case. Here is some of the factual background to this case: On Friday, December 20, 1996, police officers discovered the body of Iris Fennell, who was…
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Backlogs at Crime Labs Undermine Justice
The McShane Firm recently was recently in the news because of our successful litigation strategy in the case of T.G. T.G., of Harrisburg, was being held for his alleged involvement in an assault on a police officer. However, when DNA tests on a key piece of evidence came back negative, T.G.’s bond was lowered and…
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C&EN Quotes Attorney McShane
Recently, Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) interviewed me for a feature they were doing on Annie Dookhan: Chemist Charged In Crime Lab Scandal Police arrested a Massachusetts forensic chemist on Sept. 28. Annie Dookhan allegedly tampered with drug evidence in criminal cases, forged colleagues’ signatures, and faked her academic credentials while working at a state…
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Cop Punches Woman in the Face
Recently, an extremely terrifying event took place in Philadelphia. On Sept. 30, during the city’s Puerto Rican Day celebrations, a police officer brutality punched an innocent woman in the face. The video was uploaded to Youtube: This type of incident lead to a lot of questions. How frequently do incidents like this occur? This incident…
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If you are arrested for a DUI in Harrisburg, make the right choice
Being arrested for a DUI can be very confusing— even scary. For many people it is their first “run-in” with the law and they really don’t know where to start. The worst part is, mistakes early on in your case can seal your fate and lead to an unnecessary conviction. This is why it is…
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The Truth About Portable Breath Tests
I have written about breath testing numerous times on this blog and have shown how they are error prone, inaccurate, and non-specific to ethanol. In short, they are ridiculous. These are the problems that plague the more advanced, state authorized, stationary, breath testing machines. So what about the portable versions? The technology is even worse. …
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North Huntingdon Rejects DUI Checkpoints
A few years ago, back when DUI checkpoints were “in,” nobody really questioned their effectiveness or the fiscal concerns that go along with them. Recently, however, people have begun to realize that DUI checkpoints/roadblocks are an overly expensive, ineffective and an overt affront on our privacy. North Huntingdon has decided to do away with DUI…
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Annie Dookhan: The Personification of Everything that is Wrong with Cirme Labs
For those readers who don’t know who Annie Dookhan is, here is the rundown. Recently, The Boston Globe uncovered that Dookhan, who was working at a Massachusetts state drug testing lab compromised evidence in many, many cases. She lied. She forged signatures. She contaminated evidence on purpose. She dry-labbed, meaning she would simply look at…
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Pennsylvania Law Update: Stiffer Penalties for Fatal Hit and Runs
This month, a new law went into effect which enhances the penalties for fatal hit-and-run violations. The new law increased the maximum sentence for a fatal hit-and-run to 10 years from seven. The mandatory minimum sentence remains at one year in prison. The offense gravity score, prior record score calculation, and the nature of the…
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