Daubert Challenge, Bite Mark / Forensic Odontology

1. 01.

   Not undated boilerplate: the NAS 2009 and PCAST 2016 reliability findings are source-linked to the record, so the citation is one you can verify before you file. Bite-mark ID has produced multiple DNA-confirmed exonerations; the discipline's claims of individualization remain unsupported.

2. 02.

   NIST IR 8352 (2023) found bite-mark analysis 'not supported by sufficient data' (https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2023/NIST.IR.8352.pdf), second authoritative pile-on.

3. 03.

   Cross-exam typically lets the expert claim 'reasonable medical certainty' without challenging the underlying uniqueness premise.

• Lead controlling authorityVerbatim quote

  “PCAST finds that bitemark analysis does not meet the scientific standards for foundational validity, and is far from meeting such standards.”

• Supporting authorityVerbatim quote

  “Forensic bitemark analysis lacks a sufficient scientific foundation because the three key premises of the field are not supported by the data. First, human anterior dental patterns have not been shown to be unique at the individual level. Second, those patterns are not accurately transferred to human skin consistently. Third, it has not been shown that defining characteristics of that pattern can be accurately analyzed to exclude or not exclude individuals as the source of a bitemark.”

• Supporting authoritySummary of source, not a verbatim quote

  The committee received no evidence of an existing scientific basis for identifying an individual to the exclusion of all others.

• Supporting authorityVerbatim quote

  “Harward, who narrowly escaped the death penalty, was convicted primarily on the testimony of two forensic dentists who said that Harward's teeth matched marks left on the rape victim.”

• Supporting authoritySummary of source, not a verbatim quote

  Bennie Starks was exonerated and cleared of all charges on January 7, 2013 after a 25-year battle to clear his name. DNA testing in 2000 excluded him, yet prosecutors continued to maintain he was the attacker for years afterward.

• Supporting authorityVerbatim quote

  “Today the Texas Forensic Science Commission issued a landmark decision recommending a moratorium on the use of bite mark evidence in future criminal prosecutions in Texas until the technique can be scientifically validated.”

Provenance: every citation above carries a source URL that was fetched and confirmed reachable when the template was authored. A citation without a working source URL does not ship. Counsel of record adapts the motion language to circuit-specific precedent and the facts of the case before filing.