Magazine says dental forensic expert 'fabricated evidence'

In a preview of an upcoming cover story, Reason magazine has posted an article and video on its Website that the author says demonstrates that dental forensic expert Dr. Michael West fabricated evidence that put a man on death row. In a graphic video of the autopsy of a toddler, a man can be seen apparently manufacturing "bite marks" that were later used to put Jimmie Duncan on Louisiana's death row for the girl's rape and murder. He remains there ten years later.

In "Manufacturing Guilt," Reason senior editor Radley Balko writes:

Reason recently obtained shocking video from another Hayne and West collaboration that may shed light on the question. In 1993, the two conducted an examination on a 23-month-old girl named Haley Oliveaux of West Monroe, Louisiana, who had drowned in her bathtub. The video shows bite marks mysteriously appearing on the toddler's face during the time she was in the custody of Hayne and West. It then shows West repeatedly and methodically pressing and scraping a dental mold of a man's teeth on the dead girl's skin. Forensic scientists who have viewed the footage say the video reveals not only medical malpractice, but criminal evidence tampering.

The Hayne referred to in the excerpt is disgraced Dr. Steven Hayne, a physician who performed 80% of all autopsies in Mississippi for 20 years despite a lack of board certification. The state's Department of Public Safety fired Hayne last year after two imprisoned men, Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, were cleared of murder convictions that were largely based on the testimony of Hayne and West. The move came after years of accusations of unprofessional behavior, including scientifically insupportable conclusions by Hayne. Balko played a key role in exposing Hayne's misconduct and has now turned his sights on the former medical examiner's colleague.

The two exonerated men filed lawsuits against West for his conduct in their cases.

Tellingly, in testimony on forensic techniques before the National Academy of Sciences, expert David Faigman said, "I think bite marks probably ought to be the poster child for bad forensic science." The NAS report has not yet been published, although a related news release concedes "there is more available research and protocols for fingerprint analysis than for bitemarks."

The prepublication text of the NAS report goes farther, saying on page 30, "The fact is that many forensic tests -- such as those used to infer the source of toolmarks or bite marks -- have never been exposed to stringent scientific scrutiny." On page 128, the report warns, "Even when using the guidelines, different experts provide widely differing results and a high percentage of false positive matches of bite marks using controlled comparison studies."

And that's assuming good will and sincere effort on the part of the forensic expert.

Balko's article and video on the Reason Website, as well as the forthcoming cover story in the print edition, suggest that West's transgressions go far beyond bad science.

Contact J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com