Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Forensic Expert Says Medical Examiner Fired Her For Questioning Controversial DNA Technique
By
Miranda Katz
Published Feb 19, 2016
Modified Feb 19, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Miranda Katz
Published Feb 19, 2016
Modified Feb 19, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Marina Stajic holds a PhD in forensic toxicology and began directing the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in 1986—but she was forced out of that position last spring after questioning the office's use of a controversial method of DNA testing in criminal cases, she alleges in a lawsuit filed yesterday.
Since 2004, Stajic has served on the state's Commission on Forensic Science, which oversees accreditation for forensic and DNA laboratories in New York. On October 24, 2014, according to the suit, the commission held a session discussing Low Copy Number [LCN] DNA testing, a technique developed by OCME that analyzes minuscule amounts of DNA left on touched objects to help identify or exclude people suspected of crimes.
Court papers state that at this meeting, commission member Barry Scheck questioned whether OCME had studied the reliability of LCN testing when the DNA sample is particularly small and contains a mixture of DNA from two or more people. Scheck is a founder of The Innocence Project, a New York-based nonprofit that exonerates wrongfully-convicted people through DNA testing (though you may know him better as one of O.J. Simpson's defense lawyers), and didn't think that this particular technique should be used in court because he didn't believe it had been proven to be accurate. At one point in the meeting, as described in a lengthy feature on DNA testing by The Marshall Project, he yelled at his fellow commission members, "YOU ARE ALL FUCKING LYING!"
Stajic, along with three other commissioners, voted in favor of Scheck's motion to request that OCME release its internal data supporting the use of the LCN technique in such cases, according to the lawsuit. Though the motion was defeated, that vote was public, and Stajic is now claiming that her employers at OCME forced her to leave several months later because of her apparent skepticism toward the office's controversial method.
The lawsuit further alleges age discrimination, noting that Stajic, 66, was replaced by a 41-year-old with substantially less experience. Stajic is suing the city, as well as her former employers, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson and OCME Chief of Laboratories Timothy Kupferschmid.
In a statement, Stajic's lawyers, Kevin Mintzer and Daniel Alterman, said that she "was forced out of her job because of principled positions she took on the Commission on Forensic Science," and they are "eager to vindicate Dr. Stajic's rights to speak her conscience and to be free from discrimination." Stajic told the New York Times that she thinks "it's a dangerous precedent when people are expressing their honest opinion and they are compelled to resign or retire because of that."
As the Times notes, OCME has said that its technique is reliable and can make accurate identifications based on these trace amounts of DNA, but other scientists and lawyers have questioned whether LCN testing results should be allowed as courtroom evidence.
An OCME spokesperson said that the office "is committed to fairness and providing the highest standards of service for the people of New York City," and stated that courts throughout the city have recognized its techniques as reliable. But just last year, a Brooklyn judge refused to admit OCME's LCN testing as evidence because it is "so controversial that the community of scientists who are experts in the field can't agree on it."
New York's OCME is the only public DNA lab in the country that uses the LCN technique for criminal cases.
Tagged
crime
dna testing
lawsuit
ocme
Miranda Katz
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Tompkins Square Park is getting a makeover. Some say it's too much.
Some regulars at the East Village park want to preserve its not-so-fancy offerings.
By
Willow Higgins
Published Oct 17, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .