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Old 6th January 2016, 11:47 AM   #177
JTF
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,518
CSI Effect

The Avery case is another example of the CSI Effect. This effect has resulted in a disturbing trend of linear thinking and forensic analysis is a complex creature. There are a myriad of reasons why a crime scene is either devoid of trace evidence or contains a small portion of what laymen believe SHOULD be present. A few examples off the top of my head...

Several years ago, a student at the University of Vermont was raped and murdered by a individual with a history of sexual assault. This perp was convicted of the murder, but the jury foreman admitted that he would have been acquitted if the only piece of evidence was his DNA being found inside the victim's body.

As disturbing as that sounds, he put a cherry on the CSI Effect Sunday by adding that the lack of the victim's DNA/trace evidence in the perp's car made their decision an extremely difficult one. So, the initial response from this jury was that if the victim was inside the perp's vehicle, physical traces of the victim would HAVE to be present in that vehicle.

That mindset is the reason why critical thought has taken a beating in the past several years. If the argument is that the perp must have cleaned his car, Avery had far more time and help (e.g., Dassey) to clean his trailer/garage, yet trace evidence/DNA was STILL present in his garage.

Another example involves a case that I have researched for the past 26 years. Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted of murdering his wife and two young daughters in their home at Fort Bragg. This residence had prior tenants and MacDonald had frequent guests, so one would assume that there would be ample unsourced trace evidence/DNA in that apartment. Right? Wrong.

The totality of unsourced trace evidence/DNA consisted of 19 fibers and 3 hairs. Many of those 19 unsourced fibers could have been sourced if MacDonald had not discarded most of the family clothing items and 1 of those 3 unsourced hairs was proven to have been the result of lab contamination.

MacDonald's wife was not sexually assaulted and the blood evidence was unique because each family member had a different blood type. At trial, the defense did not argue that the source of a single blood stain was someone other than a MacDonald family member.

IMO, the lack of trace evidence/DNA sourced to Halbach/Avery in certain locations is not nearly as important as trace evidence/DNA that WAS found on the Avery compound. If you combine the sourced evidence with the FACT that Halbach's burned remains were found in Avery's yard and some of her personal items were found in a burn barrel, there is only one reasonable narrative.

Steven Avery murdered Teresa Halbach by shooting her in the head;he placed her nude corpse in the fire pit; he moved her vehicle to another part of the compound; he opened the hood and dismantled the vehicle; he took the car key with him; he removed the license plates; and placed the plates in another vehicle on the compound.

The level of Dassey's involvement and the details of the rape/murder will never be resolved, but the person responsible for Teresa Halbach's death is Steven Avery.
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