Trace Evidence

The processing of trace evidence from nearly 400 crimes has been put on hold at the state police crime lab while officials scramble to replace analysts who have departed, leaving the facility unable to pry clues from the hairs, fibers and gunshot residue found at crime scenes. The lab, which accepts evidence from police agencies across Maryland, has in the past year lost all three of the analysts who handled trace evidence, a state police spokesman said yesterday. The third of those to leave resigned last month from the lab, which like others in the area struggles to compete against federal agencies for the services of forensic scientists.

A 13-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted in a Woodlawn roller skating rink in 2010 took the witness stand Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, pointing to Davon Perry as one of three males who took part in the attack. The girl from Baltimore told the jury that Perry, whom she referred to as "the tall one," was in the dark storage room at Skateworks the night of Aug. 14, as were two others she described only as "the skinny one" and "the fat one. " She broke into tears as she described how one by one, the three performed sex acts with her. Perry, 26, who was living in Pikesville before his arrest, has been charged with several counts, including first-degree rape and first-degree sex offenses.

After deliberating for two days, jurors yesterday convicted Donald W. Jones of stabbing, raping and robbing his Overlea neighbor, a 63-year-old grandmother of two.Jones, 26, who faces the death penalty, hung his head and looked at the floor as the jury in Anne Arundel County -- where the case was tried -- announced its verdict.The family of the victim -- Evelyn Jane Cunningham, who was found in the bathtub of her Baltimore County home Dec. 15, 1995 -- appeared to begin to cry.Cunningham's son, David, said: "Two days is not a long time, but when you are waiting for something like this, it seems like forever."

Jami Grant, director of the forensic science program at the University of Baltimore and mentor to many of Maryland's detectives and crime scene technicians, died Wednesday of pneumonia at a hospital in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Ruxton resident, who was traveling to the Grand Canyon when she became ill, was 51. Mel Laney, a Reisterstown resident and her companion of three years, said Dr. Grant had been in robust health until a cold developed into a rare form of pneumonia that couldn't be brought under control.

When students of forensic science at the University of Baltimore do laboratory work, they wait until technicians from the city's crime lab leave for the night. The school's lab equipment is so limited that all of it can be stored in one closet. But forensic science education at the downtown university is set to undergo a major transformation, with a laboratory expansion and upgrade from a $2 million grant approved by Congress last month. There is no completion date for the project, which is still being planned.

A second finding of microscopic traces of explosives in the debris of TWA Flight 800 has taken federal investigators a significant step closer to concluding that an explosive device -- and not mechanical failure -- downed the plane, a law enforcement source said yesterday."

DURING the Willie Smith trial, we saw a great deal of evidence, presented in meticulous and lurid detail, but we never saw the single most crucial piece of physical evidence -- the beach towel.The beach towel supported every aspect of the defense's version of what happened, neatly wrapping up acts of mutually consensual sex on the beach and the lawn. It's hard to imagine a rapist tackling a victim on a towel spread out for the occasion. But the towel was never produced in evidence. Why not?

Enduring a barrage of highly detailed scientific testimony, jurors in the Kenneth N. Harris murder trial appeared to have difficulty staying awake Monday during a long cross-examination of a DNA analyst. Lawyers defending three men charged in the former Baltimore councilman's killing two years ago directed a stream of questions at the state's witness, Kelly Miller, a DNA analyst with the Police Department's crime lab, who had testified that evidence at the crime scene came into contact with the defendants.

A 13-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted in a Woodlawn roller skating rink in 2010 took the witness stand Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, pointing to Davon Perry as one of three males who took part in the attack. The girl from Baltimore told the jury that Perry, whom she referred to as "the tall one," was in the dark storage room at Skateworks the night of Aug. 14, as were two others she described only as "the skinny one" and "the fat one. " She broke into tears as she described how one by one, the three performed sex acts with her. Perry, 26, who was living in Pikesville before his arrest, has been charged with several counts, including first-degree rape and first-degree sex offenses.

Jami Grant, director of the forensic science program at the University of Baltimore and mentor to many of Maryland's detectives and crime scene technicians, died Wednesday of pneumonia at a hospital in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Ruxton resident, who was traveling to the Grand Canyon when she became ill, was 51. Mel Laney, a Reisterstown resident and her companion of three years, said Dr. Grant had been in robust health until a cold developed into a rare form of pneumonia that couldn't be brought under control.

Enduring a barrage of highly detailed scientific testimony, jurors in the Kenneth N. Harris murder trial appeared to have difficulty staying awake Monday during a long cross-examination of a DNA analyst. Lawyers defending three men charged in the former Baltimore councilman's killing two years ago directed a stream of questions at the state's witness, Kelly Miller, a DNA analyst with the Police Department's crime lab, who had testified that evidence at the crime scene came into contact with the defendants.

When students of forensic science at the University of Baltimore do laboratory work, they wait until technicians from the city's crime lab leave for the night. The school's lab equipment is so limited that all of it can be stored in one closet. But forensic science education at the downtown university is set to undergo a major transformation, with a laboratory expansion and upgrade from a $2 million grant approved by Congress last month. There is no completion date for the project, which is still being planned.

The processing of trace evidence from nearly 400 crimes has been put on hold at the state police crime lab while officials scramble to replace analysts who have departed, leaving the facility unable to pry clues from the hairs, fibers and gunshot residue found at crime scenes. The lab, which accepts evidence from police agencies across Maryland, has in the past year lost all three of the analysts who handled trace evidence, a state police spokesman said yesterday. The third of those to leave resigned last month from the lab, which like others in the area struggles to compete against federal agencies for the services of forensic scientists.

After deliberating for two days, jurors yesterday convicted Donald W. Jones of stabbing, raping and robbing his Overlea neighbor, a 63-year-old grandmother of two.Jones, 26, who faces the death penalty, hung his head and looked at the floor as the jury in Anne Arundel County -- where the case was tried -- announced its verdict.The family of the victim -- Evelyn Jane Cunningham, who was found in the bathtub of her Baltimore County home Dec. 15, 1995 -- appeared to begin to cry.Cunningham's son, David, said: "Two days is not a long time, but when you are waiting for something like this, it seems like forever."

A second finding of microscopic traces of explosives in the debris of TWA Flight 800 has taken federal investigators a significant step closer to concluding that an explosive device -- and not mechanical failure -- downed the plane, a law enforcement source said yesterday."

DURING the Willie Smith trial, we saw a great deal of evidence, presented in meticulous and lurid detail, but we never saw the single most crucial piece of physical evidence -- the beach towel.The beach towel supported every aspect of the defense's version of what happened, neatly wrapping up acts of mutually consensual sex on the beach and the lawn. It's hard to imagine a rapist tackling a victim on a towel spread out for the occasion. But the towel was never produced in evidence. Why not?

On the streets, they're known as "knockers" for their aggressive style. The Baltimore Police Department calls them "flex squads" - teams of officers given the freedom to chase down suspected criminals in neighborhoods dominated by drug dealing and violence. But as one flex squad's officers cruised the Southwestern District, questions mounted about their activities. Defense attorneys, prosecutors and community members say they have heard for years about allegations of misconduct that included planted drugs and troublesome practices about how suspects were treated and charged.

REMAINS SILENT By Michael Baden and Linda Kenney. Alfred A. Knopf, 224 pages. TRACE EVIDENCE By Elizabeth Becka. Hyperion, 300 pages. It may seem difficult to believe that the forensic-drenched mystery novel is a fairly recent phenomenon, but it only emerged as a viable sub-genre less than 20 years ago. But thanks to television shows like CSI and Cold Case Files, the public's thirst for scientific detail has only increased, with no signs of being...