Yujiemi Chisholm, Author at Forensics TTA

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Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (CT)

The State of Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Fellows Make large impact at agency and contribute to the expansion of the profession

Through the support of their Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner System Program grant, the State of Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has graduated three Forensic Pathology Fellows over the past two years. These fellows completed over 700 autopsies, participated in and published research projects, presented at the National Association of Medical Examiners Annual Meeting, and took an active role in teaching over 150 visiting Pathology Residents and medical students with hands-on autopsies and lectures on topics in Forensic Pathology, contributing to the expansion of the profession. Over the past year, their most recent Fellow graduate completed over 225 autopsies on a wide variety of causes and manners of death, including 34 homicides; assisted in the investigation of 23 scenes; and testified in two trials.

September 2023

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Highlights

Idaho State Police Forensic Services uses Coverdell funding to develop a statewide Question Documents Program and maintain Breath Alcohol Section accreditation

The Idaho State Police Forensic Services is using Coverdell funding to ramp up a statewide Question Documents Program. This Program will also service laboratories throughout the country to help address the decreasing availability of Question Documents examination. The Idaho State Police Forensic Service also employed a Coverdell–funded employee to conduct the majority of their breath alcohol calibrations to assist in maintaining accreditation of their Breath Alcohol Section. After obtaining this accreditation, they are able to calibrate every instrument in Idaho on an annual basis.

September 2023

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Highlights

Police use trash and 26-year-old evidence for arrest in 1997 sexual assault of minors

Pennsylvania State Police charged Dorwart, 54, of Pleasure Road in Manheim Township, after using genealogical DNA to match semen recovered after the assaults to DNA collected from a Rutter’s cup Dorwart dropped into his trash in May, according to charging documents.

August 2023

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Forensic Pathology

This document specifies the core competencies and other standards of quality and education for accredited forensic pathology graduate medical education programs.

July 2023

Denver DA

Cold Case Homicide Victim Rita DesJardine Receives Justice

A Denver jury found Steven Cumberbatch (currently 61-years-old) guilty of murdering Rita DesJardine. Ms. DesJardine was 36-years old when in December 1994, her body was found in a Denver motel room. The jury found Cumberbatch guilty of one count of murder in the first degree and he was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The verdict in the Cumberbatch case could never have been achieved without that teamwork and the sustained financial support from many federal grants focused on cold case work.

June 2023

National Association of Medical Examiners

National Association of Medical Examiners Inspection and Accreditation Policies and Procedures

The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) Inspection and Accreditation (I&A) Program has the explicit purpose of improving the quality of the forensic/medicolegal investigation of death. The accreditation standards emphasize policies and procedures, not professional work product. The accreditation standards represent minimum standards for an adequate medicolegal death investigation system, not guidelines.

May 2023

Highlights

Committed to solving these crimes’: Federal grant will allow for new DNA testing in cold case murders

A new $500,000 grant will enable the DNA testing of evidence held in cases, some dating back decades. The federal grant also covers the addition of detectives dedicated to the cases and a prosecutor for when they crack a case.

May 2023

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Bureau of Justice Assistance

CEBR Funding Contributes to Approximately Half of All CODIS Hits to Date

Recent performance data from grantees show that CEBR funding is responsible for more than 500 CODIS hits per week. Based on the reported metrics, the CEBR Program has contributed to approximately half of all CODIS hits to date. See the FBI’s CODIS-NDIS Statistics page for more information on CODIS and BJA’s DNA CEBR Grantees page for more information on program accomplishments.

May 2023

Publications

Project FORESIGHT Annual Report, 2021-2022

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not [Description provided by the WVU website].

May 2023

FTCOE

Just DNA Searches In CODIS

In episode three of the FTCOE’s 2023 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, the presenters discuss how statutes regarding lawfully owed DNA and familial DNA searches are utilized in sexual assault investigations, such as using the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to solve cases.

April 2023

Author: Yujiemi Chisholm