CRIM 467 WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Presentation Summary
October 16, 2014
Concepcion Bacasnot Concepcion Bacasnot was a forensic serologists for Baltimore County police department within the state of Maryland. Bacasnot had performed and/or supervised serological tests on approximately 480 criminal cases. She is currently known for her faulty testimony within the case of Bernard Webster vs Maryland.
In July 1982, a schoolteacher returned to her Towson, Maryland, apartment in the middle of an afternoon. The victim entered her bedroom and was attacked by a man who jumped out from within her bedroom closet. The perpetrator covered her head and positioned an object at her back, threatening to shoot her and then forcibly raped her. The victim described the perpetrator as a …show more content…
Three other witnesses at the victim’s apartment complex had seen a man similar to the description given by the victim that day. The victim and two of the three witnesses falsely identify Bernard Webster’s as the perpetrator within a photo array. Bernard Webster, only 18 years old, was arrested and formally charged as the perpetrator in this case. At trial, the prosecution presented evidence that semen was found on the comforter from which the crime had happened. With ABO blood typing, results had specified the semen from the crime scene was type AB. Bacasnot had testified in court that she found type A and type B antigens in the vaginal washings from the rape kit, in opposition with her report specifying type AB. The forensic scientist, still however, went on to inaccurately testify that the donor of the semen was