Staining The System

Blood delivers oxygen to our tissues. It fights off infections. It courses through our veins. But can it help us catch a murderer? A little-known arm of forensic science, known as bloodstain pattern analysis, believes it can. On this week’s episode, Pamela Colloff, a senior reporter at ProPublica and writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine, takes us through her investigation into the case of Joe Bryan, a high school principal serving 99 years in prison for the murder of his wife. His conviction was based largely on expert testimony surrounding bloodstain patterns prosecutors argued placed Joe at the scene of the crime. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2RPFKBb