Famous Cases and Infamous Issues in Forensic Geology.

There have been many famous cases in which geological evidence has been important and approaches individualization over the past 100 years. These include Margarethe Filbert because it established how the evidence is used; Adolph Coors III because of its high visibility; Camarena because of the diligence of the examiners; Rebecca O’Connell  and Sarbjit Minhas because of the quality of the evidence; John Dobson because of the diligence of the investigators; New Jersey rape and coal because of the clue within the evidence; Rape in Upper Michigan because soil examination produced other physical evidence; Fitzpatrick because it resulted in a Forensic Center; Junger and Schneck because they unearthed the unusual; Gradusova and Nesterina because of their skill in mineralogy; Countess Agusta for quality reasoning in a difficult political situation.

However, there are also infamous cases including the second trial in the Rebecca O’Connell case where the defense examiner was given the wrong sample and he did not recognize there was a problem. Brown v. Oklahoma represents an example where lack of qualifications and experience of the examiner resulted in his providing inaccurate evidence.

Privatization of public forensic laboratories is a many sided phenomena. The issues include among others: integrity of the evidence, qualifications of the examiners, availability of evidence, cost, and forensic research.