Innocence Project Seeks Review of Another Rape Conviction Based on Dubious Bite Mark Testimony

Radley Balko | April 24, 2009

The Innocence Project of New York has asked for a review of an old Pennsylvania rape conviction based largely on dubious bite mark testimony. John Kunco was convicted in 1992 of the brutal rape of a 55-year-old woman. The woman survived the attack. Kunco is serving a 45 to 90 year sentence.

The main evidence against Kunco was the woman's identification of his voice (he apparently has a lisp) and testimony from two bite mark analysts who claimed they could definitively match marks on the woman's shoulder to Kunco's dentition. Blood and hair samples collected at the crime scene were inconclusive.

Two forensic odonotologists, or bite mark experts, named Michael N. Sobel and Thomas J. David testified that they were able to use ultraviolet light to isolate and photograph the woman's wounds. Based on that photograph they were able to match the wounds to Kunco's teeth, to the exclusion of anyone else. Their testimony grows more absurd when you consider that the photograph was taken five months after the rape, after the wounds had mostly healed.

Sobel and David wrote an article about their analysis in the Kunco case for a 1994 edition of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. In that article, they explain that "the technique used followed the recommendations developed by other odontologists." One of the two footnotes to that sentence points to an article written by none other than . . . now-disgraced Mississippi bite mark expert, Dr. Michael West.

The Innocence Project is trying to get the bite mark testimony thrown out while lawyers await the results of more sophisticated DNA testing unavailable at the time of Kunco's trial.

As I noted in February, a congressionally-commissioned report published by the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year states emphatically that there's no scientific evidence to support the notion that an expert can match bite marks made on human skin to the dentition of a single suspect.

Comments

Mad Max|4.24.09 @ 10:55AM|#

The Song of Sobel and David (Not ripped off from Stairway to Heaven)

There's a feeling I get when I cite Michael West,
And the court thinks I know what I'm doing.
In my testimony I blow smoke like a chimney,
And I really don't care who I'm screwing.
Ooh, a major blunder,
Ooh, a really major blunder.

jester|4.24.09 @ 11:21AM|#

From : "Quincy, M.E.
The Crime-Fighting Coroner" by Erik Arneson:

"Modern crime dramas show coroners and medical examiners as professionals who have a job to do, and do it. Rarely does an M.E. serve as an investigator. Coroners are not responsible to find out whodunit-- that's what we pay detectives for. Playing the role of Quincy, however, Jack Klugman thrived on being the catalyst behind investigations.

In addition to determining the cause and time of death, Quincy often pushed his boss, Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Robert Asten, and homicide detectives Lt. Frank Monahan and Sgt. Brill, to solve cases no matter the cost-- financial or personal. Quincy's strong sense of social responsibility was nearly always evident. (The exceptions being when he had a hot date or a plane reservation-- Quincy jumped, sometimes seemingly without reason, from do-gooder to me-first on more than one occasion.)

Although Quincy may have had more influence than any other assistant M.E. in the history of modern crime-fighting, pains were taken to make the show's science as accurate as possible. Marc Scott Taylor, a former scientist in the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office, joined the show as a full-time consultant not long after it hit the air. Taylor once used bite marks to identify a criminal, and that topic not surprisingly was used in an episode of Quincy. (In fact, that episode is credited with helping solve a midwest rape case where a nurse knew to photograph a victim's bite marks because she had seen it on Quincy M.E.)

Taylor, who earned degrees in cellular biology and zoology, once told an interviewer that he happened to be working in the lab when some production people from Quincy came in "to see what a coroner's office looked like." His offer of assistance was accepted, and Quincy's writers had another person to bounce their ideas off. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for Taylor to be a hands-on participant when it came time to rewrite. And Taylor had a recurring on-screen role as Mark, so that he could operate some of the complex equipment instead of teaching an actor how to do it and risking unnecessary mistakes.

Dr. Victor Rosen, chief surgical pathologist at Brotmas Memorial Hospital in Culver City, California, also served as a technical advisor. And, more than once, Klugman visited the Los Angeles coroner's office to witness autopsies and absorb the atmosphere of working in a forensic lab.

Despite the attention to detail, careful (and knowledgeable) viewers will notice a handful of mistakes. In one episode, a victim is given a fatal dose of a drug which causes instantaneous and total paralysis-- but somehow manages to wander through a hospital's halls before dying.

Most modern viewers will quickly notice the lack of blood in the coroner's office, even during surgery. The show's producers thought it would turn off prime time audiences in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Throughout the 147 produced episodes, social responsibility is Quincy's calling card. Unqualified coroners, disreputable plastic surgeons, elder abuse, the availability of a deadly chemical for use as a fertilizer of marijuana, and various environmental issues were all among the topics that came under Quincy's careful scalpel. Probably the single most-visited plot was Quincy's strong dislike of bureaucracy within the medical community.

Quincy's activism didn't always meet with an enthusiastic response from viewers. In a June 1980 article published in Fortune magazine, Daniel Seligman takes the "chronically outraged pathologist" to task for what he believes is Quincy's lack of expertise in medical economics. "Unfortunately, the producers are unwilling to settle for melodrama and keep trying to say something serious about the underlying issues in hospital care," he wrote. "What they mainly have to say, it turns out, is that economics is bad for you."

Such criticism notwithstanding, Klugman remains unabashedly proud of the work he did on Quincy. During a June 1997 chat on America Online, Klugman was asked about the possibility of a Quincy reunion.

His response: "I would love to do one. But as popular as it is all over the world, Universal doesn't seem interested. There are so many stories about injustices that I would like to do, especially about the harmfulness of smoking tobacco. There are so many episodes of Quincy that I am proud of. The show on orphan drugs had legislation passed after I appeared in front of a Congressional committee. That made me very proud."

Reunion or not, as long as the reruns are shown, Quincy is sure to please some viewers and outrage others. The show wasn't blessed with consistently high-caliber scripts, but no one can question the passion with which it approached its subject matter, often breaking new ground in terms of a scientific approach to crime-solving."

There you have it folks. FUCKIN' QUINCY. What a douchebag! (sorry Mr. Denby!) OK, not so much.

Paul|4.24.09 @ 12:10PM|#

The Innocence Project of New York has asked for a review of an old Pennsylvania rape conviction based largely on dubious bite mark testimony.

Just curious, when I read "based largely on", I'm wondering what other factors led to the conviction?

|4.24.09 @ 12:16PM|#

There are so many episodes of Quincy that I am proud of. The show on orphan drugs had legislation passed after I appeared in front of a Congressional committee. That made me very proud.

WTF? He's not a doctor but he plays one for a Congressional committee? Why does Congress have an actor testifying about medicine-related legislation?

Right. Never mind.

jester|4.24.09 @ 12:38PM|#

Exactly Chuck. You figured it out.

Paul|4.24.09 @ 12:41PM|#

WTF? He's not a doctor but he plays one for a Congressional committee? Why does Congress have an actor testifying about medicine-related legislation?

Chuck, we live in a society were so-called serious pundits point to The Day After Tomorrow as an important event on the landscape to raise awareness of Global Warming Climate Change.

the innominate one|4.24.09 @ 2:23PM|#

Paul, on the other hand, our supreme court justices cited 24 when justifying government excess toward terrorism suspects

Paul|4.24.09 @ 2:39PM|#

Innominate one:

Good point. However, I'm not sure I'd even go as far as saying "on the other hand", unless of course you thought my implication was that only Liberals were prone to this behavior, which for the record, I know they're not.

And not that I don't believe you, but I'd love a link, because I'm not sufficiently horrified at my government today. I'm utterly fascinated as to what they could possibly cite in 24.

(I've never seen the show 24, but I think I know what the general theme is: Get the info from the bad guys before the bomb goes off)

ChrisO|4.24.09 @ 3:39PM|#

And not that I don't believe you, but I'd love a link, because I'm not sufficiently horrified at my government today. I'm utterly fascinated as to what they could possibly cite in 24.

Lots of torture scenes. According to wiki, some DOD muckety-muck actually visited the set of 24 a few years back and asked them to tone down the torture stuff.

I only just started watching the show and am still making my way through the DVDs of past seasons, but a major theme in the current season is that Jack Bauer and his agency were taken offline following some horrific incidents, while the FBI refuses to engage in those practices during This Season's Big Crisis, leading to Big Plot Tension between Jack and the FBI.

the innominate one|4.24.09 @ 4:17PM|#

Paul - that is why I said on the other hand, you're right, both sides pull a lot of B.S.

is this admissable as evidence? yes, it's from an opinion column

"I can think of no other fictional character who has had such a direct influence on world events. Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Chief under Bush, declared that 24 "reflects real life". The Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia went farther, defending the non-existent for committing the inexcusable: "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?""

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