Convicted in 1989 of the brutal murder of 65-year-old Everett Carr in New Milford, Connecticut, Ricky Birch and Shawn Henning were sentenced to 50 years behind bars without any physical evidence tying them to the crime scene. At trial, prosecutors had to explain to a jury how the two men, then only in their teens, managed to beat and stab their victim over 25 times without getting a single drop of his blood onto their clothing. To do so, the district attorney’s office relied on the testimony of the state’s top pathologist ..a man very well known to true crime content enthusiasts. A man by the name of Dr. Henry Lee. Today, Dr. Lee is considered one of the country’s foremost experts on forensic science.

Birch and Henning spent decades in prison substantially based on Dr. Henry Lee’s testimony at their trial. More than 30 years after they were convicted, new information came to light and eventually led to their convictions being vacated in 2020. Subsequent to that, Dr. Henry Lee’s reputation would come under intense scrutiny and he found himself in legal trouble.  

The question now rests in the court of public opinion: Did Dr. Henry Lee make a devastating error on the witness stand? Or, did a man who’s investigated some of the country’s most prominent crimes of the last three decades lie to obtain a conviction?

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Research & Writing: K. Brant

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