The recent trials in the U.S. of Patrick Leon Nicholas for the rape and murder of Sarah Yarborough and Gary Hartman for the rape and murder of Michella Welch continue to highlight how FIGG can be a powerful investigative lead generation tool. The use of FIGG, however, raises questions for forensic scientists, prosecutors and defense attorneys as these cases progress through the judicial system. For example, as seen in the Yarborough admissibility (Frye/Kelly or Daubert) hearings will occur, particularly on the application of statistics and as they apply to FIGG. Additionally, the Hartman case raised issues on standing, technology use and privacy, especially as they relate to the tradeoffs during suppression motions.
On this webinar, experienced prosecutors and forensic scientists discuss the current issues raised regarding FIGG and how such issues were similarly addressed in cases and court decisions from the past and present. The webinar will address common questions raised, statistics, expert testimony, as well as best practices for presenting FIGG in court. Resources will include transcripts of testimony from historical and recent cases.
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Speaker |
Biography |
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Anne Marie Schubert Retired Sacramento County District Attorney. |
Anne Marie Schubert has over 32 years of law enforcement experience and is a nationally recognized expert in forensic DNA. She was elected District Attorney for Sacramento County, California in 2014 and served in this capacity until December 2022. Notably, in 2018, her office led the investigation and prosecution of Joseph DeAngelo, the “Golden State Killer using Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG). Since the arrest of DeAngelo, her team has used FIGG to identify the NorCal Rapist, unidentified human remains and partnered with the California Innocence Project to exonerate Ricky Davis after 15 years of wrongful conviction. Today, she is nationally recognized in her knowledge of forensic DNA and has trained law enforcement across the world on the use of Forensic investigative Genetic Genealogy (FiGG) to solve violent crime, exonerate the innocent and identify human remains. |
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Bruce Budowle Visiting Professor in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Helsinki, Finland
Adjunct Professor in the Forensic Science Institute at Radford University, Radford, VA, USA
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Bruce Budowle received a Ph.D. in Genetics in 1979 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. From 1979-1982, Dr. Budowle was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Working under a National Cancer Institute fellowship, he carried out research predominately on genetic risk factors for diseases such as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, melanoma, and acute lymphocytic leukemia. From 1983-2009, Dr. Budowle worked at the FBI's Laboratory Division researching, developing, and validating methods for forensic biological analyses. Dr. Budowle recently retired as Director of the Center for Human Identification and Regents Professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Texas, where his efforts focused on the areas of forensic human identification, microbial forensics, and emerging infectious disease with substantial emphasis in genomics and next generation sequencing. He served as a Commissioner of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and as a member of the Texas Governor's Sexual Assault Survivor's Task Force. He continues to research and work in the areas of forensic genomics and contributes to supporting humanitarian efforts via human identification. He currently is a visiting professor in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Helsinki and an adjunct professor in the Forensic Science Institute at Radford University. |
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Chris Lindberg Deputy District Attorney, San Diego District Attorney's Office |
Mr. Lindberg holds a B.A from U.C. Irvine, a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, and a L.L.M. from Chapman University. A DDA in San Diego for 27 years, Mr. Lindberg has significant homicide experience including the prosecution to trial of a 2002 murder featured on NBC’s Crime & Punishment TV series, a 32-year-old cold case homicide that was one of the first cases in the nation to successfully admit STRmix probabilistic genotyping DNA results at trial following a multi-week Kelly-Frye hearing, and the 2022 trial for the 1969 murder of Mary Scott which was solved by Investigative Genetic Genealogy. He is the team leader of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit and the project manager for the grant funded Cold Homicide and Research Genealogy Effort (CHARGE) that uses IGG to solve old murders. He currently co-chairs the California District Attorneys Association Forensic Sciences Committee, and is a member of the National District Attorneys Association Forensic Working Group as well as the American Academy of Forensic Sciences DNA Consensus Body. |
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Mitch Morrissey Retired District Attorney of Denver Colorado, Co-founder of United Data Connect |
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This workshop is brought to you by Verogen, the steward of GEDmatch and GEDmatch PRO, and the only company committed exclusively to the innovation, development, and commercialization of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for forensic and human identification applications. |
