Former judge authors book on the ‘Role of Science’ in the justice system
By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
Officially, Donald Shelton is retired from the Washtenaw County Trial Court after spending nearly 25 years on the bench, including a number as chief judge of the Circuit, Juvenile, and Probate divisions.
In reality, Shelton has been anything but retired since he bumped up against the state’s mandatory age limit for judges more than a decade ago.
In fact, his departure from the bench opened a pathway to two other post-judiciary careers: teaching and writing, pursuits that he has long since found rewarding and fulfilling.
Of particular note, Shelton recently announced the release of his latest book, a treatise titled “The Role of Science in the Criminal Justice System,” published by Florida-based CRC Press.
“It is meant as an introductory text for undergraduate criminal justice and forensic science majors, as well as an explanation for any interested person of how forensic science works, or sometimes doesn’t work, in proving or disproving who committed a crime,” Shelton explained.
“There is increased interest in forensic science and a great deal of debate about the admissibility and reliability of not only new methods but also traditional scientific methods that have resulted in wrongful convictions,” Shelton added. “Many universities now offer programs in forensic science, either separately or as part of a criminal justice curriculum, in on-campus and online settings.
“This book offers an overview of forensic evidence, evidence collection, and analysis practices, and the use of such evidence in casework,” he noted. “By doing so, it provides insight in the processes and procedures, who is considered an expert in a particular discipline, and how these factors impact the usage, reliability, and admissibility of evidence in the courts.”
Shelton, who earned a reputation as one of the most skillful trial attorneys in Michigan before he was elected to the circuit court bench in 1990, has an impressive academic pedigree, earning his juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, a master’s in criminology from Eastern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in judicial studies from the University of Nevado Reno in 2010 while working full time as a
Washtenaw County judge.
After leaving the bench, Shelton turned his attention to teaching, serving as a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where he was director of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program as well as the director of the University’s Justice Reform Project.
At U-M-Dearborn, he also founded the University’s first Criminal Justice Master’s Degree program. Professor Shelton continues to teach forensic science at Michigan State University and criminal justice at the University of Arizona, both online, and recently served as a member and committee chair of the Michigan Governor’s Forensic Science Task Force.
In other words, he has stayed busy since setting aside his judicial robes.
“It keeps me young,” Shelton said of his teaching, mentoring, and writing work.
“Working with young scientists and young criminal justice students has been energizing and has helped keep me sharp on the latest developments in the fields,” he declared.
Shelton’s first foray in the publishing world came as the author of “Forensic Science in Court: Challenges in the Twenty-first Century,” which was an outgrowth of his doctoral dissertation. The book was widely hailed in legal and academic circles, and spawned “Forensic Science Evidence: Can the Law Keep Up with Science?” and now his third work in the legal trilogy.
His most recent book is divided into five parts, according to the Jackson native who has been a longtime resident of Saline. Part I of the book “outlines the concept of admissible evidence and the legal standards used by courts to determine if expert testimony is reliable enough for a jury to consider” in determining guilt or innocence. Part II is more about the “who” disciplines, particularly as it relates to DNA, fingerprints,
hair comparison, ballistics, handwriting, footwear, and digital forensics.
Part III of the book “describes the admissibility and reliability issues in a variety of ‘how’ disciplines, including fire and explosions, gunshot residue, blood pattern analysis, and medical examiner testimony,” while Part IV focuses on the uses of science by law enforcement and private companies outside the courtroom, “including the advent of genetic genealogy as an investigative tool.”
The final part of the book, according to Shelton, “discusses the future of forensic science, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and potential changes in law, regulatory, and educational requirements.”
Like his earlier books, Shelton’s most recent effort is spiced with various case studies, including the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing in which two brothers planted a pair of homemade bombs near the finish line of the 26.2-mile race, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others.
It also contains a case study involving the 2004 trial of Gary Leiterman, a 62-year-old man linked to the 1969 slaying of Jane Mixer, a first-year student at U-M Law School. For years, many believed that the murder was the work of John Norman Collins, the serial killer who terrorized the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas in the late ‘60s with a series of coed slayings. State Police detectives, working in a “cold case” unit, uncovered DNA evidence that tied Leiterman, a former nurse, to the crime.
The case against Leiterman, which attracted national media attention, coincidentally landed in the courtroom of Shelton, who presided over a two-week trial in which 30 witnesses were called. Leiterman eventually was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2019.
Shelton also stepped back in time to shed light on the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932, a case which relied on the then-fledgling forensic science field of handwriting comparison. The kidnapping, which was dubbed by the media as the “Crime of the Century,” resulted in the arrest and trial of a German immigrant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who handwriting experts testified was the man who wrote a series of ransom notes.
After a six-week trial in a New Jersey court, a jury found Hauptmann guilty of the murder-kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of the famed aviator, and sentenced the defendant to death.
“The judge allowed all of the handwriting witnesses to testify,” according to Shelton, and later noted in his jury instructions that “numerous experts in handwriting have testified, after exhaustive examination of the ransom letters . . . that the defendant . . . wrote every one of the ransom notes. . .”
Shelton, a former four-term mayor in Saline, actually began his public service career in the military as a trial attorney with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1970-73, followed by a year-and-a-half of litigation work at the Pentagon as the nation was gripped by the Watergate scandal.
“And how close we came to a dictatorship in this country,” Shelton reflected of the time that he fears may be in the process of being repeated.
His service in the Army followed law school at U-M and was the result of his ROTC involvement at Western Michigan University, from which he graduated in 1966. He entered private practice in 1974, later forming his own law firm with a colleague. Over a 12-year period, Shelton gained statewide acclaim for his trial talents, winning a number of high-profile cases, including a lawsuit against the maker of the swine flu vaccine.
A former EMU regent and chair of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), Shelton was honored by the State Bar of Michigan in 2007 with the Frank J. Kelley Distinguished Public Service Award, just one of many honors that he has received over his career.
He and his wife, Marjorie, a former teacher, have two children and a “multitude of grandchildren,” all of whom bring “great joy into our lives,” said Shelton, who travels far and wide to watch their various school and sporting activities.
“I probably should be known as ‘Grandpa Uber,’” he said with a hearty laugh.
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