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She Was Fired After Raising Questions About a DNA Test. Now She's Getting $1 Million.
Officials from the chief medical examiner's office in New York City were furious when they heard that Marina Stajic, one of their longest-serving laboratory directors, had openly questioned whether they had sufficiently verified the reliability of a novel form of DNA testing being used in criminal cases.
Ms. Stajic was concerned that incorrect use of the DNA testing technique could lead to wrongful convictions, she said. But her bosses took her questioning in a different light.
"Hold me down," Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city's medical examiner, wrote in an internal email to a colleague in 2014, when she found out that Ms. Stajic had voted on a state panel to compel the office to release a study proving the technique's validity. "She sucks," a lawyer for the office wrote about Ms. Stajic, in another internal email.
Ms. Stajic, who was fired from the medical examiner's office about six months later, sued in 2016, claiming she was pushed out in part because she had challenged the controversial DNA testing technique. On Monday, the city agreed to settle her case for $1 million.
Ms. Stajic, 69, said she felt vindicated. "As a forensic scientist, I am fully aware of the importance of validating each study," she said in an interview. "My concern was if that study was not done, there could be wrongful convictions. And if the wrong people were convicted, that would mean the wrong person would be walking free."
[...] Ms. Stajic's case, even without going to trial, shed light on the inner workings of a city agency that is often assumed to be untouched by political pressure. But the case's bigger legacy may be one bit of information that her attorneys say came out in the lawsuit: They said it proved the city had never performed the study of the DNA technique as it had claimed.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 27 2019, @06:30PM (5 children)
A million dollars is nice, but medals are great for passing down to your children, grandchildren, and your enemy's children and grandchildren. "My grandma was smarter than your ass-hole grandfather!! And, we have a medal to prove it!"
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @06:36PM (4 children)
The only way DNA testing could work is if *someone* specifically sets each persons individual DNA to ensure no duplicates. Similarly, look at all the unique types of life on Australia, almost as if it was a genetic playground for someone (or something). The other option is ordinary evolution.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 27 2019, @07:04PM (3 children)
???? Neither Stajic nor I claim that genetic testing is worthless. It is one particular test, using DNA, that has been brought into question. One, unreliable test that was never verified scientifically. If people don't put unwarranted faith in DNA testing, there's a lot that can be done with it.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 28 2019, @01:34AM (2 children)
It's amazing what otherwise supposedly brilliantly intelligent people will trust as absolute and infallible, I had a tough time convincing a "leading scientist in his field" that fingerprint readers on PCs could not be 100% trusted as a single source of identity for patients to automatically retrieve their individual treatment plans.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Sunday April 28 2019, @01:43AM (1 child)
I blame shows like CSI that put in the minds of the public that DNA evidence is 100% accurate and that every case has direct non-circumstantial evidence.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 28 2019, @01:53AM
And, moreso, that prosecutors will not attempt to convict (or at least seek plea bargain) without direct evidence.
Also, that every murder or serious crime gets investigated by a crack team with unlimited time and resources.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/