8:30 am – Registration/Light Breakfast
9:00 am – Opening Remarks- Jenny Cheung & Jessica Goldthwaite
9:15 am – Activity Issues, Confirmation Bias and the Burden of Proof- Dr. Peter Gill
10:15 am – Break
10:30 am – Barbara Byrne Keynote Lecture- Tamara Giwa
11:30 am – Invisible Intruder: Understanding DNA Contamination in a Forensic Lab Setting- Dr. Nidhi Sheth & Masooma Javaid
12:30 pm – Lunch Break (Chat with Capstone Project Students)
1:30 pm – Leveraging Uncertainty: Litigating Contamination with Imperfect Information – Martha Saunders & Paul Beyder
2:30 pm – Biolegality and Forensic Science- Tebah Browne
3:30 pm – Break
3:45 pm – Cause and Manner of Death Testimony: Examining Where the Expert Ends & the Jury Begins – Allison Lewis
4:45 pm –  Adjourn

8:30 am – Registration/Light Breakfast
9:15 am – Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science – Shreya Rastogi
10:15 am – Break
10:30 am – Statistical Issues in Probabilistic Genotyping —Dan Rabinowitz
11:30 am – Challenging Carceral Forensic Software- Marc Canellas
12:30 pm – Lunch Break
1:30 pm – NIST Validation Assessment Tool (VAST)- Dr. Steve Lund
2:45 pm – Technology & Criminal Defense– Greg Coleman
3:45 pm – Break
4:00 pm – Winning Your Client’s Case with the Human Factors Report- Clint Hughes
5:00 pm – Adjourn

Paul Beyder is currently a staff attorney in the DNA Unit of The Legal Aid Society of New York City. Prior to joining the DNA Unit in 2024, he was a staff attorney in the Criminal Defense Practice, Brooklyn office of Legal Aid for thirteen years, where he tried numerous felony and misdemeanor cases.   During his time there, Paul developed model crosses of drug chemists and foundational challenges based on the failure by the government to prove the accuracy of a known drug standard.   He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Rutgers University (New Brunswick) and received his J.D. cum laude from Brooklyn Law School, from which he received a number of awards.

Tebah Browne is the Forensic Science Policy Specialist at Innocence Project, New York. In this role, she assists with policy work that focuses on the reliability, validity, and regulation of forensic science methods and technologies. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Tebah worked at the Legal Aid Society in their DNA unit as the in-house scientist and DNA analyst. Tebah has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Forensic Science with concentrations in Molecular Biology and Toxicology. Tebah is currently a Forensic Sciences Ph.D. candidate at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Marc Canellas is a public defender with a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and human factors. He is passionate about using science and engineering to uphold individual rights, validate lived experiences, and challenge the rise of carceral technologies.

As a public defender in the Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s Forensics Division, he supports public defenders and panel attorneys on complex forensic issues, from DNA software and digital forensics to shaken baby syndrome and firearms and toolmarks. He has also argued (and unfortunately, lost) an appeal of a Daubert challenge involving TrueAllele in the Appellate Court of Maryland. Before joining Maryland OPD, Marc served as a public defender in Arlington, Virginia, where he represented both juvenile and adult clients in serious criminal cases, including violent felonies, at the trial and appellate levels. He consults on federal and state cases nationwide, focusing on DNA software and facial recognition systems. A proud member of the Maryland Defenders Union, Marc is deeply committed to advocating for systemic change.

Before his legal career, Marc earned his J.D. from New York University and his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), managing policy and appropriations for the Departments of Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce (including NIST), among others. Due to his expertise in AI and policy, he was previously elected to Chair the IEEE-USA AI Policy Committee, advising federal and state policymakers on AI governance on behalf of 180,000 US-based engineers, where he led the drafting of IEEE-USA Letter to NIST regarding the “DNA Mixture Interpretation: A NIST Scientific Foundation Review.” He is currently a member of the IEEE 1012 Standard for System, Software, and Hardware Verification and Validation.

Marc has published widely in law reviews and scientific journals including the flagship publications AI Magazine and IEEE Computer. He has also trained judges and attorneys on a broad range of issues including forensic evidence, AI, autonomous weapons, and cybersecurity.

Gregory Coleman joined the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice in 2011 as a member of the Richmond County Office. Prior to joining the Legal Aid Society, Gregory worked as a Litigation Association at Kaye Scholer, LLP (now known as Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP). As a staff attorney, Gregory has served as a staff attorney in both Richmond and Queens counties representing indigent New Yorkers in Criminal and Supreme Court. In 2019, Gregory joined the Criminal Defense Practice’s Training Unit as a Staff Attorney rotator. As trainer, Gregory has created and presented CLEs on topics ranging from Discovery to Cross-Examination.

Over the course of his career outside of the Legal Aid Society, Gregory has served as a Court Attorney to a criminal court judge in Kings County and as an adjunct professor of law at Touro Law Center in Central Islip, NY teaching New York Criminal Procedure. Gregory currently serves as the Deputy Director of Training of the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice.

I joined the UK Forensic Science Service (FSS) in 1982. I began research into DNA in 1985, collaborating with Sir Alec Jeffreys of Leicester University. In the same year we published the first demonstration of the forensic application of DNA profiling. Since 2011, I have been Professor of Forensic Genetics at the University of Oslo Hospital, Norway.

In 1993-4 I led the team which confirmed the identity of the remains of the Romanov family, and disproved the claim of Anna Anderson to be the Duchess Anastasia.

I led the team that developed the first multiplex DNA systems specifically to be used in the UK National DNA database in 1995, which was adopted throughout Europe and beyond. In 2000, I developed the LCN method.

I have published more than 250 peer reviewed papers, cited more than 26,000 times, in the scientific literature and two books entitled “Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice” and “Forensic Practitioner’s Guide to the Interpretation of Complex DNA profiles”.

Past chair of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) steering group on methods, analysis and interpretation. Winner of the scientific prize of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG) (2013) and Honorary member of ISFG (2024).

Tamara Giwa is the Executive Director of the Federal Defenders of New York; where she leads staff across four offices in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Tamara has been with the Federal Defenders since 2019. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, she served as the organization’s Director of Strategic Litigation, where she led the development of litigation strategies and non-litigation advocacy aimed at combatting racism and inequality in the federal criminal legal system. Tamara currently teaches a course on Professional Responsibility in Criminal Practice at New York University Law School. Before joining the Federal Defenders, Tamara spent eight years at the Legal Aid Society. During her tenure she served as a staff attorney in the DNA Unit, where she represented clients and advocated at the state and national level for policy initiatives related to the use of forensic tools in criminal proceedings. Prior to that, Tamara worked as a trial attorney in the Criminal Defense Practice of the Legal Aid Society, and as a staff attorney with the Brooklyn Family Defense Project. Tamara graduated from Duke University and Vanderbilt University Law School.

Clint is the Supervising Forensic DNA Attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS). From 2020-2024, Clint served on the Expert Working Group which authored the report, Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach (May 2024). He also served on the Editorial Committee of the Working Group. Clint has spent the last 27 years as a public defender. For the past 12 years, Clint has served as a Forensic DNA legal specialist, advising attorneys and their clients in thousands of cases involving DNA evidence.

He has also been a pro bono advisor for attorneys in state and federal courts in California, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Wisconsin on cases involving complex DNA mixture evidence and probabilistic genotyping. He has presented to judges, forensic scientists and criminal defense attorneys on legal issues related to forensic DNA analysis. Clint was the lead attorney of the pro bono DNA litigation team that successfully precluded the application of the DNA mixture software STRmix and the modified random match probability to DNA samples in the upstate New York murder case People v. Hillary, in 2016. Clint was also a member of the legal team that successfully precluded use of the Forensic Statistical Tool (FST) software and low copy number (LCN) DNA testing in People v. Collins, in Brooklyn, New York in 2014.

Masooma Javaid has been a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society for over ten years. She started at the Parole Revocation Defense Unit in 2014. Following three years with PRDU, she transferred to Criminal Defense Practice in the Bronx trial office. In September 2023, Masooma started working in the DNA Unit assisting Staff Attorneys in the Bronx office with cases involving DNA and other forensic evidence.

Allison Lewis has been a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice (CDP) since graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 2005. She joined the then newly formed DNA Unit in 2013 and the Homicide Defense Task Force (HDTF) in 2019. Allison currently works with the Manhattan trial office, trying cases and assisting attorneys with assessing DNA results, drafting motions, litigating admissibility challenges and preparing defense strategies for trials with DNA and forensics issues. She gives regular training on DNA testing, forensic methods and challenges throughout New York City and the country. She presented at the American Association of Forensic Science (AAFS) annual meeting in 2021 and copresented with Dr. Andrew Baker in 2024 (entitled “In a Manner of Speaking: A Medical and Legal Perspective on the Problem of Manner of Death Testimony in Criminal Trials and What We (All) Should be Doing About it”). In September of 2023, Allison presented at the International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI) in Denver, Colorado. That presentation was entitled, “Consider the Defense: How (and When) the Defense Might Successfully Communicate with Labs, and Why Labs Should Listen.” Allison is also a voting member of the Medicolegal Death Investigation AAFS Standards Board (ASB) Consensus Body and is the Chairperson of the MDI ASB Cognitive Bias Working Group. She is also a voting member of the Firearms and Toolmarks ASB Consensus Body. She is published on DNA collection and privacy, authoring “End Guilt by Genetic Association in New York” (5/24/22) and “The NYPD’s new DNA Dragnet,” (2/8/19) both published in The Daily News, and “Don’t Allow Genetic Stop and Frisk,” published in Newsday (3/23/17).

Steve Lund is a statistician at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he leads the Evidential Statistics Focus Area and Footwear Impression Research Group. His research interests include forensic applications of Bayesian reasoning and analyses that use as few modeling assumptions as possible. Steve received his PhD in Statistics from Iowa State University in 2012 and has been at NIST ever since.

Daniel Rabinowitz is a Professor in the Department of Statistics at Columbia University, where he has taught for some thirty years. His interests include statistical methods in genetic epidemiology, and applications of statistics in the law.

Shreya Rastogi is a founding member of Project 39A, a criminal justice initiative at National Law University Delhi. Shreya’s pioneering work on forensics seeks to ensure that only valid and reliable forensic evidence is used within India’s criminal justice system. Over the last two decades, reliance on forensic evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions has increased tremendously in India. However, there is no statutory framework to regulate forensic labs and enforce quality standards. Courts often accept forensic reports without thorough scrutiny of their scientific validity, a problem worsened by a legal exemption for government forensic examiners from testifying and allowing their reports into evidence without any cross-examination. Against this backdrop, the forensics work at Project 39A developed and led by Shreya has adopted a multi-pronged strategy that involves pro bono criminal defence, empirical and doctrinal research, policy advocacy, and stakeholder training.

Shreya is one of the lawyers at the forefront of developing litigation strategies to challenge unscientific and unreliable forensic evidence in India. These efforts have led to notable shifts in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and various High Courts on the importance of testing the reliability of forensic evidence and the cross-examination of forensic experts as part of the right to fair trial. She was also the project head and lead author of the Forensic Science India Report, a research study to assess and understand the challenges afflicting forensic science laboratories in India. The findings and policy recommendations therein have been integral to Shreya’s policy advocacy efforts. She regularly conducts training programs for different stakeholders including lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police officials and forensic scientists. Shreya is often approached by government ministries, lawmakers and public institutions on policy matters concerning forensic science. In recognition of her expertise, she was invited to depose before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the DNA Technology Bill, 2019.

At Project 39A, Shreya also leads the team on Death Penalty Litigation, which provides pro bono legal representation to capital defendants across India. She was the Deputy Director and Assistant Author of the Death Penalty India Report, the first pan-India empirical study that documents the socio-economic background of prisoners sentenced to death and their experience through the criminal justice system. In 2015, Shreya was featured in the Forbes India 30 under 30 list for the death penalty litigation and research work at Project 39A.

She graduated from National Law University Delhi in 2013 and completed her Masters in Law from New York University School of Law in 2017. Upon her graduation from NYU, she received the prestigious Arthur Helton Global Human Rights Fellowship, which supported the establishment of the forensics practice at Project 39A

Martha Saunders is a staff attorney in The DNA Unit of The Legal Aid Society of New York City. Prior to joining the DNA Unit, she was a staff attorney in the Criminal Defense Practice, Brooklyn office of Legal Aid for six years, where she litigated numerous forensic DNA cases. She has a B.A. from University of Kings College/Dalhousie University and a law degree from New York University School of Law.

Dr. Nidhi Sheth is a DNA Analyst at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where she supports legal teams by reviewing and interpreting DNA evidence in criminal cases. She holds a Ph.D. in Computational and Integrative Biology from Rutgers University, where her research focused on using single-cell DNA analysis for forensic applications, and a Master’s degree in Forensic Science from Pace University. Dr. Sheth has shared her work at major forensic conferences, and her contributions have been recognized with awards, including the Best Poster Award at the International Society for Forensic Genetics Conference (ISFG) for her advancements in DNA analysis. Her skills include performing DNA analysis and interpretation to provide clear, reliable insights for case investigations.