The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Sept. 22 overturned an East Texas man’s murder conviction, ruling that the evidence – including that from a so-called “scent lineup” – was insufficient to sustain his conviction and 75-year sentence. Richard Winfrey was convicted of murdering a neighbor in 2004; chief among the evidence used to convict him was the result of a scent lineup administered by former Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Deputy Keith Pikett, known for his use of bloodhounds to link scents found on items belonging to a victim to the scent of a suspect. In the Winfrey case, Pikett had the dogs smell clothing taken from the victim, then attempt to match the scent to a lineup of items taken from six suspects, including Winfrey; each of a team of three of Pikett’s dogs – James Bond, Quincy, and Clue – responded to Winfrey’s scent. Aside from the dog evidence, no other evidence linked Winfrey to the victim.
According to the CCA, dog scent evidence by itself is not sufficient to sustain a conviction: “Based on our review of this record, we find that the evidence, even when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, merely raises a suspicion of guilt and is legally insufficient to support a conviction of murder beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Barbara Hervey wrote for the court; “We conclude that scent-discrimination lineups, when used alone or as primary evidence, are legally insufficient to support a conviction.” (However, because Winfrey’s attorney did not object at trial to the use of the lineup, the court could not consider on appeal the overall admissibility of scent evidence, the court noted in a concurring opinion authored by Judge Cathy Cochran and joined by three other judges.)
Pikett’s scent-lineup work has been widely criticized, most recently in a report from the Innocence Project of Texas, which considers the evidence nothing more than junk science that has been implicated in a number of wrongful arrests and convictions. Indeed, according to the Innocence Project’s report released last fall, Pikett has testified in the past that there is no need for formal training or for scientific rules and protocols for conducting the lineups.
This article appears in October 1 • 2010.