Synopsis
The recent scandals at the FBI's crime laboratory is the focus of this study that analyzes the botched investigations in the World Trade Center bombing, the ambush at Ruby Ridge, and the O.J. Simpson case
Reviews
Examining how well or poorly a powerful and secretive agency like the FBI performs its work is one of the most difficult and important tasks that any reporter can take on. Kelly and Wearne have met this difficult challenge, successfully documenting a shocking condition that should outrage every American concerned with justice.
The media has familiarized the public with the vocabulary of forensic science: DNA identification, fingerprinting, bomb signatures, etc. However, as journalists Kelly and Wearne make clear in this expose of the FBI crime lab, some of these practices are dubious at best, and any of them is only as effective as the scientist behind it. The book was prompted by the complaints lodged against the bureau by FBI crime-lab scientist Fred Whitehurst, and the congressional inquiries that arose from his whistle-blowing. The problem Whitehurst identified is twofold. First, the bureau allegedly puts so much faith in its reputation that it refuses to submit to external certification even as it fails to maintain state-of-the-art labs. Second, the FBI lab is said to operate as a good-ol'-boy network, promoting unqualified agents and often taking direction from field investigators. Kelly and Wearne detail how the FBI crime lab's alleged arrogance and incompetence has, they say, affected the investigation of six high-profile cases, with apparent offenses ranging from laziness and bungling in the Unabomber, O.J. Simpson and Oklahoma City cases to possible perjury in the World Trade Center bombing case and conspiracy to withhold evidence in the investigation of the FBI assault on Ruby Ridge and a series of bomb attacks on federal judges in the late 1980s. Their book is painstakingly researched and highly detailed, but the abundance of information?some of it shocking?doesn't excuse its bone-dry, tedious presentation. In any case, this volume belongs on the reading list of any criminal defense attorney as a road map to the successful cross-examination of forensics experts.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The reputation of the FBI has suffered in recent years, and this book will do nothing to rehabilitate it. Based primarily on the accusations of whistleblower Frederic Whitehurst (a former FBI chemist) and a 1997 report on the FBI laboratory by the Justice Department's inspector general, it is a scathing criticism, alleging sloppy, inaccurate forensics, pro-prosecution bias, and false testimony. Journalists Kelly and Wearne focus on such high-profile cases as O.J. Simpson, the Unabomber, the Ruby Ridge shootout, and the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings while portraying an agency more concerned with image and power than with accurate forensic science. As a result, they suggest that thousands of old verdicts should be revisited. Admirers of the FBI crime lab, such as David Fisher in Hard Evidence (LJ 3/1/95), may disagree with the conclusions here, but it is compelling reading for anyone interested in criminal justice or forensics. Highly recommended.AGregor A. Preston, formerly with Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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