Sunday, June 24, 2007

"Mr. Obfuscation" in Action

In this clip, Dr. Meehan explains that his usage of the term "non-probative" in an obscure passage of the May 12 report should have alerted defense lawyers (and, bizarrely, "councilmen," though why elected officials ever would have looked at the report Meehan never said) to the fact that the rape kit contained unidentified DNA from multiple males. (Meehan made no such claim in the Dec. 15 hearing; and, indeed, opened his testimony by saying there was no unidentified male DNA.) The implication: he just "expected too much" from his readers, who it seems, weren't that bright.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

The little toadstool Meehan reminds me of Joey Buttafuco explaining his relationship with Amy Fisher.

So declasse and infantile.

Lane Richardson, no doubt, was going nuts.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

Meehan's claim that the term "non-probative" for unmatched DNA is an industry standard appears to be false. Google "non-probative DNA" and mostly the references are to known DNA samples which are used to test quality of the process. Also referenced are DNA from a known source such as a husband.

It will be interesting, in future litigation, to see Dr Meehan try to support the notion that it is an industry standard to use the term "non-probative" for unmatched DNA in a rape case.

Anonymous said...

Is there any hope Meehan's lab will lose its license/accreditation, or at least be barred from working for governmental agencies?

Anonymous said...

Yes.

Anonymous said...

How can this guy still have a lab? Are any accreditation/licensure agencies looking at him?

After looking at guys like this I hope EVERYBODY looks closely at the people the Innocence Project is able to release.

Someone should look at the Steven Avery case. In this case, the Wisconsin Innocence Project got him released--soon afterwards he was arrested for murder.

Finally, am I the only guy out here who feels that a good local enterprising reporter in NC could have broke this case (Meehan) open earlier--and probably would have won a Pulitzer Prize?

Anonymous said...

The little toadstool Meehan reminds me of Joey Buttafuco explaining his relationship with Amy Fisher.

So declasse and infantile.

Lane Richardson, no doubt, was going nuts.

Debrah

Jun 24, 2007 6:12:00 PM

==================================

Hey, thats good!!

Anonymous said...

This is a message for KC Johnson:

RE: Your upcoming book


ALong with most of us here,I am eagerly awaiting your upcoming book. However, most of the readers of your book with have at best only followed part of this case (indeed, the only reason I have paid much attention is due to a friend who is a Duke grad).

I worry much of your good work/material/research/insights will be "left on the cutting room floor".

History will suffer if much of the smaller/less well known information is not published. Or the various clips you are showing here are lost/forgotten.

I am currently reading Bugliosi's book on the Kennedy assassination. He got around this problem by placing a disk in the back of the book with additional research/documents/etc. Perhaps you have thought of this, or its a bad idea for other reasons.

KC - I have 2 kids--> I want them to be able to know the truth in 20 years (thats a long time for the MSM to rewrite history).

Please seriously this idea.

Anonymous said...

This is a message for KC Johnson:

RE: Your upcoming book


Along with most of us here,I am eagerly awaiting your upcoming book. However, most of the readers of your book with have at best only followed part of this case (indeed, the only reason I have paid much attention is due to a friend who is a Duke grad).

I worry much of your good work/material/research/insights will be "left on the cutting room floor".

History will suffer if much of the smaller/less well known information is not published. Or the various clips you are showing here are lost/forgotten.

I am currently reading Bugliosi's book on the Kennedy assassination. He got around this problem by placing a disk in the back of the book with additional research/documents/etc. Perhaps you have thought of this, or its a bad idea for other reasons.

KC - I have 2 kids--> I want them to be able to know the truth in 20 years (thats a long time for the MSM to rewrite history).

Please seriously consider this idea.

Anonymous said...

8:44

Yes, KC definitely needs to make sure that this blog is preserved. Far too much information and talent would go to waste.

Anonymous said...

It's was actually a surprise to me that nobody reacted to [the "non-probative" statment] to say, "Hey!"

I'm surprised that a lawyer reading the report, or a councilman, would not see that and say, "Hey, what is he talking about?"

If it was so dang obvious to Meehan that the "non-probative" statement would raise questions, then why the heck didn't he provide a fuller, clearer explanation in his report? The purpose of a report by an expert summarizing complex, technical data is so that lawyers or councilmen or whomever DO NOT have to say, "Hey, what is he talking about?"

What a maroon.

Anonymous said...

Meehan is not a toadstool. He's a scumsucker, a bottom feeder.

How can he keep a job? He must be the owner. Who in their right mind would hire him?

Jeopardy final round answer

Mike vs Kirk, Joe, Wade, Jim, and Brad

question

What is the present day version of David vs Goliath?

Anonymous said...

as I read previously today
KC's Masterpiece indeed needs to be preserved in totality

I was never one to spend much time reading blogs until KC. You have me hooked, lined, and sunk. Checking DIW is the last thing I do before going to bed and the first thing I do in the morning.

Meehan gives new meaning to arrogant idiot. Either he is brilliant to play dumb or he is so dumb that he could constitute a book of blonde jokes a capella. Did the taxpayers of NC hire him to do this report? If so, the state needs to sue for fraud. Brad Bannon needs to be paid for deciphering the results of the DNA testing. If Meehan's company was involved in ANY convictions, they should be investigated IMMEDIATELY.

Thanks to Professor Coleman et al for their investigative work in the AG Cooper announcement. The good professor should have been asked to clean up the DA's office and DPD.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Just saw this -- it skewers with satire some of the villians in this mess more effectively than most of what is written outside of this blog: http://carbolicsmokeblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/dukes-gang-of-88-who-took-out-ad.html

Anonymous said...

Regarding arrogance and brains:

1. Of course it's best to not be arrogant and to have brains.

2. You can get away with not having brains if you are not arrogant.

3. If you are arrogant, you'd better have brains.

4. Too many people associated with Durham/Duke have no brains and are arrogant. Nifong is the classic example. This is the worse combo.

(of course, I guess its even worse to have no brains, no ethics, and be arrogant).

ZEKE

Anonymous said...

I completely understood what Meehan was talking about. Why didn't anyone question what "non probative" meant? He used an esoteric term and nobody bothered to question it, their fault not his.

Anonymous said...

"Councilmen"...he clearly meant councillors. Apparently, even KC, like his courtroom friends, can't put someone else's words, mistakes or not, in context.

Anonymous said...

9:17

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

When I was in college on the track team, we would yell, "Get out the hook" when someone was acting like an idiot. If only someone had pulled out the hook early on with Meehan. This guy was something else. Chuck Barris would have banged the gong on him in the first two minutes of his testimony!

Michael said...

re: 9:37

For how awful Meehan was on the stand during Nifong's trial, it may be his personality issues that led him to blab everything out back in December. As if he couldn't help himself.

I think that Meehan is the type of person that the cops love as a suspect as he just can't shut up.

Anonymous said...

An oldie but goodie:

Miller_On_Leno

Debrah

Anonymous said...

9:17 -- LOL

As KC points out --

How do you explain that the referenced sentence in Meehan's report was supposed to indicate that his lab had found multiple foreign male DNA in some of their testing -- when Meehan himself denied (under oath -- testifying at the 12/15/06 hearing -- to questioning by Brad Bannon) that he had found multiple foreign male DNA??

No, we didn't find foreign DNA in our testing but, if you prove me wrong, that's what I was attempting to tell you about it in this sentence right here... in my report.

"Mr. Obfuscation"

noun
1. confusion resulting from failure to understand [syn: bewilderment]
2. the activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered [syn: mystification]
3. darkening or obscuring the sight of something

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

Kudos to Mr. Williamson for hitting the nail (I mean idiot) on the head.

Anonymous said...

A look-back at some of the most disgusting players:

Dirty_Laundry

Debrah

Anonymous said...

"nonprobative" literally (from the Latin) means "not proving." In other words, it doesn't prove a connection to the suspects. It's ambiguous, however, because it also suggestions that while it may not prove, it doesn't disprove (there may be some points of similarity). That's classic obfuscation.

2eke

If one is arrogant, with or without brains, one has no manners and is thus the worst of all Southern epithets, "tacky." Despite brains, talent, or fortune, one can alwaysa have good manners,

gotc

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

(of course, I guess its even worse to have no brains, no ethics, and be arrogant).

ZEKE

This is called the gang of 88

Anonymous said...

polanski

Words are my thing. I can be strictly truthful and evade answering a question--and of course, I recognize when someone is utilizing the same strategy.

Don't tell me that there isn't a market for English majors--at least those with a classical liberal arts background, not the nonsense that some colleges try to pass off nowadays.

gotc

Anonymous said...

Debrah
Thanks for the heads up on the Dennis Miller interview

my favorite line

"she's like the Louvre of DNA,...she's like Barry Scheck's idea of a Six Flags Amusement Park"

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Debrah (or someone else):

RE: Dirty Laundry


Why so many references to Greta VS? Wasnt she very anti Nifong?

Also: has anybody compiled all of those referred to inflamatory articles in one place?

ZEKE

Anonymous said...

q: what do you do on the job market with an English Major?

a: you keep those latte's coming!!!

Anonymous said...

11:43--funny

The reality is that you either go to grad school, or look for a real job. Well-trained English majors, imo, have a big advantage in the job market because they write and communicate well.

Do you think Professor Dr. Wahneema Lubiano was an English major?

Doubt it.

Polanski

Anonymous said...

11:43

ha! ha!

In all seriousness, an English major, as long as he or she has strong writing skills (and I would surely hope he or she would!), can get a job in alnost any industry, at least in the human resources or public relations departments.

I don't have a lot of patience for classes in literature written after 1960--a person can read that on his own. As I tell my students, it's the harder stuff you need a teacher to help understand.

gotc

Anonymous said...

Is Meehan a Communist?