by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The hundreds of spectators who filled the Adam’s Mark Hotel’s grand ballroom Friday got a pointed — and often vivid — course in the difference between forensics Hollywood-style and what goes on in the real world.
To the extent that “CSI” and “Forensics Files” television shows glorify the profession, “That’s great,” said Dr. Cyril Wecht, Allegheny County, Pa., coroner. “We’re becoming heroes and heroines.
“But it’s not very realistic.”
Wecht was joined by two equally prominent forensics investigators at the day-long seminar, entitled “Forensic Investigation: The Pursuit of Truth.”
Dr. Henry Lee is chief emeritus of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety’s Division of Scientific Services and a full professor of forensics at the University of New Haven.
He has investigated the cases involving O.J. Simpson, Vincent Foster and JonBenet Ramsey.
Dr. Michael Baden has been involved in forensic pathology in criminal and civil litigation for more than 40 years. The co-director of the New York State Police Medicolegal Investigation Unit was called into cases that include the death of actor John Belushi, the second autopsy of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and to examine the remains of Czar Nicholas and his family.
Wecht’s own expertise is widely known, particularly in the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, the death of Elvis Presley and, again, O.J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey.
“Our distinguished speakers are to the world of forensics what Mount Rushmore is to the American presidency,” said master of ceremonies Eric Smith, of Florida Coastal School of Law, which co-sponsored the event along with The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law in Pittsburgh.
Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, a professor at William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College, teaches courses in victimology, forensics, and crime and justice.
Accompanied by newspaper clippings and selected photos, she discussed the clues to classification that investigators should look for at crime scenes.
In her survey of cases from children to the elderly, she also talked about the discussions she has had with serial offenders, including killers.
The fifth member of the panel led off the day’s presentations.
Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld founded The Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1992. The non-profit legal clinic’s only cases are those in which postconviction DNA testing of evidence proves an inmate’s innocence.
Since 1989, when DNA testing began in the United States, 328 individuals have been exonerated, 145 of them by DNA evidence, Scheck.
That number does not include “mass exonerations,” in which officials were proven to have manipulated the claims and evidence in their cases.
“DNA is not a panacea for what ails the criminal justice system,” said Scheck. “It’s a learning moment.”
Murder defendants make up about 13 percent of the American prison population but account for 61 percent of the exonerations. More to the point, he said, death row inmates total one quarter of 1 percent of the nation’s prison population. They are 22 percent of those who have been exonerated.
“No question there should be a moratorium on the death penalty,” said Scheck.
There have only been two DNA exonerations in Florida, which has the fourth-largest prison system in the country, he said.
The crimes committed in Broward County for which Frank Lee Smith and Jerry Frank Townsend were convicted turned out to have been the work of a third man. Smith died of cancer while in prison before his innocence could be established.
There have been only two exonerations, Scheck said, because the statute of limitations has restricted attorneys’ access to the justice system.
With extensions and recent action by the Florida Legislature, Scheck expects more prisoners will be able to prove their innocence.
The growing use of DNA evidence, he said, “not only protects the innocent but helps find the person who actually committed the crime.”
“Unquestionably,” Wecht said, the popularity of “CSI” programs has attracted a greater number of potential forensics students.
“There’s certainly not a week that goes by when we don’t receive inquiries by phone, by letter or personal contact,” he said. “The interest in forensics is phenomenal. There’s nothing that compares to it.”
He even saw an article in a Pittsburgh paper on Thursday that told of a forensics program entitled “Who Stole the Blueberry Pie?” for elementary school children.
Though he appreciates the interest in his field, Wecht does have some problems with television programs that turn forensic scientists into homicide detectives, who are knowledgeable about a multitude of topics and get their cases solved in a day.
“The reason I find this offensive — not just because it’s unrealistic to the point of being untrue — is because we are always beating our chests and carrying the banner for impartiality,” he said. “We are forensic scientists. We are not for the prosecution; we’re not for the defense.”
And what about JonBenet Ramsey? What is keeping that case from being solved?
“What is keeping it is what’s happened in the past,” said Wecht. “The next question is, will something new break? My answer is most probably no.
“It’s painful to say that, but I don’t want to kid myself or others or say something just because it makes me feel better. I don’t believe there’s any outside intruder that came down the chimney or up through a sewer, so sooner or later they’re going to find something.
“No, I don’t think so. The case was so botched investigatively, legally, procedurally; the degree of obfuscation, confusion, the amount of ineptitude — all of these were so great that I don’t think anything’s going to change it.”