Northern California Innocence Project (Ncip)

In April 2015, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stunned the criminal justice community by announcing that in the two-decade period before 2000, nearly every examiner in the FBI’s microscopic hair comparison unit gave flawed testimony in criminal cases. Not only that, but the same examiners trained hundreds of state crime lab technicians in the flawed technique – and this testimony continues today.

Hair evidence recovered from a crime scene is examined through a microscope in a process called “hair microscopy.” If the hair in evidence shares enough similar characteristics with a known hair sample (i.e. hair from the suspect or defendant) the hairs are deemed a “match.” However, for a variety of reasons, it turns out that hair microscopy, a so-called forensic science the FBI had used in approximately 21,000 cases, is not reliable and in fact, it is not really science at all.

In an unprecedented admission, on February 26, 2016, FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to the Governor of each state asking them to encourage state prosecutors to comply with requests for trial transcripts for reviews of hair microscopy cases to ensure that mistakes had not been made. The DOJ and FBI have encouraged states to conduct independent reviews of all hair microscopy cases.

NCIP has made it a priority to conduct a review of hair microscopy cases in California and has moved quickly.  We have already identified approximately 1,000 cases for initial screening and review. The search for cases is ongoing. 

The work is painstaking - and overwhelming.  We have diverted resources to accommodate this new scope of work. We have mobilized volunteer attorneys, SCU student research fellows, and NCIP staff to screen cases and advance them as quickly as possible. We have put systems in place and created standards for review. And we continue to find more cases every day. We are deeply concerned; these “mistakes” in hair analysis have surely resulted in innocent people being sent to prison – our job is to find them and to free them.

We had not planned to undertake this work but the need is critical. To help offset the immediate costs of identifying and reviewing the hundreds of flawed hair analysis cases in California, we need your help.  In order to fund the first level of hair analysis work, NCIP seeks to quickly raise $15,000. Funds will support obtaining the case files, lab reports, and transcripts needed to review the more than 1,000 cases in the queue.  Every dollar counts. Please donate to support our efforts.

For more detailed information about hair microscopy and the current casework, please see NCIP’s Spring 2016 newsletter at: http://law.scu.edu/northern-california-innocence-project/in-the-know-fbi-admits-flaws-in-hair-microscopy-testimony/

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NCIP's mission is to promote a fair, effective and compassionate criminal justice system and protect the rights of the innocent.

Since 2001, NCIP has attained justice for 18 innocent people who have collectively served 230 years in prison. You can join us in the fight for justice. What would you give for freedom?

Jimmie Dick, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 30 years

Francisco “Franky” Carrillo, Jr, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 20 years

Maurice Caldwell, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 20 years

John Stoll, Wrongfully Incarcerated for nearly 20 years

Obie Anthony, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 17 years

George Souliotes, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 16 years

Larry Pohlschneider, Wrongfully Incerated 15 years

Martin Laiwa, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 15 years

Johnny Williams, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 14 years

Kenneth Foley, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 12 years

Albert Johnson, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 11 years

Peter Rose, Wrongfully Incarcerated for nearly 10 years

Armando Ortiz, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 7 years

Ronald Ross, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 6 years

Ron Reno, Wrongfully Incarcerated for nearly 6 years

Jeffrey Rodriguez, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 5 years

Mashelle Bullington, Wrongfully Incarcerated for 4 years

Bismarck Dinius, Acquitted after 3 years

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