The Death Row Case of Ray Krone, the Beginning of the End of Bite Mark Evidence in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACTForensic odontology has four primary applications. These applications include dental identification, bite mark assessment, dental age estimation, and standard of care. This article will focus on the history of forensic odontology in the United States as it relates to bite mark analysis. It will explore the DNA exoneration of Ray Krone who was sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit because of flawed bite mark analysis. The use of bite marks in the United States has had a turbulent history dating back over 300 years. It was first used during the Salem Witch trials in 1692, but it did not gain national attention until the State of Florida prosecuted serial killer Ted Bundy, and a key element of the state’s case was bite mark analysis. The Bundy case was the seminal case for the use of bite mark evidence in American courts. Over the next 30 years, numerous convictions based on bite marks cemented the evidence into the legal system as validated, legitimate, reliable, and admissible. Ray Krone’s conviction in 1992 was one of them. This article will evaluate the history of the questions surrounding bite mark analysis and comparison culminating in the recent National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report and the basis for NIST’s conclusions as well as discussing the fate of bite mark analysis as an accepted forensic science discipline.

Keywords

• Bite marks
• forensic odontology
• injury
• bruise
• pattern