Ich fasse mal die Quellen zusammen, die hier genannt wurden, um die Behauptung, Robert Hallett sei ein "Reifenabdruck-Experte" gewesen, zu widerlegen (bzw die Quellen, die vermutlich genannt wurden - wer weiß das schon, bei der grassierenden Zitier-Aversion).
Und ich ergänze diese Quellen mit weiteren, da ich das, was ich über Robert Hallett gefunden habe, nicht uninteressant finde. Einiges davon wurde hier auch schon genannt.
(Spoiler: Robert Hallett war durchaus auch Experte für Reifenabdrücke.)
Aus der einen genannten Quelle geht hervor, dass in einem Prozess, in dem es um einen Handschriften-Vergleich ging, Robert Hallett der Experte der Anklage war.
A legal pad with writing was found near the victim's body. An FBI handwriting expert said that it had Hooten's handwriting on it. [...]
Robert B. Hallett of the FBI was the state's expert. He held membership in the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists and the Document Examiners' Association in Washington, DC.
https://archive.org/stream/TheGraphologistAsExpertWitnessASurveyOfSomeReportedCases/17-1-15-Matley_djvu.txtEine weitere Quelle aus dem Jahr 1979 bestätigt, dass er Experte für Handschriften war:
The government rested its case yesterday after FBI handwriting expert Robert Hallett testified that Cianciulli had filled out voter registration mail forms for some of the defendants and others.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/174922795/Robert Hallett war also Mitglied der
Document Examiners' Association in Washington, DC., vermutlich konnte er die Echtheit von Dokumenten beurteilen, und trat als Experte für Handschriften auf.
Aber das war lange vor Sörings Prozess. Der Prozess auf den sich die erste Quelle bezieht, fand 1983 statt.
In dem Buch "Justice Denied: Extraordinary miscarriages of justice", das diesen Prozess aufgreift, heißt es zu Robert Halletts Werdegang, der erfrischenderweise Quereinsteiger war:
The state called a special agent from the document section of the FBI to give evidence that the handwriting was that of Hooten. Robert B. Hallett had received a Bachelor of Arts degree from New Jersey State College in Trenton, and for the next ten years was an elementary school teacher and high school coach. During this time he taught students penmanship. He had been an agent with the FBI for fifteen years. For his first five years he was a field agent, after which he was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Washington. He received three years' training in the discipline of examining questioned documents. This consisted of attending regular classes, reading prescribed books, articles and pamphlets, and taking regular tests. At the time of the trial he was on a Master's programme in forensic science at Georgetown University. He had testified in more than one hundred cases in forty different states and was a member of the MidAtlantic Association of Forensic Scientists and the Document Examiners' Association in Washington, D.C.
https://www.google.de/search?q=%22The+state+called+a+special+agent%22&tbm=bks(Das Problematische an dem Fall war wohl, dass die Expertin der Verteidigung nicht zugelassen wurde, und damit Halletts Gutachten unwidersprochen blieb.)
Sein Lebenslauf danach wird in diesem Nachruf zusammengefasst:
Entering the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1968, he served as a Special Agent and specialized in forensic sciences for documents and impressions. While there, Robert testified in a landmark case for barefoot impressions. He retired from federal service in 1989. After retirement from the FBI, he did private consulting and worked as a Forensic Scientist for the Commonwealth of Virginia State Police Forensic Lab. He retired from state service in 1999.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=robert-bliss-hallett&pid=93876660&Worauf sich dieser
landmark case for barefoot impressions bezieht, habe ich bislang nicht rausfinden können.
In den 80ern scheint sich seine Expertise von den Handschriften wegbewegt zu haben.
1982 sagte er als Schuhabdruck-Experte aus:
Agent Robert B. Hallett, a specialist in the comparison of shoe prints, testified at Fisher's Superior Court trial that Wilmington police brought a tennis shoe and two impressions on black roofing paper to the FBI laboratory in Washington. Using inked impressions from the shoe and photographic overlays of the impressions, Hallett said he was able to make the comparisons
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161118748/1983 wird von seiner - durchaus kontroversen - Expertise in Schuh- und Reifenabdrücken berichtet:
The most controversial of the exhibits were those brought from Washington, D.C. by FBI special agent Robert Hallet. The forensic expert, who was Friday's sole witness, testified before the seven-man, five-woman jury concerning laboratory work he conducted on evidence procured by lawmen at the crime scene. [...] Hallet, who also testifed Thursday, reiterated that a tire impression made in the sand at the beach matched that of a steel- belted radial taken from a car Martinez allegedly drove the night before the murdered sales clerk was found. A photograph of a heel imprint at the death scene also matches imprints made from a boot belonging to the suspect, the special agent reported. Griffin spent more than four hours questioning Hallet's findings and his method of investigation. [...] The initial report June 24, 1982, did not link any of the evidence gathered by Galveston police to belongings of Martinez. A second report, written July 29, 1982, noted similarities between molds made from tire impressions at the sandy park with the two front tires of the car. It "was not a positive identification," Hallet insisted, but the depressions would have had to be made by a tire of the same characteristics — same size, same design,showing an alignment deflect and being under-inflated.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/14076140/Anfang der 80er war er auch Schuhabdruck-Experte im "State of Idaho v. Charles Fain"-Prozess:
In Charles Fain's case, Robert B. Hallett of the FBI testified that the make of the shoe print was consistent with Fain's, and that "it was possible that this shoe made this impression."
http://www.law.virginia.edu/pdf/faculty/hein/garrett/95va_l_rev1_2009.pdf (Archiv-Version vom 18.09.2015)Das Innocence Project schreibt dazu:
Charles Irvin Fain was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder, rape, and kidnapping of a young girl. The crime occurred in Nampa, Idaho, in 1982. Fain has always maintained his innocence and DNA testing in 2001 revealed the truth of his claim. [...] Another FBI forensic examiner was called upon to testify about his comparison between shoe prints from the crime and shoes collected from Fain.
https://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/charles-irvin-fain/1985 verglich er als Experte einen Reifenabdruck.
FBI Agent Hallet testified concerning the tire tread of Moss' truck matching the tire tracks found at the scene where the victim's body was found. He also worked at the FBI Laboratory during the investigated time period.
Der letzte Satz bezieht sich auf eine Bericht von 1997 über schlampige Zustände im FBI Labor.
an internal FBI investigation and an investigation of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Justice, which found that the FBI Crime Laboratory in Washington D.C. used shoddy practices, and that some of its agents had testified falsely, committed errors in testing and issued flawed scientific reports. Three FBI agents from the FBI Crime Laboratory, Michael Malone, William McInnis and Robert Hallet, who worked at the Laboratory at the time involved in the investigation, testified for the state in Moss' case.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-district-court-of-appeal/1154966.htmlUm 1986 sagte er als
special agent with expertise in tire tread examinations aus:
The tires from defendant's car were sent to the F.B.I. lab in Washington, D.C. Robert Hallett, a special agent with expertise in tire tread examinations, testified that the tires from the defendant's car matched tire tracks from the crime scene in size and design and that at least one of the tires corresponded as far as general wear with a track found at the scene.
http://www.allcourtdata.com/law/case/state-v-gonzales/cw5BajdK?page=21990 wird er in einem Bericht als Experte für Schuh-, Fuß- und Reifenabdrücke bezeichnet, im Prozess verglich er einen Schuhabdruck:
Robert D. Hallett, a forensic scientist who studies shoe, feet and tire impressions for the state crime lab, said the left Reebok tennis shoe worn by Dozier the day of the shooting is the shoe that left a bloody imprint on the tile floor in Haugen's kitchen.
http://articles.dailypress.com/1990-07-11/news/9007110217_1_crime-lab-fatal-attack-shoe1991 verglich er Reifenspuren:
A clear tire tread, which matched the pattern of the right rear tire of Porter's blue Ford Mustang, marked the white shorts Cooper was wearing that night, according to Robert Hallett, a forensic scientist with the state laboratory.
http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-12-21/news/9112210051_1_cooper-porter-s-attorney-michael-lewis-porterEnde der 90er sagte er als Schuhabdruck-Experte aus:
Robert B. Hallett qualified as an expert witness on the subject of shoe print impressions. He conducted tests on the defendant's boots.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/va-supreme-court/1481231.htmlEbenfalls Ende der 90er tritt er als Experte für
anatomical impressions in Erscheinung, es ging dabei um
a bloody palm impression on the bed sheets:
Robert Hallett, a retired forensic impression examiner employed by the Virginia Division of Forensic Science at the time of the investigation, and qualified by the court as an expert in anatomical impressions, examined the bloody palm impression. He testified that although anatomical impressions do not produce a "positive identification" of the creator of the impression, they do permit an analysis that excludes individuals.
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavtx/2281002.txt(Laut seiner eigenen Aussage kann man also mit solchen Vergleichen niemanden identifizieren, aber Personen können damit ausgeschlossen werden.)
Die zweite genannte Quelle, die den Reifenabdruckexperten widerlegen sollte, führt ins Leere. Gemeint war wohl:
The Free Lance-Star - 8. Dez. 1990Hallett, der - einige Monate nach Sörings Prozess - als Experte vor Gericht einen Gummiabguss eines Fußes in einen Schuh steckte und Hornhaut-Erhebungen mit Abrieben im Schuhinneren verglich:
Yesterday, in one of the day's most moving presentations, Robert Hallett, a state forensic expert, easily fitted rubber castings made of Sztanko's feet into the tennis shoes that Dillon found. He pointed out the spot on the inside of one of the shoes where a callous had rubbed.
Interessant.
Robert Hallett trat also als Experte für Handschriften, Vergleich von Dokumenten, für Schuh-, Fuß- und Reifenbabdrücke und mit Vergleichen sonstiger anatomischer Abdrücke in Erscheinung.
Halletts Expertise scheint demnach eher breit gestreut zu sein. Und er scheint ein Gespür dafür zu haben, was vor Gericht wirkt. Bei Söring war das ja fast auch die
most moving presentation. Hallett scheint ein Experte zu sein, der auch schwache Indizien in beeindruckende Demonstrationen vor Gericht verwandeln kann.
Ein eher geisteswissenschaftliches Studium und Lehrerfahrung scheinen nicht die schlechtesten Voraussetzungen für einen Forensik-Experten vor Gericht zu sein. ;-)