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DNA Database of NYC’s Chief Medical Examiner Plagued with Errors
by Douglas Ankney
Darrell Harris was arrested for a home burglary that occurred in December 2018.
A detective from the New York Police Department (“NYPD”) told Harris his DNA had been recovered from a window of the home. Even though the arrest cost Harris his job at …
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More from this issue:
- A Nation on the Brink, by Christopher Zoukis
- Office of Homeland Security Circumventing Warrant Requirement by Buying Cellphone Location Data from Marketing Firm, by Anthony Accurso
- From the Editor, by Richard Resch
- Using Location Surveillance to Fight COVID-19 May Chill Free Speech and Association, by David Reutter
- This Is Not a Revolution. It’s a Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation, by John W. Whitehead
- Fourth Circuit Expands Savings Clause of § 2255(e) to Include Later Retroactivity of New Rule, by Dale Chappell
- Seventh Circuit: Defendant’s Statement Given to Pretrial Services Can’t Be Admitted to Impeach Witness at Trial, by Douglas Ankney
- California Court of Appeal Explains Procedural Requirements for Vacating Felony-Murder Conviction Via Section 1170.95 Petition, by Douglas Ankney
- Police Violence Detrimental to Public Health, by Douglas Ankney
- Congressmen File Amicus Brief Stressing Congressional Intent That First Step Act’s New Drug Laws Apply at Resentencing, by Dale Chappell
- Indiana Supreme Court: Removal of Police’s GPS Tracker on Suspect’s Vehicle Not Probable Cause of Theft, Suppression of Evidence, by Anthony Accurso
- New Hampshire Supreme Court: Police Violated Miranda in Obtaining First Statement, and State Failed to Prove Second Statement Was Voluntary, by Douglas Ankney
- 5-Year Study Shows Police Stop Black Drivers Less Often at Night When ‘Veil of Darkness’ Obscures Race, by Douglas Ankney
- Declassified Court Ruling Details FBI Abuses of Mass Surveillance Data, by Anthony Accurso
- Second Circuit: Three Important Rulings Under First Step Act, by Dale Chappell
- Marijuana Possession in Virginia Remains Illegal But Is Decriminalized, by Douglas Ankney
- Eleventh Circuit Holds Hobbs Act Robbery Doesn’t Trigger Career Offender Enhancement, by Dale Chappell
- Biden Accuser Accused of Inflating Credentials to Qualify as Expert Witness, Calling Convictions into Question, by Derek Gilna
- COVID-19 Creates Opportunity for Big Brother in the Sky, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- Perjurous New York City Cop Sentenced to a Single Day in Jail, by Edward Lyon
- Fourth Circuit: Standalone Rehaif Error Requires Automatic Vacatur of Guilty Plea, by David Reutter
- Nebraska Supreme Court: Multiple Theft Charges for Stealing Items Belonging to Several People at Same Time and Place Violates Double Jeopardy, by Dale Chappell
- Is the Death Penalty Slowly Dying Across the Nation?, by Chad Marks
- Joint State-Federal Task Forces Practice Rogue Justice Under Protection of Qualified Immunity, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- Colorado Supreme Court: Requiring Defense to Disclose Exhibits to Prosecution Before Trial Violates Due Process Rights, by Dale Chappell
- Iowa Supreme Court Orders Dismissal of Charges that State Brought in Breach of Plea Agreement, by Douglas Ankney
- Carpenter Slowly Remaking Fourth Amendment Case Law, by Anthony Accurso
- Justice Office Awards $145 Million in Forensic Science Grants, by Anthony Accurso
- Aggressive NYPD Police Tactics Spreading COVID-19, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- California Federal Court Rejects Plea Agreement’s Waiver of Compassionate Release Provision, by David Reutter
- COVID-19 Causing Some Pretrial Detainees to Spend More Time in Jail, by Douglas Ankney
- California Supreme Court Announces Sentencing Law Changes Apply Until Revocation Sentence Becomes Final, by Anthony Accurso
- NY Court of Appeals: Right to Review Suppression Decision When Decision Relates Solely to a Count Satisfied by Plea but Isn’t Count to Which Defendant Pled, by Douglas Ankney
- Report: Cops Ill-Equipped to Handle Mental Illness Crisis in Hospitals, by Edward Lyon
- Plenty of Practice Prevents Poor Police Performance, by Edward Lyon
- Fifth Circuit Clarifies How ‘Pronouncement Requirement’ Applies to Supervision Conditions, by Douglas Ankney
- First Circuit: Sentence Imposed Under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(c) Is ‘Covered Offense’ Under § 404 of First Step Act, by Douglas Ankney
- Sixth Circuit: Courts May Consider Good Prison Conduct in Sentence Reduction Under First Step Act, by Dale Chappell
- Minnesota Supreme Court: Hotel Guests Have Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Registry Information, by Douglas Ankney
- DNA Database of NYC’s Chief Medical Examiner Plagued with Errors, by Douglas Ankney
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Expired Vehicle Registration Isn’t ‘Breach of the Peace’ Justifying Traffic Stop, by Douglas Ankney
- South Carolina Supreme Court Rejects U.S. Supreme Court’s Shifting of Burden to Defendant to Prove Absence of Exigent Circumstances in DUI Cases, by Douglas Ankney
- Report: Risk Assessment Tools not Effective, Especially When not Used, by Kevin Bliss
- Sixth Circuit: District Court’s Refusal to Reduce Crack Sentence Under First Step Act Requires Justification, by Dale Chappell
- Florida Supreme Court Abandons Circumstantial Evidence Review Standard, by David Reutter
- Courts Oppose Prosecutors’ Attempts to Right Past Wrongs, by Douglas Ankney
- No Trust Between Police and Communities They Patrol, by Kevin Bliss
- North Carolina Supreme Court: Giving Finger to Police Not Disorderly Conduct Justifying Traffic Stop, by Dale Chappell
- COVID-19 May Ring in a New Era of High-Tech Private Policing, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- New Technique Separates Mixed DNA Evidence to Tell Suspects from Victims, by Dale Chappell
- Feds Ramp up Purchase of Riot Gear in Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic, by Douglas Ankney
- Sixth Circuit Vacates Firearms Possession Conviction; Government Showed Jury Unauthenticated Prejudicial Facebook Video Not Admitted as Evidence, by Matthew Clarke
- Army Veteran Serving Life Without Parole for Taking $9, by Douglas Ankney
- News in Brief
More from Douglas Ankney:
- Fifth Circuit Holds Texas Sexual Assault of a Child Statute Sweeps More Broadly Than Federal SORNA Tier Offenses, March 1, 2026
- Delaware Supreme Court Announces Four-Part Plain Error Framework, Aligning Prejudice Standard With Federal Approach Requiring Reasonable Probability of Different Outcome, March 1, 2026
- Acquitted Conduct Sentencing: Not Guilty – But Punished Anyway, March 1, 2026
- Barbaric and Deadly Conditions Continue to Plague Los Angeles County Jails, Feb. 1, 2026
- Killings Inside Mississippi’s Prisons Continue Unabated But Report Prompts DOC to Reopen Investigations, Feb. 1, 2026
- Competency Crisis in Missouri’s Jails, Feb. 1, 2026
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court Announces Trial Courts Must Rigorously Scrutinize Reliability of Expert Testimony in Unrecognized Forensic Fields, Holding Trial Court Erred in Admitting Forensic Podiatry Footprint-Comparison Testimony Without a Demonstrated, Feb. 1, 2026
- Ninth Circuit: Notice of Appeal of Order Denying Qualified Immunity Must Be Filed Within 30 Days of Entry, Feb. 1, 2026
- Illinois Supreme Court Announces Six-Element Jeffries Test Governs Self-Defense Jury Instructions in Cases Involving Force Against Police Officers, Rejecting Appellate Court Approaches That Either Created Separate Threshold Inquiry or Automatically Requir, Feb. 1, 2026
- Supreme Court of Maryland Announces Police Officer’s Observation of Driver Manipulating Cellphone Screen Does Not, Without Additional Facts, Establish Reasonable Suspicion for Traffic Stop Under Fourth Amendment, Feb. 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- The Unintentional Informant: Household Pets as Vectors of Human DNA, March 1, 2026. DNA Testing/Samples, Forensic Sciences, DNA Evidence, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Scientific Testimony or Evidence.
- Zombie Forensics: Discredited Science Stalking the Courtroom, Dec. 15, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, junk science, Forensic Sciences, Opinions and Expert Testimony.
- Minnesota Supreme Court Announces Warrantless Buccal Swab Pursuant to Discovery Order Violates Fourth Amendment, Overrules Inevitable Discovery Precedent, and Clarifies Accomplice-Corroboration Statute Applies Only to Sworn Testimony, Dec. 15, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, Warrantless Searches, Good Faith Exception, Hearsay Evidence/Exceptions, Exclusionary Rule.
- Police AI and “Sycophancy”: New Evidence Tools May Tell Cops Exactly What They Want to Hear, Dec. 15, 2025. junk science, Police State-Surveillance, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Evidence - Failure to Disclose, Exculpatory Evidence - Disclosure Obligations.
- DHS Has Been Quietly Collecting DNA From U.S. Citizens for Years, Funneling It Into FBI’s CODIS Without Oversight, Oct. 15, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, Police State-Surveillance, Privacy Act/Rights, Police/Govt Misconduct, Suspicionless Searches.
- Probabilistic Genotyping on Trial: Can We Trust the Secret Algorithms Deciding Guilt?, Aug. 1, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, Crime Labs, Blood Samples/Tests, Scientific Testimony or Evidence.
- Los Angeles Criminal Legal System Undermined by Months of Faulty DNA Testing, May 15, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, Sufficiency of Evidence, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Evidence - Admissibility.
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? Fingerprint Evidence’s Troubling Flaws, April 15, 2025. junk science, Wrongful Conviction, Fingerprint Evidence.
- Cops’ Lie-Detecting Delusion: They Can’t Spot Lies Based on Nonverbal Cues or ‘Abnormal’ Behavior—Yet Keep Lying to Themselves (and Ruining Lives) That They Can, April 15, 2025. junk science, Aberrant Behavior, Violent anti-social behavior, Lie Detector Tests.
- A Black Box, a Guilty Plea, and an Uncertain Truth, April 15, 2025. DNA Testing/Samples, Computer Searches, Forensic Sciences, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.





