DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

Scary.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=2

Texas Judge Refused To Hear Appeal After 5 On Execution Day, Now Faces Trial

The State Judicial Commission has charged Judge Sharon Keller with failing to follow the court's execution-day procedures in the case of death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard, and denying Richard access to open courts and the right to be heard.

Asked whether she would allow the court clerk's office to stay open past 5 p.m., as Richard's attorneys were having computer problems and might be late filing emergency paperwork, Keller refused to do so, according to the complaint filed against her by the judicial commission. Richard was executed that night.

In the case of the taking of a human life, something incredibly precious, even if it belongs to a criminal, there should be every measure taken to make sure it is the right thing. As one of the trial protestors signs stated "Justice Doesn't Close At 5"

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/17/texas.judge.misconduct/index.html

A New Reason Why American Obesity Is A Problem

Houston police said George Vera, 25, was arrested Aug. 2 and taken to the city jail. He spent a day there before being transferred to the Harris County Jail. After being there for 14 hours, going through intake procedures, he was taken to the showers, the final step before going to his cell. There, Vera told police he had a 9mm handgun on him, along with 2 clips.

Kellar said Vera should have been searched at least three times before getting to the jail.

Vera weighs nearly 600 pounds and the gun was allegedly hidden between fat layers.

Houston Police Officers Union President Gary Blankinship said cadets are trained how to search morbidly obese people.

"We teach officers to lift up and look under," Blankinship said. "The officer may not have arrested anyone this big before."

Source: http://www.click2houston.com/news/20301265/detail.html

Obama Considers NYPD Too Good To Get Federal Funds

This is the backwards logic applied by Democrats in Washington. If there is a problem, throw money at it. If you are doing something right, ignore it. Over the last 15 years, the NYPD has turned New York City from one of the most dangerous to one of the safest cities in the world, while also creating its own counter-terrorism force that the Department of Homeland Security would be wise to study. They've been forced to keep taxes higher than fiscal conservatives Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg would like in order to keep their budget under control. Rather than rewarding their good work by giving them COPS funds, letting them free up budget space for use elsewhere and/or tax cuts, the Obama administration said no because of "insufficient crime and budgetary problems." Here is Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly:

"The decision to deny New York City funding from the COPS grant program is disappointing, to put it mildly. To punish our police department because they have driven down crime with fewer resources shows the backwards incentive system that is sometimes at work in Washington. Denying that funding because New Yorkers have already dug into their pockets to maintain our City’s sound fiscal stewardship and pay for our exceptional policing doesn’t make sense. Lastly, the attacks on New York City were attacks on the nation and we should be receiving strong federal support for the NYPD to fight terrorism in the nation’s largest city."

"After two successful terrorist attacks at the heart of the nation’s financial center, there should be substantial and continuing federal support for the NYPD in its counterterrorism and conventional crime fighting missions. We shouldn’t be penalized for succeeding on both counts, and mainly on our own dime, over the last seven and a half years."

Source: http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0709/more_cop_problems_2227b9cc-106a-46e3-a6cc-45a39f965d6d.html