QUESTION
Does the NYPD lab still conduct bite mark analysis testing?
1:31:49
·
94 sec
The inquiry made by Speaker 10 about whether the NYPD lab still conducts bite mark analysis testing was addressed by Speaker 11. Speaker 11 confirmed that their lab does not conduct such testing anymore, stating that it's a function of the chief medical examiner, and that a medical doctor or a forensic odontologist would review a bite mark. Following this, Speaker 10 expressed concerns regarding the use of forensic sciences in criminal defense and its implications on wrongful convictions, emphasizing the need for NYPD to be responsible in its approach toward scientific evidence in court.
Tiffany Cabán
1:31:49
Does your lab stone, I'm jumping around a little bit, but does your lab still do bite mark analysis testing?
Neil Fenton
1:31:58
No.
1:31:58
We do not.
1:31:59
No.
1:31:59
No.
1:31:59
No.
1:31:59
No.
1:32:00
1, the that's the function of the chief medical examiner.
1:32:02
Medical doctor would review a bite mark, a forensic odontologist.
Tiffany Cabán
1:32:07
Okay.
1:32:07
I just want to conclude by saying and providing for the record that You all also testified in response to one of my colleagues' questions about DNA evidence and how the science is excellent.
1:32:20
Another frustration I've had as a litigator, as a criminal defense attorney, is that the scientific community is ignored.
1:32:28
Over and over and over again when it comes to scientific evidence or forensic evidence that is admitted in court.
1:32:33
They weigh in.
1:32:34
It gets ignored.
1:32:34
And as a matter of science, at least half of all wrongful convictions that relied on DNA testing are attributable to the misuse of Forensic Sciences during the investigation and the the trial.
1:32:48
By mercury analysis, which I'm glad isn't being used before, but even the way that latent prints are being used, a lot of it is junk science.
1:32:57
It's accepted as valid evidence in criminal cases allowing experts to come in but it isn't accepted by the larger scientific community.
1:33:06
And so I think that's something that the NYPD needs to be much more responsible around before taking in that information, giving it to the DAs, and then selling it in a courtroom to a jury as though it is the gold standard when it absolutely is not.
Neil Fenton
1:33:20
Is that a question or just a statement?
1:33:23
Okay.