WEBVTT - #161 Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science - Gunshot Residue Evidence 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:04.560 It's Saturday night. You're in your front yard working on 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.840 your moped. Your dad is sitting on the picnic bench, 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.160 chatting with you as you install a new starter. You 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.880 and your friend Alan saved up all year so you 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.959 could each buy a bike. Neither one of them is 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.000 in great condition, but now that school is out you 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.800 have all summer to fix them up. After a little while, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.640 your friend Schante arrives at your house and he says, hey, 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.360 Alan's bike has a flat. He wants us to come 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.920 help him fix it. And you're thinking again, his bike 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.560 is always breaking down. It's always got some kind of problem. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.160 At first, you were a little jealous of Alan's red 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.920 raz but that guy keeps getting flats. You pat the 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.279 seat on your brown moped. It's pretty ugly, but at 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.600 least it's faithful. You ask your dad if it's cool 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.200 if you go over to Alan's grandmothers to get the bike. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.040 He looks at his watch and says, well, it's pretty late, 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.680 but hurry up, go get it and you can bring 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.400 it back here to work on it. When you and 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.759 Schante get to Alan's, Chante heads inside to help Alan 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.720 with the bike. Another flat. You say, when Alan comes 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.319 out of his house. Don't even start, Alan says, tossing 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.200 you a can of soda. You hang out for a bit, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.600 and then the three of you start walking Alan's bike 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.960 towards your house. You're teasing Alan about how often his 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.240 mopet has problems when a green sedan coming from the 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.720 opposite direction stops right next to you. The man driving 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.600 the car leans out the window and says, hey, you 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:32.600 guys have any dope? 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:33.720 Nah? 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.880 Alan says, we don't mess with that shit. Yell at 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.200 the guy, Hey, man, get out of here, and the 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.240 green car speeds off. You walk a bit further down 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.199 the block, and then you hear shots ring out. Oh shit. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:52.680 All three of you start frantically running down the street 0:01:53.440 --> 0:02:06.400 and don't look back. You don't stop running until you 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.200 get back to your house. You look around, making sure 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.280 no one's shooting at you, and then you catch your breath. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.880 You Chante and Allen talk about the gunshots for a 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.480 few minutes. It's not that out of the ordinary in 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.440 this neighborhood, but still it's totally scariest shit when it happens. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.520 The adrenaline finally wears off and you start working on 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.280 Alan's bike there's a nail in the tread of the tire. 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.160 You pull it out, plug the hole, and let the 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.880 glue set. After pumping up the tire and giving it 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.560 a few good pushes, Alan grabs his bike and begins 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.600 to walk it back down the street toward his grandmother's house. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.560 Once Alan gets to his street, he sees the green 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.359 car that stopped to ask for drugs, but now its 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.320 front end is just demolished. It's smashed into the side 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.760 of a house a few doors down from his grandmother's. 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:04.200 There's smoke and chaos and police just everywhere. Over the 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.120 next few days, you expect to see Alan riding as 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.920 red raz after all, the tire is fixed, but you 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:15.200 don't see him around the neighborhood. A week passes, you 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.920 knock on his door and his grandmother tells you that 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.280 the man in the green car had been shot. The 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.520 cops asked Alan to come to the police station to 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.239 help with the investigation. She expected Alan to be home 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.320 that same night, but he's being held in jail. She's 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:38.040 afraid and confused, and suddenly so are you. A few 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.080 weeks later, you're in your backyard throwing a tennis ball 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.120 against the side of your house, worrying about Alan, wondering 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.520 if he's okay. Out of the corner of your eye, 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.720 you see some people walking towards you and it's four 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:57.560 police officers. At first you freeze, overcome with fear, and 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.400 then you take off. He took Alan for no reason. 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.840 What's going to stop them from grabbing you and doing 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.960 the same thing. But you're fourteen years old. They're bigger 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.640 than you, faster, and there's more of them. They catch up, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.720 grab you and put you in handcuffs. Your first thought 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:21.960 is I'm going to disappear, just like Alan. You're putting 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.280 an interrogation room. You tell the officers what happened that night, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.839 the night the guy in the green car got shot, 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.479 how you and Alan told him to go away. But 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.080 they don't want to hear the truth. They don't want 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:38.960 to hear anything you're telling them. One of the detectives, Scoots, 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.440 is seat closer to you. We know Alan did this. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.479 His hands tested positive for gunpowder residue. You know what 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.359 that is, Son, We know he was involved. You're going 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.200 to tell us what Alan did. You're going to tell 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.599 us that Alan had the gun, that you saw that gun, 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:58.839 and that what he did is he went up to 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.640 that car that stopped and he talked to the guy 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.520 in the car, And the next thing you knew was 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.640 you heard gunshots and you saw Alan running. And I'm 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.479 gonna tell you something you don't tell us exactly that 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.599 here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get charged with murder. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.800 You got that. You know how much power these guys have. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.680 They already have Alan, who knows what they're gonna do 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:27.200 to you. You're petrified. The walls feel like they're closing 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.680 in on you. You figure, I should just tell these 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.720 guys what they want to hear. Then my parents can 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.560 help sort this out later. So you do what they say. 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.039 You make up a story, one that sounds like what 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.599 they want to hear, and they record it. You'll tell 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.719 them anything just to get out of that room. Before 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.600 letting you go, the cops tell you you're gonna have 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.520 to testify at Alan's trial. We'll see you. Then. A 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.599 few weeks pass, and you're relieved when school starts again. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.520 Maybe this will distract you from thinking about Alan, from 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.080 the feeling that it's your fault. He's still sitting in 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:10.560 jail the day of Allen's trial. You and Chante decide 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.560 you're not going to show up. You're not going to 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.320 testify against your friend, lie again and dig a deeper 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.120 hole for Allan. But the cops show up at your 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:25.520 school and they bring you both to court. At Alan's trial, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.560 an officer takes the stand and says that he personally 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.599 collected samples from Allan's hands. He swabbed the front and 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.280 back of them with Q tips and then tested those 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.080 Q tips to see if there was gunpowder residue present. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.440 The officer testifies the defendant's right hand tested positive for 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.679 antimony and bury him two chemical elements that are present 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.359 in gunpowder residue. There is no doubt in my mind 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.880 that the defendant shot the gun that was used in 0:06:54.920 --> 0:07:00.000 this homicide. This is insane. You think you know Alan 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.760 and didn't have a gun. He was with you when 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.039 those shots rang out. How can they just make this 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:11.960 stuff up? When you're on the witness stand, you glance 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.920 over at the jury. They're all sitting forward, staring right 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.680 at you, through you. It seems. The prosecutors start asking 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.360 you all of these questions. Your answers are all over 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.880 the place. They barely make sense. You were told to 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.600 tell lies, but it's hard to keep it all straight 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.680 because none of what you're testifying to actually happened. But 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:40.240 at seventeen years old, Alan is convicted of murder and 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:44.760 sentenced to fifteen years to life in prison. The gunshot 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.880 residue that the police and prosecutors claim was found on 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.880 Alan's hand is the only physical evidence linking him to 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:58.000 the crime. The story you just heard is based on 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.120 the true events of Raymond Carl Alan Warren's trial. He 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:06.320 was convicted of murder based on faulty gunshot residue evidence. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.200 The police also coorused his two friends, Chante and Antonio, 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:15.560 into giving false testimony, saying that Allan committed the crime. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.440 Allan is now in his forties and he is still 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.200 in prison. He's been there for over twenty five years, 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.560 serving a sentence of fifteen to life for a murder 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:34.200 he did not commit. I'm Josh Dubin, civil rights and 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.000 criminal defense attorney and innocent ambassador to the Innocence Project 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.080 in New York. Today, on Wrongful Conviction Junk Science, we 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:47.120 examined gunshot residue evidence. As listeners to this show, you've 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.959 probably heard how coerse confessions are used to convict innocent 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:56.840 people on another podcast in our feed wrongful conviction, false Confessions. Now, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.960 the coerse confessions of Shanta and Antonio were certainly factors 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.920 in convicting Allan at his trial, but today our focus 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.679 is on faulty forensic science and gunshot residue certainly has 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:13.200 its issues that began almost a century ago. 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.680 When three dozen former Brooklyn Navy yard workers found themselves 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.120 irreparably poisoned by the asbestos they used in the construction 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.040 of the battleships that won World War Two. Perry White 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.560 and Arthur Luxembourg literally put everything on the line to 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.200 successfully represent them. Since then, they've championed the rights of 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.280 over fifty thousand regular Americans injured through the negligence and 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.640 malfeasance of mainly large corporations. Their ability to level the 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.280 playing field against seemingly insurmountable odds has led them to 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.440 litigate against opponents as diverse as Big Pharma all the 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.760 way to those responsible for rendering the water of Flint, 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.600 Michigan undrinkable. Whites and Luxembourg take it personally when there's 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.079 a miscarriage of justice anywhere, and therefore they feel a 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.839 sense of responsibility to support Bramfel conviction podcasts. You can 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.680 learn more about them by visiting whiteslux dot com. That's 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:19.560 w e I t z l ux dot com. 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.240 In nineteen thirty three, a group of American police officers 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.240 from several departments gathered in a lab at the police 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:30.400 headquarters in Mexico City. They were there to observe Teodoro 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:35.480 Gonzalez demonstrate his new technique for testing gunpowder residue. The 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:39.480 test became known by many names, the dermal nitrate tests, 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.439 the glove tests, but my favorite might be the paraffin 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:49.360 gauntlet test. The officers watched as Gonzales poured white, hot 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.520 liquid paraffin wax over the fingers, hands, and wrists of 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.720 his lab assistant. A glimmer of discomfort flashed across the 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:02.120 assistant's eyes as the hot wax code his skin. Next, 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.079 Gonzales delicately wrapped the layer of cotton around the assistant's 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:10.640 fingers and hands. Layer after layer of wax, then cotton 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:16.079 were added until gloves began to form while the paraffin cooled. 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.760 Gonzales explained that after a suspect fires a gun, the 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.400 gunpowder residue becomes embedded deep in the pores of the skin. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.520 Even weeks after a gun is fired. The hot melted 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.360 paraffin will open up the pores, mix with the oils 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.760 in the skin, and cause the pores to discharge the 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:41.040 gunpowder residue trapped within them. Part of this experiment included 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.680 Gonzalez's assistant firing a gun and then washing his hands 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.600 prior to them being wrapped. The American officers noted the 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:54.560 advantage of this technique, suspects couldn't simply wash their hands 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:59.720 and avoid detection. Gonzales delicately peeled the gloves from the 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.760 hands of his assistant and then took them over to 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:07.120 the lab table and gently laid them down. He measured 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:11.040 a small beaker of a chemical solution that contained sulfuric acid. 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.520 Drop by drop, he coated the interior of the gloves 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:21.080 with the mixture. Minutes later, dark blue specks the size 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:25.400 of pinpoints began to form, and Gonzales explained that these 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:31.920 blue dots indicated the presence of dermal nitrates from gunpowder residue. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.080 The police officers huddled around the paraffin gloves to see 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:39.800 for themselves. After that, it took only a few years 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.840 for the paraffine test to become widely used in police 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:48.439 departments across the United States. Within three years of Gonzalez's demonstration, 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.840 it was used as forensic evidence in the murder trial 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.480 of James L. Westwood in Pennsylvania. At his trial, the 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.559 state called expert witnesses who testified the gunpowder rene was 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.400 present on Westwood's hands, indicating that it was he who 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:09.000 shot and killed his wife. But Westwood's defense attorney called 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:13.520 his own expert witnessed, a chemist who had conducted his 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:18.640 own study and found that thirteen different substances could also 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.240 cause the blue dots to appear on the paraffin gloves. 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.839 He cited things like ordinary soot, certain brands of toothpaste, 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:33.600 tobacco cigars, cigarette ashes, and different types of matches, but 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.320 none of that evidence mattered for the jury. Westwood was 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.880 convicted of the first degree murderer of his wife and 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:46.000 sentenced to life in prison. By nineteen sixty seven, a 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:51.120 wider study concluded that rust, colored fingernail polish, and residue 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:56.079 from evaporated urine, soap, and tapwater would all test positive. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.560 Contact with any of these objects would create blue dots 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.400 to appear on the gloves in a paraffin test. The 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.760 paraffine test is no longer being used today, and the 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:12.040 signs behind testing gunshot residue has changed. By the time 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.559 Allan was arrested in nineteen ninety four, at sixteen years old, 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.560 officers used a new version of the test. It's called 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:23.720 the atomic absorption test, but that test has many of 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.800 the same reliability problems as the paraffin glove. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.080 None of the evidence that was used to convict Alan 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.200 has withstood the test of time. The test used to 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.240 indicate that he had gunshot residue on his hands is 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:41.840 no longer considered reliable. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.440 So joining us today is Joanna Sanchez and she's from 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.280 the Wrongful Conviction Project at the Office of the Ohio 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.880 Public Defender and we're super excited to have her today. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.800 She's currently representing Alan, whose story we talked about at 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.880 the beginning of this episode. Now, Alan Allan's full name 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.920 is Raymond Carl Allan Warren, and Joanna might refer to 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.040 him as either Alan or Raymond, but don't get confused, okay, 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.520 because Raymond and Alan are the same person. So Joanna, 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.560 it's great to have you here today and I'd like 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.160 you to start by telling us a little bit about Alan. 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.960 What was he like as a sixteen year old living 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:21.920 in Dayton, Ohio. 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:27.160 Alan was, by all accounts, a normal teenager. He had 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.840 a few brothers and he's very close with them. He's 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.800 close with his mother, very close with his grandmother. You know, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.000 had lots of friends in the neighborhood, would spend time 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.680 with them. Alan loves working on cars, so that was 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.280 something he spent a lot of time doing, both fixing 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:50.160 cars and painting them, playing basketball. And now you know, 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.640 I've known him now for six years. He's a very engaging, 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:58.000 caring person, very talkative, has strong relationships with his family 0:15:58.040 --> 0:15:58.480 and friends. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.800 Still, so I want to get into the details of 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.120 the crime a little bit. So police officers arrive on 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.280 Allen Street the night when he had been fixing his 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.040 moped and this green car had crashed into the side 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.320 of a house and the driver is shot. So what 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.880 makes them even decide to go after Allan as a 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:19.120 suspect in the first place? 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:23.120 So I think it's a matter of circumstance. The boys, 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.640 they worked on their scooters for a period of time 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.240 after they heard the gunshots, and then in order to 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.920 go home, Alan had to essentially go through the crime 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.480 scene because it happened on the street he was living 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.640 on with his grandma's. So Alan that night told the 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.240 police about this encounter with the victim, and the police 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:42.800 asked him if he was willing to come down to 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.400 the police station to give a statement. So he voluntarily 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:51.480 went to the police station and also voluntarily submitted to 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.680 a gunshot residue test. And the result of that gunshot 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.600 residue test was that Alan tested negative on his left 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.240 hand even though he's left handed, and the palm of 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.560 his right hand, though, tested positive for two elements that 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.440 are known to be in gunshot residue. And I honestly 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.879 think once that gunshot residue test came back, they just 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:14.960 became laser focused on Alan. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.000 So tell us a little bit about that test. What 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.480 exactly did gunshot residue testing entail at the time when 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:24.240 Alan went down to that police station. 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.800 So, gunshot residue testing, the idea behind it is that 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.680 one a person shoots a firearm, particles will be admitted 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.000 that will land on their clothing, or their hands or 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.680 their face, and that those particles can then be tested. 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.520 You can't see them, but they can be tested and 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.440 tell the please something about whether the person being tested 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.280 might have shot a firearm. All gunshot residue testing is 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.400 not a simple yes or no test. This is gunshot 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.480 residue or it's not. What it's really testing for is 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.960 the elements that are known to make up gunshot residue. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.840 So specific they test for three elements in most circumstances, 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:08.040 and that's lead, barium, and antimony. In Raymond's case, they 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.080 actually only tested for two of those elements, and what 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.439 they used was an atomic absorption test, which is now 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.000 largely out of use, and that's because it has a 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.080 high risk of producing false positives. So the reason the 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.639 AA test is unreliable is because it tests for elements 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.080 that are also present in items that are completely unrelated 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.359 to guns. So as a result, a person who's never 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.600 touched or been near a gun could falsely test positive. 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.840 So Joanna, give us an example. What are some things 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.880 that Alan might have touched that would make him test 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:44.760 positive for gunshot residue. 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.880 Brake linings are one example of an item that has 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.080 the same elements as gunshot residue, and on the night 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.359 of the shooting, as we know, Raymond, who frequently was 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.919 working on cars, had contact with brake linings while he 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.760 fixed his motorized scooter. So the AA test as used 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:08.240 in Raymond's case is problematic because we can't know if 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.880 those two elements came from gunshot residue or if they 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.320 came from brake linings or some other substance that has 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.800 those same elements as gunshot residue. 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.400 So you mentioned that the AA test, the atomic absorption 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:26.840 test that was used on Allen, is not really considered 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:31.040 any more to be dependable, but they're still using gunshot 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.840 residue as a form of evidence, just with new tests. 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.440 Has signs progressed in any significant way since the AA test. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:44.600 Gunshot residue testing generally has progressed somewhat. The AA test 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.000 is no longer really in favor because of its limitations, 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.120 and there was a switch over in the mid two 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:57.080 thousands to a test called SEMEDS, and that test was 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.000 better in that it not only would tell an analyst 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.520 whether those elements were present, but also could tell them 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.199 the shape and size of the elements and sort of 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.880 how they function together, whether they were fused, whether they 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.280 were the shape of a sphere, all things that would 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.920 be important for distinguishing between gunshot residue and let's say 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.240 another substance. And so in order for an analyst to 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.120 have any confidence that something is actually gunshot resume, they'd 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:27.480 need to do that sort of morphological analysis and also 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.600 compare all of the elements in that gunshot resdue sample 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:33.960 with all of the elements in other substances so that 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.360 they can actually eliminate other items. 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.480 Okay, So that sounds like it does have the potential 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.159 to be a more accurate test because you're able to 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.800 look at the residue under a microscope and tell that 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.119 the molecules actually come from a gun and can't be 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.119 from anywhere else. But is this a perfect fix? 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.840 Even if that's done properly, there's still a second issue 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.520 with gunshot resdue testing, and that's the reason why the 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.119 scientific community has really pulled back from this testing, and 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:09.280 that issue is contamination. So gunshot residue is incredibly transferable. 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:12.040 It's very easy to pick it up by touching a 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:16.160 surface that's contaminated with gunshot residue. So if I were 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.000 to shoot a gun and shake your hand, you could 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:24.160 very likely test positive for gunshot residue and with that, 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.880 that creates just too big of a risk for environmental contamination. 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:28.840 And what it. 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.800 Means is that, you know, people who touch the back 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:36.000 of police cars, handcuffs, police officers, police stations, there's a 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.720 good chance they could pick up gunshot residue from those surfaces, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.600 even though they themselves never touched a gun. And we 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:46.720 know that happened in Raymond's case because he was transported 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:48.600 to the police station in the back of a police 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.479 car and then held in an interrogation room for several 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.639 hours before he was actually tested. If on the call 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.439 before that police officer had taken somebody who shot a 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.359 gun down to the police station, that person could have 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.000 left gunshot resdue there and then Alan gets in the 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.119 car and picks it up. And there have been studies 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.359 across the country that show that kind of thing occurs. 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.520 So there is a study in Colorado where they tested 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:16.400 I think forty police cars excuse me, twenty six police 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.480 cars and they found gunshot residue particles and fourteen of them. 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.520 So this kind of transference is very common, unfortunately. 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.000 So and you know, in hearing this, I got to 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.440 tell you, this is like it's startling, it's scary. And 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.320 you initially start to think, well, how many people might 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:39.320 have been wrongfully convicted when the evidence in their case 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.919 was just gunshot residue on their hands. I mean, you 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.159 have to admit it's pretty compelling evidence for people that 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:49.359 don't know otherwise. And I mean what I mean for 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:52.639 people that don't know otherwise, I'm talking about jurors. So 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:55.920 with that in mind, how big of a role did 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:59.040 faulty gunshot residue evidence plane Allen's case? 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:03.879 The gunshot residue evidence here was critical in Alan's trial. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.560 The examiner when he testified, what he said was that 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.800 this positive test means one of three things. Either Alan 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.120 shot a gun, Alan was a victim of a shooting, 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:18.000 or Alan handled ammunition. We we know he wasn't a victim, 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:22.520 and both of the other options still implicate him, whether 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:26.000 he's shooting a gun or handling ammunition. What the examiner 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:30.160 left out is the fourth possibility that this is contamination 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:32.960 and the fifth possibility, which is that it's not gunshot 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.720 residue at all. It could just be barium and antimony 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:40.480 on Alan's hands as a result of him having contact 0:23:40.480 --> 0:23:44.440 with brake linings earlier that night, and that is the 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:47.359 entire scope of the physical evidence in this trial. 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:01.960 So as a result of this gives gunshot residue evidence, 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.440 Alan gets sentenced to fifteen years to life. He's only 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:08.719 seventeen years old. I mean, what options did he have 0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:13.280 to seek recourse? How would one go about proving that 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:15.919 gunshot residue evidence is false. 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:21.679 It's incredibly difficult for anybody who's incarcerated to collect the 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:26.440 evidence or knowledge necessary to file a new trial motion 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:29.840 or raise a claim that they were wrongfully convicted. So 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:33.119 part of that is he's locked inside, so he can't 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:36.520 go out and conduct any sort of investigation. He lacks 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:40.200 the funds, so he doesn't have the ability to hire 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.240 an attorney or an investigator or an expert witness to 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:46.479 go get this evidence. Alan was challenged and that he 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:49.000 couldn't even get the records in his case. So if 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:51.000 he wanted to write a motion for a few years, 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:53.520 he did not even have a copy of his transcript 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:55.520 that would have helped him to do that. So there 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:59.160 are so many barriers. He's a smart guy, but he's 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:01.280 not an attorney. I mean, that's why we say people 0:25:01.320 --> 0:25:06.480 should have attorneys to litigate these complex issues. Is incredibly difficult, 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:09.760