Hair-splitting

The recent report about inaccurate and erroneous testimony by FBI hair analysts – in 96 percent of cases – continues to draw public interest and concern. Read article:

On Tuesday, the leadership of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wrote FBI Director James Comey requesting him to provide committee members a briefing by May 22 on the preliminary findings of the ongoing review by the FBI, U.S. Justice Department, Innocence Project of New York and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

"The scope of this catastrophe is almost impossible to believe," reads the letter signed by committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) and ranking Democrat Elijah E. Cummings, of Maryland. "Our criminal justice system – and people's very freedom – relies on the integrity of FBI analysts' reports and testimony. To learn that the FBI systematically provided erroneous information and biased report results in matters of life and death is shocking and obviously unacceptable."

Among the issues the committee asked the FBI to address in its brief are: when the FBI first learned of the erroneous reports and testimony by its microscopic hair examiners; whether the 26 examiners who provided erroneous testimony or lab reports have been disciplined; and whether the FBI is studying the validity of other techniques used in forensic science to investigate crimes.