Dog's 'Testimony' Sends Woman To Prison for Life

Everyone knows that dogs have a highly developed sense of smell, but is their olfactory sense good enough to send a person to prison? For a jury in Texas, the answer was ‘Yes’. A woman was sentenced to life in prison based on ‘testimony’ of a canine.

Imagine being sent to prison for life based on the ‘testimony’ of a dog. Megan Winfrey, along with her brother Richard was charged with the slaying of high school janitor, Murray Burr in Cold Spring, Texas.

“In a million years I never thought I’d be in this kind of situation”, said Richard Winfrey.

Richard had never been in trouble with the law. Not even a traffic ticket. And there was no physical evidence connecting Megan or Richard Murray to the crime scene. But they did have one ‘witness’ who said they did it. A Bloodhound.

“They said I was the murderer”, said Megan.

The Winfreys came under suspicion because they lived near the murdered janitor, who they knew from high school. Megan and Richard agreed to allow their scent to be rubbed on a gauze pad, then the pad was placed in a canister. The dig signaled when it sniffed their scent.

Not only were Megan and Richard arrested, so was their father. A sheriff’s detective tried to get the Winfreys to confess.

“He was telling me that he knew that I killed Murray, and my sister made me do it, and we killed him together”, said Richard Winfrey.

“I never would have dreamed a dog would send me to prison for life”, said Megan.

Former Maryland State Trooper and dog expert Doug Lawry said the scent testimony used against the Winfrey family was a joke. He believes the Winfrey video, and others, show Keith Piket, the dog handler, stopped his dogs at canisters where he knew the scent was placed. When asked if Keith Piket was ‘cuing’ the dog, Lawry said “absolutely”.

Nevertheless, the jury convicted Megan and her father. Who were represented by public defenders. Megan was sentenced to life. Her father got 75 years. When Megan’s brother went to trial, his family hired an experienced lawyer who proceeded to rip Piket’s evidence to shreds. The jury came back in thirteen minutes with a verdict of “not guilty”.

“They waited thirteen minutes, but they said ‘we wanted to come back in five’”, Richard Winfrey said.

Megan spent sic years in prison. Her father, three – until their cases got thrown out. As for the fraudulent Bloodhound handler, Keith Piket, when reporters caught up to him and told him that critics called his dog scent lineups ‘junk science’. He had no response. Piket believes his lineups are legitimate and denies faking any evidence. And says nobody is convicted only on a dog’s evidence.

“I just hope that one day, he sits down and he reflects on this, and he does a lot of soul searching, and asks for a lot of forgiveness for this. ‘Cuz he’s gonna need it”, said Richard Winfrey.

Since the family was released from prison, Texas courts have ruled that “dog scent lineups are scientifically unreliable, and thus cannot be used for the basis of any conviction”.

Source: Inside Edition