Bite Mark Testimony debunked
Thankfully, we don't see bite mark testimony much anymore. Not so long ago, before the advent of DNA technology, this was the latest scientific fad. A so called expert would come in and say that bite marks on the victim were a match to the defendants teeth. Often, it was not even clear whether the marks were bite marks or something else. That didn't stop these so called experts from raking in thousands of dollars though. One of those was a small town dentist in Mississippi. Dr. Michael West testified in two separate trials in 1992 and 1993. Fortunately for them, another person was recently addressed and ended up confessing to both cases. A panel of experts had been asked to review the evidence, and determined that the marks were caused by crawfish nibbling on the corpse and decomposition in one case, and scrapes in another case. In the interim, Dr. West resigned from the American Board of Forensic Odontology after several ethics complaints.
Forensic odontology is only one of the areas of junk science has recently been challenged. Unfortunately, similar types of testimony are consistently used to obtain convictions. The bigger issue is the use of science that is dependent on individual interpretation. Any time two people can look at the same thing and come up with different conclusions, that testimony does not belong in a criminal court. Unfortunately, jurors still believe the State experts. Our job as defense lawyers is to continue challenge the science, and not accept their opinions without scrutiny.
