An email will be sent with your log-in information 48 hours prior to the webinar.
Have you ever been inside a crime laboratory? You now have the opportunity, thanks to a partnership between Stetson University College of Law’s
National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law and the
Law Enforcement Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service.
“Crime Lab Essentials,” the second free webinar in the Capital Litigation Initiative: Crime Scene to Courtroom Forensics Training series funded by the US Department of Justice, will take you inside the state-of-the-art Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory (MNPD-CL).
The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar features a tour of the crime lab conducted by forensic scientists that covers five forensic disciplines:
- latent prints,
- firearms,
- forensic biology (DNA),
- drug identification and toxicology.
After describing a mock crime, MNPD-CL forensic scientists will demonstrate a behind-the-scenes, step-by-step look at laboratory analysis and report writing. The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar training will also discuss quality
assurance, laboratory errors, chain of custody and evidence security.
Webinar panelists include:
Professor Carol Henderson is the director of the award-winning
National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law (NCSTL) at
Stetson University College of Law. Professor Henderson has planned and
managed NCSTL’S development since 2002. NCSTL provides the only
comprehensive searchable database of science, technology, and law in the
world (www.ncstl.org). Recognized
as an international authority on forensic science and law Professor
Henderson has presented more than 280 lectures and workshops to
thousands of forensic scientists, attorneys, judges, law enforcement
professionals and military personnel worldwide on the topics of
scientific evidence, courtroom testimony, and professional
responsibility.
Ann Talbot, the director of the Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory, Talbot, who has been serving as the Acting Director and Quality Assurance Manager for the MNPD lab during its final design stages and since its January 2014 official opening, has more than 30 years experience in law enforcement forensic work. She previously served as the Crime Laboratory Director for the Albuquerque Police Department and the forensic laboratories of the New Mexico State Police. Talbot’s bench experience was in serology/DNA, hair and trace analysis, drug chemistry, toxicology (blood alcohol), and crime scene investigation. She has been qualified as an expert witness.
Christine Funk started her career in the Minnesota Office of the Public Defender in 1994.In 1995, she was assigned her first forensic DNA case.Not a scientist by training, she struggled to understand the complexities of forensic evidence.Over the years, Christine’s forensic caseload expanded to include arson, broken babies, drug chemistry, as well as the study of false confessions and eyewitness identification in the context of complex litigation.
In 2013, Christine moved to Washington, DC to become General Counsel for the Department of Forensic Sciences.This provided additional insights as to how forensic science fits within the criminal justice system.
Currently, Christine consults with members of the criminal justice stakeholders, as well as those writing about forensic science – from investigative pieces to movie scripts to a television pilot.Christine serves on the Legal Resource Committee for the Organization of Scientific Area Committees.She is also on the AAFS Standards Board.Previously, Ms. Funk has served on the Board of the Minnesota Innocence Project, the Forensic Laboratory Advisory Board for the state of Minnesota, and the White House Sub-Committee to the Sub-Committee on Forensic Science in Education, Ethics, and Terminology.
The webinar is part of an eight-part series that educates lawyers about using forensic science in death penalty cases, from evaluating the crime scene to defending or prosecuting death penalty cases in court.
This remarkable series was created
by Stetson’s Professor Carol Henderson, an international authority on
forensic science in partnership with the Law Enforcement Innovation
Center at the University of Tennessee. This webinar series is made
possible by a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S.
Department of Justice.
This project
was supported by Grant No. 2015-CP-BX-K006 awarded by the Bureau of
Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of
the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also
includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of
Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the
Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or
opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of
Justice.
CLE Credit
These webinars are designed both prosecutors and
defense attorneys. Attendees who complete the course will be eligible
for free CLE credits (2.0). The Office of Professional Education will work with each individual participant for reporting specifics.
CLE applications will be made to Florida and other states per individual
requests. Please email [email protected] for further information and
state specific requests.