Robin Cook and John Grisham! One tells about how forensic helps in cases and the other tells how it screws up someone’s life!
That will come back to bite me!
But do you know what is Bite mark analysis?
All will be revealed soon!
Robin Cook’s book called Manner of Death tells about a story in passing! This is not a spoiler though the novel was written in 2023!
So if you have not read it yet, well then no spoiler for you!
Of course what is surprising is that 92 years and Robin Still writes medical thrillers almost every year!
A mugger charged on to a man and the man collapsed! The mugger was caught!
The issue was not that! The man had mitral valve prolapse as found in the autopsy and he immediately went in for a cardiac arrest and died on the spot!
Now the mugger will be charged for Homicide and not robbery!
So in an effort to draw interest into forensic science the whole matter is raked up but then comes Framed by John Grisham!
In that novel he tells us about the Bite mark analysis!
Bite mark analysis is a controversial forensic technique that has been widely criticized and is now largely considered “junk science” by the broader scientific community.
It was in fact a significant contributing factor in numerous wrongful convictions!
Apparently there was a Bite mark analysis expert who simply destroyed so many innocent people’s life!
Dr. Michael West was a former forensic odontologist whose bite mark analysis has been widely discredited by the scientific community and linked to multiple wrongful convictions. His methods and testimony have faced “overwhelming rejection” by forensic experts!
West’s testimony was instrumental in the wrongful convictions of several individuals, including Kennedy Brewer, Levon Brooks, and Eddie Lee Howard Jr., all of whom were later exonerated, primarily by DNA evidence!
In the Brewer case, marks West identified as human bite marks were later determined to be from crayfish and insects feeding on the body in a creek!
In another case, DNA testing of the victim’s nightgown found no male DNA in the area where West claimed bite marks were present!
The practice of bite mark analysis apparently operates on two main, scientifically unproven assumptions, both of which have been challenged in studies:
The first is the Uniqueness of Dentition: The assumption that every individual’s dental pattern is unique has not been scientifically validated. While teeth themselves are unique (like any body part), the specific pattern they leave in a dynamic medium like skin is not!
Then you have the transfer to skin! Human skin is a poor and inconsistent medium for recording bite impressions!
In fact the skin is elastic and can stretch, swell, and deform, meaning the same set of teeth can produce dramatically different marks depending on where the bite occurred and the body’s position at the time of the bite and examination!
The analysis often relies on the subjective interpretation of the forensic odontologist, leading to a high degree of disagreement even among certified experts as to whether a mark is a human bite mark at all, let alone a match to a specific individual!
Several major scientific bodies in the U.S. have reviewed the field and found it lacks scientific foundation! With the advent of DNA technology; the bite mark analysis is just a historical and sometimes cruelly hysterical practice!
Unless it is the bite of the Count Dracula then the bite is the least of your problems!
Count or king also is Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand!
Now stop biting your nails and sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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