Michael Blair

• Alibi
• Third Party Guilt

● Two roommates and the ex-girlfriend of one of the roommates all testified that defendant was asleep at the apartment the night of the crime. ● Witnesses testified about another individual at the park and had a history of sexually abusing boys.

● When asked if he was at the scene of the crime, defendant replied, “No, sir.” ● When asked if he killed the victim, defendant replied, “No, sir.”

• Eyewitness
• Forensic Evidence

• Fiber
• Hair

• Invalid

The analyst testified that the victim had unusual hairs: “the interesting thing about Ashley’s hair, when you look at her standard, is that she has microovoid bodies. These are very small air inclusions that are smaller than a true ovoid body. Ovoid bodies are mostly found in cattle hair and they’re much larger, but Ashley, thoughout her standard or known head hairs, has these microstructures.” He linked the characteristics of the hair to the commission of an assault, claiming he observed evidence that “the hair has been crushed or particle filamant or frayed ends. The other end of this hair has a similar appearance indicating that this hair piece has been subjected to some sort of blunt force.” The hairs found at the crime scene included hairs he identified as Michael Blair’s. Using side by side photos for jury, the analyst explained “I’ve never seen a Caucasian or Mongoloid hair that was opaque like that. Q. That’s in seven years or more of looking at hair under a microscope about 85 to 90 percent of your day? A. That’s right.” The analyst added, “I haven’t seen a hair like that before. Not a human hair.” The analyst also identified a fiber in Blair’s car as being from the victim’s “sleep rabbit” toy, stating that “This is a fiber seldom encountered in forensic work.”

• Cross Racial Identification
• Non-victim

• Composite drawing
• Photo array

Yes ● Eyewitness not told attacker might not be in photo-array

Eyewitness testified – “He just said, I’m going to place a photograph of some certain–you know, had pictures of people, and I want you to study it carefully, and show me the person that–that you think you saw you’re talking about.”

No ● All eyewitnesses had seen media images of Blair prior to line-up

For example, one eyewitness learned that police had arrested someone, and “saw the – his picture in the newspaper the next morning” prior to viewing lineup