Workshop
Lawyer Proof Your Lab
Thursday September 16th, 2021 // 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm // Monterrey Rooms 1-3
Fee includes lunch and materials. We encourage early registration and will be waiving cancelation penalties for 2021.
Description:
The last decade has brought about significant changes in forensic DNA analysis that are being challenged in courts across the country. As forensic technologies have become more sensitive, the threat of contamination has increased, and mixture interpretation has become more complex. To deal with this complexity, labs have implemented new statistical software that use probabilistic modelling. This has led to great changes in the language of expert opinions. There have also been significant changes in standards and best practices, including the FBI-QAS and the SWGDAM guidelines. In this workshop, independent forensic DNA experts will discuss some of the problems they see when reviewing work from laboratories around the country, and will offer methods to reduce common errors that result in courtroom challenges.
Learning Outcomes:
This workshop is designed to make forensic DNA analysts aware of how their work may be challenged in court. The workshop will suggest best practices to prevent common courtroom challenges, and how to communicate findings clearly. It will also address ways of dealing with error once it has been identified, including recommendations for transparency and notification of affected stakeholders.
Intended Audience:
Public and private forensic DNA personnel
Speakers
Private: Tiffany RoyChair
Consultant, ForensicAid, LLC
Tiffany Roy MSFS, JD is a Forensic DNA expert with over thirteen years of forensic biology experience in both public and private laboratories in the United States. She has processed thousands of DNA samples and thousands of cases over the course of her career. She has provided expert witness testimony in more than one hundred cases in state, federal and international courts. She instructs undergraduates at Palm Beach Atlantic University; University of Maryland Global Campus; and Southern New Hampshire University. She currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic biology through her firm, ForensicAid, LLC.
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Private: Greg Hampikian
Professor of Biology, and Criminal Justice, Boise State University (BSU); Founder and Co-Director, The Idaho Innocence Project
Dr. Greg Hampikian is professor of Biology and Criminal Justice at Boise State University (BSU), founder and Co-Director of the Idaho Innocence Project (IIP) at BSU. He is best known as a DNA expert on Innocence Network cases around the world including that of Amanda Knox, Freddie Lawrence and Paul Jenkins (2018, with Montana Innocence Project), and Christopher Tapp (exonerated 2019) in Idaho.
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Private: Janet Layne
Consultant
Janet Layne's research focuses on Machine Learning for knowledge graph data. Since 2019, Janet has consulted as a DNA analyst on a variety of defense cases. She has also participated in pro bono DNA analysis for innocence cases across the nation.
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