WEBVTT - #400 Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science - Gunshot Residue Evidence 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.240 Hey, folks, Kate Judson here. I'm a lawyer and the 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.840 executive director of the Center for Integrity and Forensic Sciences. 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.560 We're back with another episode of Junk Science, a series 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.840 we first released in twenty twenty, but these stories are 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.760 just as relevant as ever. This week's episode focuses on 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.440 gunshot residue, a form of forensic science that is still 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.400 used today. The techniques have improved slightly since the case 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.040 in this episode, but they're still pretty unreliable. One of 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.960 the biggest problems with gunshot residue evidence, or GSR, is 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.159 that we don't know how long it sticks around. Sometimes 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.839 analysts talk about GSR as though if you weren't at 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.720 a firing range in the last four hours, there's no 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:51.000 reason for GSR to be found on you. But that's 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.760 not the case, especially in a country like ours where 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.800 firearms are ubiquitous. We don't know enough about transfer to 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.600 be confident that if you have GSR on your clothing 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.280 or body, that you got that residue from actually using 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.479 a firearm. Maybe you got it when you were arrested 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.320 because the police officer had it on him, or maybe 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.000 you shook hands with someone earlier who'd recently been to 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.840 a range. There are too many questions about persistence and 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.160 transfer for much of our historical testimony about GSR to 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:22.040 be trustworthy. 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.600 It's Saturday night. You're in your front yard working on 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.839 your moped. Your dad is sitting on the picnic bench, 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.200 chatting with you as you install a new starter. You 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.920 and your friend Alan saved up all year so you 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.959 could each buy a bike. Neither one of them is 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.000 in great condition, but now that school is out you 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.800 have all summer to fix them up. After a little while, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.680 your friend Chante arrives at your house and he says, hey, 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.360 Alan's bike has a flat. He wants us to come 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.960 help him fix it. And you're thinking, again, his bike 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.600 is always breaking down. It's always got some kind of problem. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.200 At first, you were a little jealous of Alan's red 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.919 raz but that guy keeps getting flats. You pat the 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.320 seat on your brown moped. It's pretty ugly, but at 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.600 least it's faithful. You ask your dad if it's cool 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.200 if you go over to Alan's grandmother's to get the bike. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.040 He looks at his watch and says, well, it's pretty late, 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.720 but hurry up, go get it and you can bring 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.400 it back here to work on it. When you and 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.760 Chante get to Alan's, Chante heads inside to help Alan 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.679 with the bike. Another flat, you say. When Alan comes 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.320 out of his house, don't even start, Alan says, tossing 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.200 you a can of soda. You hang out for a bit, 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.640 and then the three of you start walking Alan's bike 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.000 towards your house. You're teasing Alan about how often his 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.280 mopeed has problems when a green sedan coming from the 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.760 opposite direction stops right next to you. The man driving 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.640 the car leans out the window and says, hey, you 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.119 guys have any dope Nah, and says we don't mess 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.840 with that shit. Yell at the guy, Hey, man, get 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:08.080 out of here, and the green car speeds off. You 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.040 walk a bit further down the block, and then you 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.440 hear shots ring out. Oh shit. All three of you 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:20.560 start frantically running down the street and don't look back. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.440 You don't stop running until you get back to your house. 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.200 You look around, making sure no one's shooting at you, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.520 and then you catch your breath. You, Shanta and Allen 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.320 talk about the gunshots for a few minutes. It's not 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.800 that out of the ordinary in this neighborhood, but still 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.720 it's totally scariest shit when it happens. The adrenaline finally 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.880 wears off and you start working on Allen's bike. There's 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.400 a nail in the tread of the tire. You pull 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.160 it out, plug the hole, and let the glue set. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.240 After pumping up the tire and giving it a few 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.000 good pushes, Alan grabs his bike and begins to walk 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.080 it back down the street toward his grandmother's house. Once 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.839 Alan gets to his street, he sees the green car 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.719 that stopped to ask for drugs, but now its front 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.440 end is just demolished. It's smashed into the side of 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.760 a house a few doors down from his grandmother's. There's 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:30.440 smoke and chaos and police just everywhere. Over the next 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.400 few days, you expect to see Alan riding his red 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.200 raz after all the tire is fixed, but you don't 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.559 see him around the neighborhood. A week passes, you knock 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.160 on his door and his grandmother tells you that the 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.720 man in the green car had been shot. The cops 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:49.800 asked Alan to come to the police station to help 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.400 with the investigation. She expected Alan to be home that 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:58.279 same night, but he's being held in jail. She's afraid 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:04.599 and confused, and suddenly so are you. A few weeks later, 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.520 you're in your backyard, throwing a tennis ball against the 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:13.120 side of your house, worrying about Alan, wondering if he's okay. 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.000 Out of the corner of your eye, you see some 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:20.000 people walking towards you, and it's four police officers. At 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.159 first you freeze, overcome with fear, and then you take off. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.320 They took Alan for no reason. What's going to stop 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.560 them from grabbing you and doing the same thing. But 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.960 you're fourteen years old. They're bigger than you, faster, and 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.960 there's more of them. They catch up, grab you and 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.880 put you in handcuffs. Your first thought is I'm going 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:49.479 to disappear, just like Alan. You're putting an interrogation room. 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.080 You tell the officers what happened that night, the night 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.400 the guy in the green car got shot, how you 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.880 and Alan told him to go away. But they don't 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.400 want to hear the truth. They don't want to hear 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:05.039 anything you're telling them. One of the detectives, Scoots, is 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:09.320 seat closer to you. We know Alan did this. His 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.239 hands tested positive for gunpowder residue. You know what that is, son, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.240 We know he was involved. You're gonna tell us what 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.600 Alan did. You're gonna tell us that Alan had the gun, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.960 that you saw that gun, and that what he did 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.600 is he went up to that car that stopped and 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.760 he talked to the guy in the car, and the 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.800 next thing you knew was you heard gunshots and you 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.200 saw Alan running. And I'm gonna tell you something you 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.120 don't tell us exactly that. Here's what's gonna happen. You're 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.280 gonna get charged with murder. You got that. You know 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.240 how much power these guys have. They already have Alan. 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.920 Who knows what they're gonna do to you. You're petrified. 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.200 The walls feel like they're closing in on you. You figure, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.800 I should just tell these guys what they want to hear. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.520 Then my parents can help sort this out later. So 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.719 you do what they say. You make up a story, 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.680 one that sounds like what they want to hear, and 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.040 they record it. You'll tell them anything just to get 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.520 out of that room. Before letting you go, the cops 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.160 tell you you're going to have to testify at Alan's trial. 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:20.240 We'll see you. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:21.720 Then. 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.640 A few weeks pass, and you're relieved when school starts again, 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.520 maybe this will distract you from thinking about Alan, from 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.480 the feeling that it's your fault. He's still sitting in jail. 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.800 The day of Alan's trial, you and Chante decide you're 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.120 not going to show up. You're not going to testify 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.600 against your friend, lie again and dig a deeper hole 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.640 for Alan. But the cops show up at your school 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:51.520 and they bring you both to court. At Alan's trial, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.600 an officer takes the stand and says that he personally 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.640 collected samples from Alan's hands. He swabbed the front and 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.280 back of them with Q tips and then tested those 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.120 Q tips to see if there was gunpowdered residue present. 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:09.480 The officer testifies the defendant's right hand tested positive for 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.680 antimony and bury them two chemical elements that are present 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.560 in gunpowder residue. There is no doubt in my mind 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.880 that the defendant shot the gun that was used in 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:26.119 this homicide. This is insane. You think you know Alan 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.000 didn't have a gun. He was with you when those 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.679 shots rang out. How can they just make this stuff up? 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.360 When you're on the witness stand, you glance over at 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.320 the jury. They're all sitting forward, staring right at you. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:47.079 Through you. It seems. The prosecutors start asking you all 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.920 of these questions. Your answers are all over the place. 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.560 They barely make sense. You were told to tell lies, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.680 but it's hard to keep it all straight because none 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:02.520 of what you're testifying to actually happened. But at seventeen 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.960 years old, Allan is convicted of murder and sentenced to 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.400 fifteen years to life in prison. The gunshot residue that 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.880 the police and prosecutor's claim was found on Alan's hand 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.400 is the only physical evidence linking him to the crime. 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.440 The story you just heard is based on the true 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:29.000 events of Raymond Carl Allan Warren's trial. He was convicted 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.720 of murder based on faulty gunshot residue evidence. The police 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.920 also chorused his two friends, Shanta and Antonio, into giving 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:43.200 false testimony saying that Allan committed the crime. Alan is 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.080 now in his forties and he is still in prison. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.400 He's been there for over twenty five years, serving a 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.160 sentence of fifteen to life for a murder he did 0:09:54.200 --> 0:10:00.640 not commit. I'm Josh Duben, civil Rights It's in criminal 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.120 defense attorney and innocent ambassador to the Innocence Project in 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.680 New York Today on wrongful conviction junk science. We examine 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:13.640 gunshot residue evidence. As listeners to the show, you've probably 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.400 heard how coerse confessions are used to convict innocent people 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:22.880 on another podcast in our feed wrongful conviction, false Confessions. Now, 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.880 the coerse confessions of Chanta and Antonio were certainly factors 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.920 in convicting Allan at his trial, but today our focus 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:35.719 is on faulty forensic science, and gunshot residue certainly has 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.200 its issues that began almost a century ago. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.120 When three dozen former Brooklyn Navy yard workers found themselves 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.559 irreparably poisoned by the asbestos they used in the construction 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.480 of the battleships that won World War Two. Perry White 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.000 and Arthur Luxembourg literally put everything on the line to 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.560 successfully represent them. Since then, they've chanted being the rights 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.600 of over fifty thousand regular Americans injured through the negligence 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:09.000 and malfeasance of mainly large corporations. Their ability to level 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.600 the playing field against seemingly insurmountable odds has led them 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.760 to litigate against opponents as diverse as big Pharma, all 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.760 the way to those responsible for rendering the water of 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:24.040 Flint Michigan Undrinkable whites and Luxembourg ticket personally when there's 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.520 a miscarriage of justice anywhere, and therefore they feel a 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.280 sense of responsibility to support Bramfel conviction podcasts. You can 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.880 learn more about them by visiting whites lux dot com. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:47.040 That's weitz lux dot com. 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.520 In nineteen thirty three, a group of American police officers 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.480 from several departments gathered in a lab at the police 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.679 headquarters of Mexico City. They were there to observe Tiodoro 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:02.720 Gonzales demonstrate his new tech for testing gunpowder residue. The 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.800 test became known by many names, the dermal nitrate tests, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.719 the glove tests, but my favorite might be the paraffin 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:16.480 gauntlet test. The officers watched as Gonzales poured white, hot 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.760 liquid paraffin wax over the fingers, hands, and wrists of 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:25.000 his lab assistant. A glimmer of discomfort flashed across the 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.360 assistant's eyes as the hot wax coated his skin. Next, 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.319 Gonzales delicately wrapped the layer of cotton around the assistants 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.920 fingers and hands. Layer after layer of wax, then cotton 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:43.319 were added, until gloves began to form while the paraffin cooled. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:48.000 Gonzales explained that after a suspect fires a gun, the 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.640 gunpowder residue becomes embedded deep in the pores of the skin. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.760 Even weeks after a gun is fired, the hot melted 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.600 paraffin will open up the pores, mix with the oils 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.040 in the skin, and caused the porest to discharge the 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:08.280 gunpowder residue trapped within them. Part of this experiment included 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:12.959 Gonzalez's assistant firing a gun and then washing his hands 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.840 prior to them being wrapped. The American officers noted the 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:21.800 advantage of this technique. Suspects couldn't simply wash their hands 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:27.040 and avoid detection. Gonzales delicately peeled the gloves from the 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.000 hands of his assistant and then took them over to 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.360 the lab table and gently laid them down. He measured 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.319 a small beaker of a chemical solution that contained sulfuric acid. 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.800 Drop by drop, he coated the interior of the gloves 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:48.320 with the mixture. Minutes later, dark blue specks the size 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.640 of pinpoints began to form, and Gonzales explained that these 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:59.199 blue dots indicated the presence of dermal nitrates from gunpowder residue. 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.360 The police officers huddled around the paraffine gloves to see 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:07.079 for themselves. After that, it took only a few years 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.120 for the paraffin test to become widely used in police 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:15.719 departments across the United States. Within three years of Gonzalez's demonstration, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.120 it was used as forensic evidence in the murder trial 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:23.760 of James L. Westwood in Pennsylvania. At his trial, the 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.800 state called expert witnesses who testified that gunpowder residue was 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.640 present on Westwood's hands, indicating that it was he who 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.240 shot and killed his wife. But Westwood's defense attorney called 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.800 his own expert witness, a chemist who had conducted his 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.960 own study and found that thirteen different substances could also 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.480 cause the blue dots to appear on the paraffin gloves. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:55.120 He cited things like ordinary soot, certain brands of toothpaste, 0:14:55.320 --> 0:15:00.840 tobacco cigars, cigarette ashes, and different types of matches, but 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.600 none of that evidence mattered for the jury. Westwood was 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.120 convicted of the first degree murder of his wife and 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:13.280 sentenced to life in prison. By nineteen sixty seven, a 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:18.360 wider study concluded that rust colored fingernail polish and residue 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:23.320 from evaporated urine, soap, and tapwater would all test positive. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.760 Contact with any of these objects would create blue dots 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.640 to appear on the gloves in a paraffin test. The 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.000 paraffine test is no longer being used today, and the 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.320 science behind testing gunshot residue has changed. By the time 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.840 Allan was arrested in nineteen ninety four at sixteen years old, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.800 officers used a new version of the test. It's called 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.960 the atomic absorption test, but that test has many of 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.040 the same reliability problems as the paraffin glove. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.000 None of the evidence that was used to convict it 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.360 Alan has withstood the test of time. The test used 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:06.960 to indicate that he had gunshot residue on his hands 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.080 is no longer considered reliable. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.680 So joining us today is Joanna Sanchez and she's from 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.520 the Wrongful Conviction Project at the Office of the Ohio 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:20.120 Public Defender and we're super excited to have her today. 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.040 She's currently representing Alan, whose story we talked about at 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.480 the beginning of this episode. Now, Alan's full name is 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.400 Raymond Carl Allan Warren, and Joanna might refer to him 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.280 as either Allan or Raymond, but don't get confused, okay, 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.800 because Raymond and Alan are the same person. So Joanna, 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.840 it's great to have you here today, and I'd like 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.440 you to start by telling us a little bit about Alan. 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.240 What was he like as a sixteen year old living 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:49.200 in Dayton, Ohio. 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.400 Alan was, by all accounts, a normal teenager. He had 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.080 a few brothers and he's very close with them. He's 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.120 close with his mother, very close to his great and 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.000 mother had lots of friends in the neighborhood, would spend 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:07.760 time with them. Alan loves working on cars, so that 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.960 was something he spent a lot of time doing, both 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:17.359 fixing cars and painting them, playing basketball. And now you know, 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.879 I've known him now for six years. He's a very engaging, 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:25.280 caring person, very talkative, has strong relationships with his family 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.400 and friends. Still, okay, So. 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.520 I want to get into the details of the crime 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.560 a little bit. So police officers arrive on Allen Street 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.119 the night when he had been fixing his moped and 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.440 this green car had crashed into the side of a 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.160 house and the driver is shot. So what makes them 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.680 even decide to go after Allan as a suspect in 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:46.399 the first place? 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.359 So I think it's a matter of circumstance, the boys 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.920 they worked on their scooters for a period of time 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.480 after they heard the gunshots, and then in order to 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.160 go home, Alan had to essentially go through the crime 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.720 scene because it happened on the street he was living 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.919 on with his grandma's. So Alan that night told the 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.520 police about this encounter with the victim, and the police 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:10.080 asked him if he was willing to come down to 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.680 the police station to give a statement. So he voluntarily 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:18.760 went to the police station and also voluntarily submitted to 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.920 a gunshot residue test. And the result of that gunshot 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.879 residue test was that Allen tested negative on his left 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.520 hand even though he's left handed, and the palm of 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.800 his right hand, though tested positive for two elements that 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.720 are known to be in gunshot residue. And I honestly 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.159 think once that gunshot residue test came back, they just 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.200 became laser focused on Alan. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.239 So tell us a little bit about that test. What 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:49.720 exactly did gunshot residue testing entail at the time when 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:51.480 Alan went down to that police station. 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.080 So, gunshot residue testing, the idea behind it is that 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.199 one person shoots a firearm, particles will be admitted that 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.840 will land on their clothing or their hands or their face, 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.680 and that those particles can then be tested. You can't 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.080 see them, but they can be tested and tell to 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.239 please something about whether the person being tested might have 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:17.639 shot a firearm. All gunshot residue testing is not a 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.440 simple yes or no test. This is gunshot residue or 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.440 it's not. What it's really testing for is the elements 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.600 that are known to make up gunshot residue. So specifically, 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:32.480 they test for three elements in most circumstances, and that's lead, barium, 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.720 and antimony. In Raymond's case, they actually only tested for 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.399 two of those elements, and what they used was an 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.920 atomic absorption test, which is now largely out of use, 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.560 and that's because it has a high risk of producing 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.040 false positives. So the reason the AA test is unreliable 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.199 is because it tests for elements that are also present 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.800 in items that are completely unrelated to guns. So as 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:00.640 a result, a person who's never touched or been near 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.840 a gun could falsely test positive. 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.080 So Joanna, give us an example. What are some things 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.120 that Alan might have touched that would make him test 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.000 positive for gunshot residue. 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.160 Brake linings are one example of an item that has 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.320 the same elements as gunshot residue, and on the night 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.600 of the shooting, as we know, Raymond, who frequently was 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.159 working on cars, had contact with brake linings while he 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:31.040 fixed his motorized scooter. So the AA test as used 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:35.520 in Raymond's case is problematic because we can't know if 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.120 those two elements came from gunshot residue or if they 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.560 came from brake linings or some other substance that has 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.240 those same elements as gunshot residue. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.640 So you mentioned that the AA test, the atomic absorption 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:54.080 test that was used on Allen, is not really considered 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:58.280 any more to be dependable, but they're still using gunshot 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.840 residue as a form of evidence. With new tests, has 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.680 signs progressed in any significant way since the AA test. 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:11.840 Gunshot residue testing generally has progressed somewhat. The AA test 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.240 is no longer really in favor because of its limitations, 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.400 and there was a switch over in the mid two 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:23.960 thousands to a test called sem EDS, and that test 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.879 was better in that it not only would tell an 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.440 analyst whether those elements were present, but also could tell 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:33.360 them the shape and size of the elements and sort 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.920 of how they functioned together, whether they were fused, whether 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.280 they were the shape of a sphere, all things that 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:43.000 would be important for distinguishing between gunshot residue and let's 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:46.400 say another substance. And so in order for an analyst 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:50.160 to have any confidence that something is actually gunshot resume, 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:54.320 they'd need to do that sort of morphological analysis and 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.520 also compare all of the elements in that gunshot resduce 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.119 sample with all of the elements and other substances so 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:03.400 that they can actually eliminate other items. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:06.760 Okay, So that sounds like it does have the potential 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.560 to be more accurate test because you're able to look 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:14.119 at the residue under microscope and tell that the molecules 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:17.280 actually come from a gun and can't be from anywhere else. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.359 But is this a perfect fix? 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:24.080 Even if that's done properly, there's still a second issue 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.360 with gunshot rescue testing, and that's the reason why the 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.359 scientific community has really pulled back from this testing, and 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:36.560 that issue is contamination. So gunshot residue is incredibly transferable. 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:39.320 It's very easy to pick it up by touching a 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:43.440 surface that's contaminated with gunshot residue. So if I were 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.200 to shoot a gun and shake your hand, you could 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:51.440 very likely test positive for gunshot residue. And with that 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:55.160 that creates just too big of a risk for environmental contamination. 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:57.960 And what it means is that, you know, people who 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:02.480 touch the back of police cars, handcuffs, police officers, police stations, 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.720 there's a good chance they could pick up gunshot residue 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:09.680 from those surfaces, even though they themselves never touched a gun. 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.200 And we know that happened to Raymond's case because he 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:15.439 was transported to the police station in the back of 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.840 a police car and then held in an interrogation room 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.399 for several hours before he was actually tested. If on 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.360 the call before that police officer had taken somebody who 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:27.240 shot a gun down to the police station, that person 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:30.000 could have left gunshot residue there and then Alan gets 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:32.520 in the car and picks it up. And there have 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.679 been studies across the country that show that kind of 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.120 thing occurs. So there was a study in Colorado where 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.160 they tested I think forty police cars excuse me, twenty 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:45.840 six police cars, and they found gunshot residue particles and 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.640 fourteen of them. So this kind of transference is very 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:52.520 common unfortunately, So and. 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:54.600 You know, in hearing this, I got to tell you 0:23:54.680 --> 0:23:59.480 this is like it's startling, it's scary, and you initially 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:02.720 start to see think, well, how many people might have 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.800 been wrongfully convicted when the evidence in their case was 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:11.320 just gunshot residue on their hands. I mean, you have 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:14.760 to admit it's pretty compelling evidence for people that don't 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:16.920 know otherwise. And I mean what I mean for people 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:21.080 that don't know otherwise, I'm talking about jurors. So with 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:23.600 that in mind, how big of a role did faulty 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.280 gunshot residue evidence plane Allen's case? 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.119 The gunshot residue evidence here was critical in Alan's trial. 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.840 The examiner when he testified, what he said was that 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:38.080 this positive test means one of three things. Either Alan 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:41.360 shot a gun, Alan was a victim of a shooting, 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:45.240 or Alan handled ammunition. But we know he wasn't a victim, 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:49.800 and both of the other options still implicate him, whether 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.240 he's shooting a gun or handling ammunition. What the examiner 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:57.440 left out is the fourth possibility that this is contamination 0:24:57.640 --> 0:24:59.960 and the fifth possibility, which is that it's not gone 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.159 shot residue at all. It could just be barium and 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:06.760