Casey Anthony: DNA Expert Who Defended Her At Trial Has Been ‘Debunked,’ Is Banned From Testifying In Colorado [Video]


Five years after Casey Anthony was acquitted of her daughter’s murder, a prominent DNA expert who spoke in her defense at trial has been banned from a sexual assault case in Colorado. The reason? According to a report by WKBW 7, Casey Anthony’s DNA expert Richard Eikelenboom was found by a Colorado district court to have “committed a number of errors and have had inadequate training.”

In addition to previously testifying and giving his expert opinion at Casey Anthony’s trial, the DNA expert has also been utilized as an expert witness on various other high-profile cases, and some are concerned that the Colorado decision could call much of his previous testimony into question.

According to the Denver District Attorney, the expert witness at the Casey Anthony murder trial actually admitted that his education is questionable, his lab is unaccredited, and his experience in handling and analyzing DNA is “limited.”

“He had no direct DNA extraction or analysis experience, that he operates a lab that has not been accredited, that he personally failed his basic proficiency tests in 2011 and 2012, and admitted that he was ‘self- trained’ in running DNA profiles.”

Disturbingly, during the Casey Anthony trial, the “debunked” expert testified directly about DNA samples that were found on the duct tape attached to little Caylee Anthony’s body.

After the District Attorney had questioned the former DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial, the decision was made to reject him as a DNA expert and not allow him to testify in that case, presumably for the defense. The case in question involves a 2013 sexual assault in which a woman was reportedly raped by two men at a company Christmas party. In that case, the prosecution found DNA evidence to link their suspects to the crime.

The former expert DNA witness at the Casey Anthony trial has a history of discrediting the DNA evidence of prosecutors, and in addition to working the Casey Anthony defense, he has handled some other very high-profile cases. If his credentials, expertise, and accuracy are truly being called into question by the Colorado district court, some of the biggest criminal cases in recent American history may need to be revisited.

The former DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial famously worked on the infamous JonBenet Ramsey case, reports CBS Local Denver. According to Richard Eikelenboom and his wife, Selma (who is also his partner), the pair is still involved in the Ramsey case that their expert findings were used, in part, to clear the name of the murdered little girl’s parents. Like Casey Anthony, there has always been pervasive speculation that John and Patsy Ramsey had something to do with their daughter’s death.

In addition to reportedly being involved with the JonBenet Ramsey case, the DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial was also heavily involved in the very high-profile trial of Timothy Masters. In 1999, Masters was convicted of the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick. In 2008, Masters was freed from prison based on DNA evidence. While some say that the DNA evidence in question has nothing to do with the testimony of the DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial, the Illinois Innocence Project seems to disagree.

Indeed, the Illinois Innocence Project gives much of the credit for Masters’ freedom to Casey Anthony’s DNA expert.

“Their work in the Masters case led to the first Touch DNA exoneration in the United States.”

During the trial of Casey Anthony, Richard Eikelenboom testified on behalf of Casey Anthony, stating that ” if duct tape was put over a person’s mouth, the sticky side could contain DNA evidence, but it would be difficult to analyze after it had been exposed to the elements for several months.” He also failed to test the duct tape for DNA evidence. According to the DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial, despite offering to investigate the case against Anthony, he never bothered to test the duct tape for DNA evidence or even asked if he should.

After the news had broken that the former Casey Anthony trial DNA expert had been debunked and discredited in Colorado, Richard Eikelenboom was quick to speak out in his own defense. Because he has made a career out of breaking down the cases of district attorneys and prosecutors, the former Casey Anthony expert witness said that he wasn’t surprised that his qualifications were called into question. However, he called his Colorado experience “ludicrous.”

“What happens here is not truth finding. They just want to find something to throw mud at you.”

According to the DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial, he is being targeted because he and his wife can “expose” prosecutors who have made mistakes and even result in convicted killers being freed.

“Well if they made a mistake in the case and we redo the DNA like with Timothy Masters and these other cases, then it could happen that we find a mistake.”

Eikelenboom told the media that he is fully accredited in both the U.S. and Holland, including a certificate from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has a different take on the former Casey Anthony DNA expert is quite different. According to the DA, Eikelenboom deliberately exaggerated his Holland qualifications. Then, when he got to the U.S. and opened his Colorado DNA lab, he (almost unbelievably) trained himself.

“He’s just about willing to say anything for a dollar and that’s what I find offensive about him.”

As KMOV 4 reports, while on being questioned on the stand by the judge, the former Casey Anthony DNA expert even admitted that he’d failed basic proficiency exams in the past. The Denver DA says that that alone should disqualify him as an “expert witness.”

“In cases where little girls were murdered, entire families were killed, women were raped, people are going to know that when he came to Denver he wasn’t an expert. And a judge is going to look at that and have a long pause if they let him testify as an expert again.”

In addition to coming forward in his own defense after being defense after being debunked as an expert witness in Colorado, Richard Eikelenboom says that his name has been slandered by the Denver district court judge and DA. Reportedly, the former DNA expert in the Casey Anthony trial is getting himself a lawyer.

[Photo by Pool/Getty Images]

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