NJ Appellate Court Reverses Conviction Based on Bullet Lead Analysis

As numerous media outlets are reporting (ABC, CBS, Washington Post), a New Jersey appellate court has reversed a murder conviction that rested in part on bullet lead analysis, remanding for a new trial. "The integrity of the criminal justice system is ill-served by allowing a conviction based on evidence of this quality, whether described as false, unproven or unreliable, to stand," says the appellate opinion. According to the press stories, the decision is believed to be the first reversal of a conviction based on bullet-lead testimony since last year's NRC report calling the methodological bona fides of such evidence into question. The opinion is available online. See State v. Behn, No. A-2062-03T3 (N.J. Super. Ct. -- App. Div. Mar. 7, 2004).