Celebrity forensic scientist Henry Lee liable for fabricating evidence that sent men to prison: judge
A famous forensic scientist who weighed in on some of the US’s most notorious cases has been found liable for fabricating evidence that put two Connecticut men behind bars for a murder they did not commit.
Dr. Henry Lee, 84, was ruled liable for the wrongful convictions of Ralph “Ricky” Birch and Shawn Henning by US District Judge Victor Bolden in a pre-trial ruling released on Friday.
As a result of Bolden’s decision, Birch and Henning’s wrongful conviction suits against eight police investigators and the town of New Milford will move to trial, the Hartford Courant explained.
In Lee’s case, the jury will be asked to assign a damages amount.
Birch and Henning were convicted in 1989 of the grisly Dec. 1, 1985, stabbing death of Everett Carr, 65.
The pair was known for committing burglaries in the area at the time of Carr’s death, but there was no forensic evidence that linked them to the crime.
They were ultimately convicted in part thanks to evidence from Lee, who testified that it would be possible for the then-teens to stab Carr 27 times and cut his throat without getting any blood on their clothes.
Lee also testified that a towel that was found in a bathroom near the crime scene had tested positive for bloodstains.
It was later suggested that the towel could have been touched by the alleged killers while cleaning up.
In 2008, when Birch and Henning were struggling to appeal their case, a new test revealed that the towel stains were not blood, but rather an inorganic substance, the Hartford Courant reported.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ordered new trials for both men in 2019, and the Litchfield State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed both charges the following year.
At the time of the dismissal, Henning — who was only 17 at the time of the alleged crime — had been out on parole since 2018.
Birch, who was 18 when Carr was killed, served more than 30 years of a 55-year sentence.
The pair sued Lee, the eight police investigators and New Milford in December 2020.
In his ruling Friday, Bolden agreed with Birch and Henning’s assessment that Lee never tested the towel, the Hartford Courant said.
Lee’s own expert on photographic evidence conceded that images of the towel did not reveal signs of forensic examination, the outlet added.
“Other than stating that he performed the test, however, the record contains no evidence that any such test was performed,” the judge wrote.
“In fact, as plaintiffs noted, Dr. Lee’s own experts concluded that there is no ‘written documentation or photographic’ evidence that Dr. Lee performed the TMB blood test. And there is evidence in this record that the tests actually conducted did not indicate the presence of blood.”
Bolden also criticized Attorney General William Tong’s office, which is defending Lee and a number of the former police detectives named in the suit, according to the Hartford Courant.
Lee initially qualified for an immunity defense, but the state is no longer eligible to use it, Bolden opined.
Lee — who has previously headed the state’s forensic laboratory and is now a professor emeritus at the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Sciences, which is named in his honor — has repeatedly denied offering false testimony at the 1989 trial.
“In my 57-year career, I have investigated over 8,000 cases and never, ever was accused of any wrongdoing or for testifying intentionally wrong,” he told reporters in 2020.
“This is the first case that I have to defend myself.”
Just six years after Birch and Henning were convicted, Lee rose to national fame when he testified at O.J. Simpson’s murder trial in 1995.
He later weighed in on high-profile cases including the killing of JonBenét Ramsey, the murder of Laci Peterson, and the reinvestigation into the assassination of President John. F. Kennedy.
His role as a blood spatter expert during the trial of author Michael Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife two decades ago, was also covered extensively in the hit documentary series “The Staircase.”
In 2007, Lee was accused by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler of hiding or destroying evidence in the Phil Spector case. The accusation, however, was later considered baseless, according to CourtTV.
With Post wires
