This week the “Blindly follow the science!” mob took another hit.

Good.

It is particularly satisfying that the most recent discrediting scandal has occurred in the area of forensic science, which is increasingly being revealed as a domain where far too many fake experts and dubious—but convincing to juries!—“scientific” methods dwell.

By any measure, the most famous of all real-life forensic scientists by far (I’m not counting all the “C.S.I.” and “N.C.I.S” characters and “Quincy”) is Dr. Henry Lee, known for his expert testimony in sensational criminal cases like the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the JonBenet Ramsey case. Lee, 84, is now professor emeritus at the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences—yes, it’s named after him. Yet Connecticut federal judge Judge Victor Bolden ruled last week that Lee’s analysis was substantially responsible for the wrongful convictions of teenagers Ralph Birch and Shawn Henning, who were convicted for a 1985 murder. They have been in prison for 30 years, but tests in 2008 eventually proved that when the jurors were told by Lee that stains identified as blood were found on a towel they were misled. Judge Bolden found that Dr. Lee had failed to provide evidence to support his testimony. “Dr. Lee’s own experts concluded that there is no ‘written documentation or photographic’ evidence that Lee performed a scientific blood test on a towel,” Bolden wrote, “and there is evidence in this record that the tests actually conducted did not indicate the presence of blood.”

Of course, the latest tests on the towel may also have been flawed….

Dr. Lee, then a rising star in the forensic science field, had been brought to Connecticut by prosecutors to bolster their cases against then 17-year-old Henning and 18-year-old Birch. They were two young professional burglars living in a stolen car when they became the top suspects in the 1985 murder of of Everett Carr, who had been stabbed over 20 times. Their defense attorneys argued that the teens couldn’t have been responsible for Carr’s exceptionally bloody death because no blood was found on either of them. But Lee testified at both trials that a towel at the murder scene was stained by the victim’s blood, and the State used his testimony to convince both juries that Henning and Birch used the towel to wipe themselves clean of Carr’s arterial spray.

Lee still insists that he tested the towel and that the result was positive for blood as he testified. “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 when the convictions were vacated in 2020. “This is the first case that I have to defend myself.”

Gee, Henry, maybe it’s time to re-examine all those other cases.

The accusation of fabrication as opposed to mere negligence is especially shocking, but it is also a useful reminder of the danger looming when laypersons trust and rely upon experts without independent confirmation of their analysis or the ability to judge the validity of their “scientific” conclusions. Scientists have far too much power and influence for human beings subject to bias, personal and ideological agendas, and human error. Worse, too many of them revel in that power, and lack the humility and integrity to avoid presenting their opinions as fact. The unethical and destructive performance of Dr. Anthony Fauci and others during the pandemic should be sufficient to teach that lesson, but the fall of Dr. Lee, who may end up being liable for millions in damages to the two victims of his false testimony, is a useful supplement.