What happens when a forensic examination does not merely reveal evidence, but may help create it?

In this episode of The Forensic Lens Podcast, I examine the case of Jimmie “Chris” Duncan, who spent 27 years on death row after bite-mark evidence was used to link him to the death of a child. Years later, video footage showed forensic dentist Michael West pressing and scraping a dental mold against the victim’s skin during the postmortem examination—raising the possibility that the procedure altered existing injuries or produced the very marks later presented in court.

The episode explores the crucial difference between developing evidence and inventing it, the weak scientific foundations of bite-mark identification, and the wrongful convictions of Keith Allen Harward and Robert Lee Stinson. Forensic experts are entrusted with extraordinary authority, but that authority must rest on validated methods, transparent documentation, and evidence that existed before the examiner touched it.

When forensic evidence is altered, manufactured, or interpreted through unreliable methods, the consequences do not end with a flawed report. They can take away decades of an innocent person’s life.

📖 Read the full article on Agham Road.

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