Jack Venturi
Jack Venturi, Esq. is a New Jersey attorney.[1]
Career[edit]
Michael Behn case[edit]
He was the trial attorney for Michael Behn who was accused of murder. This case is one of the key cases that got the Federal Bureau of Investigation to stop using Comparative Bullet Lead Analysis.
The murder took place in South River, New Jersey. Behn had no previous criminal record. He was accused of the execution-style shooting of a coin dealer in order to steal $40,000 worth of rare coins. Police found the coins at the home of Behn's mother. He told them he bought the coins from the victim, Robert Rose, the day he was killed.[2] Behn explained that he and Rose did an under-the-table cash deal. He claimed that no paperwork, sales receipt or other proof showed that he had bought the coins and that this was common in the coin business.[2]
At trial, prosecutors produced no eyewitness, no fingerprint and no murder weapon. An FBI examiner testified that bullets found in Michael Behn's office and the bullets that had killed the coin dealer, quote, 'came from the same source of lead at the manufacturer, so they were manufactured on our about the same date'.[2] This process is called "comparative bullet lead analysis" or CBLA. The FBI was the only lab in the country that performed it. By testing bullets for tiny amounts of impurities, FBI examiners determine a bullet's chemical profile. If the crime scene bullets and the suspect's bullets turn out to have identical profiles, they claimed a virtual match. Thus the FBI claimed in court to be able to link one bullet to others from the same production run, even from the same box.[2]
The report about CBLA was turned over 11 days before trial.[3] Venturi asked for more time to find his own expert to challenge the CBLA evidence, but was denied.[3] Venturi and Behn's sister researched CBLA and learned enough to allow Jack to make objections at trial. However, without the ability to challenge the evidence, Behng was convicted. On appeal, the New Jersey Appellate Court reversed Behn's conviction and agreed with Venturi that CBLA was "junk science".[3]
The FBI had been using CBLA since the 1980s, in over 2500 cases. On September 1, 2005, the FBI announced that they would abandon CBLA.[4]
In a Child's Name[edit]
Venturi was also the attorney for the defendant in the case that was used by Peter Maas to write the book (eventual TV-movie) In a child's name.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ "New Brunswick Criminal Defense Attorneys | Middlesex Sex Crimes Lawyer". Retrieved 2019-07-04.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 CNN Interview
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Whistleblowers.org
- ↑ FBI Press Release Archived 2016-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ IMDB
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