DOUBT
MISSISSIPPI’S SLOWMOTION DISASTER
By 1997, Mississippi officials should have
known that Michael West was less than
credible. He had already been the subject
of unflattering profiles in the ABA Journal and the National Law Journal. He
had also been suspended by the American Board of Forensic Odontologists for
testifying beyond his expertise. In one
case, he’d used the “West Phenomenon”
to match the bites taken out of a halfeaten bologna sandwich found at a murder scene to the man on trial for com-
“I don’t think
there’s any doubt
Sheriff Roseman
wanted to solve
this murder.”
mitting the crime.
The defendant was convicted, but the
case was later tossed out when West
admitted to disposing of the sandwich
after studying it. He said that he had
thrown the evidence away because, since
no other forensic analyst was qualified to
replicate his methods, the sandwich was
no longer necessary.
HUFFINGTON
02.03.13
Yet West remained a favorite in Mississippi courtrooms, and among law enforcement officials and prosecutors. In
1999, the Mississippi Supreme Court
considered the appeal of Kennedy Brewer, who was on death row for the rape
and murder of 3-year-old Christine Jackson six years earlier.
As in the Mabry case, Hayne had
claimed to find bite marks on the victim’s body. He then called in West, who
matched the marks to the dentition of
the chief suspect, in this case Brewer, the
boyfriend of the girl’s mother. In light of
the continuing revelations about West,
Brewer’s attorneys asked the court to
overturn the conviction and death sentence, and to suppress West’s testimony.
The cou rt refused. According to the majority opinion, West still possessed the
“knowledge, skill, experience, training
and education necessary to qualify as an
expert in forensic odontology.”
If you don’t know better, West’s hokum can sound convincing. “I should
have gone with my instincts about
Gates,” Roseman says. “But when West
showed me the video where he matched
the marks, he made a good case. I just
thought, this is what the man does every
day. All these judges and crime lab folks
trust him. He sounds scientific. Who am
I to say he’s wrong?”
In fact, in Mabry’s case West may not
have been wrong about the bite marks.
Mabry’s previous paramours told Roseman that she enjoyed rough sex, included biting. Gates himself admitted to