Forensics Experts Challenged the FBI. So the FBI Tried to Censor Their Conference.
An FBI official urged the American Academy of Forensic Sciences to cancel a conference presentation titled “Taking on the FBI.”
Jordan Smith
Jordan Smith is a state and national award-winning investigative journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She has covered the criminal legal system for more than 25 years and, during that time, has developed a reputation as a resourceful and dogged reporter with a talent for analyzing complex social and legal issues. She spent more than 20 years reporting in Texas where she was regarded as one of the best investigative reporters in the state. Her investigative work in wrongful conviction cases has helped to exonerate six people. A longtime staff writer for the Austin Chronicle, her work has also appeared in The Nation, the Crime Report, and the Texas Observer, among other places.
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A Forensics Company Tells Cops It Can Use DNA to Predict a Suspect’s Face. Scientists Worry the Tool Will Deepen Racial Bias.
Parabon NanoLabs sells police composite images of suspects built on DNA. Critics say the product is snake-oil science fiction that can exacerbate problems in the criminal legal system.
The End of Roe
Missouri Advocates Sue to Overturn More Than a Dozen Laws on Abortion
The advocates say the laws conflict with the state constitution’s new protection for reproductive rights.
The End of Roe
Missouri Voters Overturn Abortion Ban in Decisive Win for Reproductive Rights
Missouri was the first state to officially outlaw abortion after the Dobbs decision. Voters said no more.
The End of Roe
Missouri Could Become the First State to Overturn a Total Abortion Ban
A ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution has a groundswell of support. Its success hinges on turnout.
Texas Lawmakers’ Unprecedented Actions Halt Robert Roberson’s Execution — For Now
Following the state Supreme Court’s last-minute intervention, Roberson is expected to testify next week at a legislative hearing on Texas’s junk science law.
Texas Is About to Execute Robert Roberson for a Crime That Never Happened
State courts refused to review Roberson’s case, clearing the way for his execution based on the junk science of shaken baby syndrome.
Trials of Richard Glossip
The Supreme Court May Force Oklahoma to Kill Richard Glossip
At oral arguments Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito appeared indifferent to the state AG’s insistence that Glossip’s conviction is unconstitutional.
Missouri Kills Marcellus Williams Over Objections From Prosecutor and Victim’s Family
Attorney General Andrew Bailey scuttled a deal that would have spared Williams’s life, and the courts and governor failed to intervene to stop the execution.
A Prosecutor Wanted to Spare Marcellus Williams’s Life. Missouri’s Attorney General Got in the Way.
After the AG's meddling, a trial court judge rejected Williams's innocence claim — even though prosecutors mishandled the murder weapon.