How the Flawed Science of Bite-Mark Analysis Imprisoned a Man for Murder
Forensic dentists who peddled junk science now admit they were wrong. But will their colleagues — and the courts — listen?
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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Trials of Richard Glossip
As Glossip Execution Nears, Lawyers Challenge Death Penalty Itself as Cruel and Unusual
In a petition filed Friday, attorneys for three men on Oklahoma's death row show why each case reveals the death penalty to be cruel and unusual punishment.
Trials of Richard Glossip
Oklahoma Prepares to Execute Richard Glossip
Richard Glossip, the lead plaintiff in <em>Glossip v. Gross</em>, the Supreme Court decision that legalized a controversial form of lethal injection, now faces death — but he may well be innocent.
Lester Bower Executed in Texas Despite Serious Doubts Over His Guilt
"I have fought the good fight," Bower said before he was killed by lethal injection. In his 31 years on death row, he saw 523 fellow prisoners sent to the death chamber.
Doubts Still Plague the 31-Year-Old Lester Bower Case But Texas is About to Kill Him Anyway
At 67, Bower is set to die on June 3 for killing four people in 1984. But the case against him has mostly unraveled in the decades he has been on death row.
Exclusive: Leaked Report Profiles Military, Police Members of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs
The report, issued by the ATF last July, includes investigations into the Bandidos and Cossacks, whose bloody clash last weekend left nine dead in Waco, Texas.
Why Is It So Easy for States to Execute the Mentally Ill?
In 2015 alone, U.S. states have executed multiple prisoners with a history of serious mental illness, most recently Derrick Charles in Texas.
Texas Bill Would Ban Snitch Testimony in Death Penalty Cases
Nearly 50 percent of people wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death were prosecuted with the help of informants. One Texas lawmaker is trying to end this.
Five Disturbing Things You Didn't Know About Forensic "Science"
The FBI’s review of flawed hair analysis — its largest-ever post-conviction evaluation of questionable forensic evidence — is just the tip of the iceberg.
How a Rumor Sent a Teen to Prison for Murder in Vegas
The state of Nevada says Kirstin Lobato committed a brutal murder in Vegas when she was 18. But apart from a wild rumor, no evidence connects her to the crime.