KWIP reviewing cases involving discredited forensic discipline of hair microscopy

In 2021, KWIP and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced a partnership to review Colorado cases involving the discredited forensic discipline of hair microscopy. Before the advent of DNA technology, analysts would use hair microscopy to visually compare hairs from a crime scene with sample hairs from a suspect. They would then reach a probabilistic conclusion about whether the hairs came from the same source.

Once DNA testing was developed as a forensic tool, it showed that hair microscopy was wholly unreliable. The FBI conducted a review of thousands of cases where FBI analysts performed hair microscopy. And, the FBI encouraged state crime laboratories to conduct similar audits of their own hair microscopy work.

Jud Lohnes joined KWIP in May 2022 to manage our review of hair microscopy cases. Fortunately for people convicted based on this faulty science, new DNA testing offers a potential path to exoneration. If the crime scene hairs are still available, they can now be subject to DNA testing.

For more information about KWIP's hair microscopy review, see this article from the Daily Camera.