By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
Officially, Donald Shelton is retired from the Washtenaw County Trial Court after spending nearly 25 years on the bench, including a number as chief judge of the Circuit, Juvenile, and Probate divisions.
His departure from the bench opened a pathway to two other careers: teaching and writing.
Shelton recently announced the release of his latest book, “The Role of Science in the Criminal Justice System,” published by CRC Press.
“It is meant as an introductory text for undergraduate criminal justice and forensic science majors, as well as an explanation for any interested person of how forensic science works, or sometimes doesn’t work, in proving or disproving who committed a crime,” Shelton explained.
“There is increased interest in forensic science and a great deal of debate about the admissibility and reliability of not only new methods but also traditional scientific methods that have resulted in wrongful convictions,” Shelton added. “Many universities now offer programs in forensic science, either separately or as part of a criminal justice curriculum, in on-campus and online settings.”
“This book offers an overview of forensic evidence, evidence collection, and analysis practices, and the use of such evidence in casework,” he noted. “By doing so, it provides insight in the processes and procedures, who is considered an expert in a particular discipline, and how these factors impact the usage, reliability, and admissibility of evidence in the courts.”
Shelton earned his juris doctor from Michigan Law, a master’s in criminology from Eastern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in judicial studies from the University of Nevada Reno in 2010 while working full time as a Washtenaw County judge.
After leaving the bench, Shelton served as a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, director of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program as well as the director of the Justice Reform Project.
At U-M-Dearborn, he also founded the first Criminal Justice Master’s Degree program.
He continues to teach forensic science at Michigan State University and criminal justice at the University of Arizona, both online, and recently served as a member and committee chair of the Michigan Governor’s Forensic Science Task Force.
Shelton’s first foray in the publishing world came as the author of “Forensic Science in Court: Challenges in the Twenty-first Century.” The book spawned “Forensic Science Evidence: Can the Law Keep Up with Science?” and now his third work in the legal trilogy.
His most recent book is divided into five parts. Part I “outlines the concept of admissible evidence and the legal standards used by courts to determine if expert testimony is reliable enough for a jury to consider” in determining guilt or innocence.
Part II is more about the “who” disciplines, particularly as it relates to DNA, fingerprints, hair comparison, ballistics, handwriting, footwear, and digital forensics.
Part III “describes the admissibility and reliability issues in a variety of ‘how’ disciplines, including fire and explosions, gunshot residue, blood pattern analysis, and medical examiner testimony,” while Part IV focuses on the uses of science by law enforcement and private companies outside the courtroom, “including the advent of genetic genealogy as an investigative tool.”
The final part “discusses the future of forensic science, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and potential changes in law, regulatory, and educational requiremnts.”
The book is spiced with various case studies, including the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing in which two brothers planted homemade bombs near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others.
It also contains a case study involving the 2004 trial of Gary Leiterman, a 62-year-old man linked to the 1969 slaying of Jane Mixer, a first-year student at U-M Law School. For years, many believed that the murder was the work of John Norman Collins, the serial killer who terrorized the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas in the late ‘60s with a series of coed slayings. State Police detectives, working in a “cold case” unit, uncovered DNA evidence that tied Leiterman, a former nurse, to the crime.
The case against Leiterman, which attracted national media attention, landed in the courtroom of Shelton, who presided over a two-week trial in which 30 witnesses were called. Leiterman eventually was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2019.
Shelton also sheds light on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932, a case which relied on the then-fledgling forensic science field of handwriting comparison. The kidnapping, dubbed by the media as the “Crime of the Century,” resulted in the arrest and trial of a German immigrant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who handwriting experts testified was the man who wrote a series of ransom notes.
After a six-week trial in a New Jersey court, a jury found Hauptmann guilty of the murder-kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of the famed aviator, and sentenced the defendant to death.
“The judge allowed all of the handwriting witnesses to testify,” according to Shelton, and later noted in his jury instructions that “numerous experts in handwriting have testified, after exhaustive examination of the ransom letters . . . that the defendant . . . wrote every one of the ransom notes. . .”
Legal News
Officially, Donald Shelton is retired from the Washtenaw County Trial Court after spending nearly 25 years on the bench, including a number as chief judge of the Circuit, Juvenile, and Probate divisions.
His departure from the bench opened a pathway to two other careers: teaching and writing.
Shelton recently announced the release of his latest book, “The Role of Science in the Criminal Justice System,” published by CRC Press.
“It is meant as an introductory text for undergraduate criminal justice and forensic science majors, as well as an explanation for any interested person of how forensic science works, or sometimes doesn’t work, in proving or disproving who committed a crime,” Shelton explained.
“There is increased interest in forensic science and a great deal of debate about the admissibility and reliability of not only new methods but also traditional scientific methods that have resulted in wrongful convictions,” Shelton added. “Many universities now offer programs in forensic science, either separately or as part of a criminal justice curriculum, in on-campus and online settings.”
“This book offers an overview of forensic evidence, evidence collection, and analysis practices, and the use of such evidence in casework,” he noted. “By doing so, it provides insight in the processes and procedures, who is considered an expert in a particular discipline, and how these factors impact the usage, reliability, and admissibility of evidence in the courts.”
Shelton earned his juris doctor from Michigan Law, a master’s in criminology from Eastern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in judicial studies from the University of Nevada Reno in 2010 while working full time as a Washtenaw County judge.
After leaving the bench, Shelton served as a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, director of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program as well as the director of the Justice Reform Project.
At U-M-Dearborn, he also founded the first Criminal Justice Master’s Degree program.
He continues to teach forensic science at Michigan State University and criminal justice at the University of Arizona, both online, and recently served as a member and committee chair of the Michigan Governor’s Forensic Science Task Force.
Shelton’s first foray in the publishing world came as the author of “Forensic Science in Court: Challenges in the Twenty-first Century.” The book spawned “Forensic Science Evidence: Can the Law Keep Up with Science?” and now his third work in the legal trilogy.
His most recent book is divided into five parts. Part I “outlines the concept of admissible evidence and the legal standards used by courts to determine if expert testimony is reliable enough for a jury to consider” in determining guilt or innocence.
Part II is more about the “who” disciplines, particularly as it relates to DNA, fingerprints, hair comparison, ballistics, handwriting, footwear, and digital forensics.
Part III “describes the admissibility and reliability issues in a variety of ‘how’ disciplines, including fire and explosions, gunshot residue, blood pattern analysis, and medical examiner testimony,” while Part IV focuses on the uses of science by law enforcement and private companies outside the courtroom, “including the advent of genetic genealogy as an investigative tool.”
The final part “discusses the future of forensic science, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and potential changes in law, regulatory, and educational requiremnts.”
The book is spiced with various case studies, including the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing in which two brothers planted homemade bombs near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others.
It also contains a case study involving the 2004 trial of Gary Leiterman, a 62-year-old man linked to the 1969 slaying of Jane Mixer, a first-year student at U-M Law School. For years, many believed that the murder was the work of John Norman Collins, the serial killer who terrorized the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas in the late ‘60s with a series of coed slayings. State Police detectives, working in a “cold case” unit, uncovered DNA evidence that tied Leiterman, a former nurse, to the crime.
The case against Leiterman, which attracted national media attention, landed in the courtroom of Shelton, who presided over a two-week trial in which 30 witnesses were called. Leiterman eventually was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2019.
Shelton also sheds light on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932, a case which relied on the then-fledgling forensic science field of handwriting comparison. The kidnapping, dubbed by the media as the “Crime of the Century,” resulted in the arrest and trial of a German immigrant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who handwriting experts testified was the man who wrote a series of ransom notes.
After a six-week trial in a New Jersey court, a jury found Hauptmann guilty of the murder-kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of the famed aviator, and sentenced the defendant to death.
“The judge allowed all of the handwriting witnesses to testify,” according to Shelton, and later noted in his jury instructions that “numerous experts in handwriting have testified, after exhaustive examination of the ransom letters . . . that the defendant . . . wrote every one of the ransom notes. . .”
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