More Evidence of Bad Evidence, Again by John Floyd - Essay Example

Lawyer John T. Floyd has stated that the “dispute of forensic sciences has given valid a reason to believe that the out-sourcing these ‘backlog’ cases will produce more reliable results. This has been substantiated in the most recent episode of Paul Shrode, wherein the city's former Deputy Medical Examiner has admitted that he lied on his resume to secure the position of Chief Medical Examiner in El Paso County” (Go Articles). This glaring incident and the periodic problems with the Houston Police Department crime lab only proved that there is doubtful integrity in the field of forensic sciences.

Thus, it is for this reason that the author suggested that criminal defense attorneys should challenge every piece of forensic evidence presented before them, and outweigh its reliability before declaring it as admissible evidence. Criminal defense attorneys should refrain from accepting ‘expert’ testimony as gospel truth and upholding it as reliable as such, regardless of whether the trial court accepts the witness to be qualified to give the expert testimony of the issue in question. “They contribute to the popular acceptance among most jurors that "forensic evidence" is infallible when, in truth, the evidence analysis methodologies used in most of this science have never been validated and the end results have been tragic” (Go Articles).

I fully agree with is the analysis of the writer. Forensic evidence must be solid and secured because our criminal justice system has widely accepted its reliability in the resolution of cases. Hence, if there is a flaw in the manner of gathering the evidence, forensic science cannot be exactly as it may seem. This will result in the failure of the entire justice system and the conviction of innocent people. The irresponsible conduct being observed in the HPD crime lab's day-to-day operations has trampled upon the county's criminal justice system after admitting to backlogs and the accumulation of unreliable evidence analysis methodologies. These blatant errors must be resolved immediately so as to improve the administration of justice throughout the country.

Therefore, i.e. “in a question on whether or not DNA evidence is enough to make a decision as to make the guilt of the accused is unjustified as the probability of miscarriage of justice is unacceptably high” (Semikhodskii, 136). The lawyers and judges must be able to determine based on their discretion whether and evidence presented before them must be given full credit. The article has answered all intricacies in the issue involved as its contents boast of extensive research and interviews of people involved in this issue of false forensic science. There was a fair, balanced and impartial presentation of material facts in carrying out his conclusion. The author who is also a lawyer has based his writing on his own personal knowledge of the facts and circumstances involved in the case in issue which adds credibility to his supposition. I would have also used the same manner of report utilized by the author as he first laid the basis of his proposition before coming up with a conclusion. In sum, he has covered all areas which are questionable by presenting relevant and germane testimonies to justify his theory. Read More