Dogs vs. DNA: K-9 testimony debunked.

• Author: Balko, Radley
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IN DOZENS of cases in the 1980s, Brevard County, Florida, police officer John Preston testified that his police dogs could not only track incriminating scents over long distances and through water, but pick them up months and even years after a crime took place. Now three men convicted based on evidence from Preston's dog have been exonerated, and a criminal justice advocacy group claims to have found a fourth.

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A team of Texas hounds has a similar record. Fort Bend County police dogs, with the names of James Bond, Quincy, and Clue, recently picked two men out of a "scent lineup" under the supervision of Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett. Both men were later cleared, one after serving three months in jail. In June they filed suit against Pikett.

These aren't isolated incidents. In a 1990 Hastings Law Journal article on police dog...