Illinois Innocence Project

Our IIP client, Julie Rea, has her case held up as an example in this column about the dangers of . One of our earliest cases, Julie was cleared of the unthinkable murder of her son in 1997 in her Lawrenceville, Ill,, home based on bloodstain analysis that was shown to be inaccurate. Her conviction was overturned in 2004, and when the state decided to re-try her in 2006, a jury acquitted her.

This expert column by a former FBI agent and a former Department of Justice attorney explains the dangers of junk science, a leading contributor to . It particularly makes the point of why it is essential that the Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which bars many disproven methodologies of the past, needs to be mandated in all state court proceedings, as well.

How forensic failure in the courtroom costs lives The lessons of the FBI failures in microscopic hair and bloodstain pattern analyses are clear.