Scott Decker – Thonie Hevron Author

By Thonie Hevron

March 1, 2019

Much going on here in the Hevron household. Now that taxes are done (ugh), I’m focusing on the upcoming Spring Market in Novato. Live sales have always been productive for me. This will be the second year in Novato. Last year I set a personal record for meeting people and selling books even though it rained all day. This year the weather looks to be the same, but I’ll have a new partner: Sandy Baker is a children’s author as well as a Master Gardener. She incorporates these two loves into kids gardening books. Jeane Slone will be back again later in the year. We will be at the Margaret Todd Senior Center, 1560 Hill Rd, Novato from 10AM-3PM on Saturday, March 2, 2019. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

This past weekend, February 21-24^th, I was in Ventura, California for the annual board retreat for the Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA). I was voted in as a board member. It will be my pleasure to work alongside the many club leaders who have mentored (Marilyn Meredith) and supported me through the past years. I’m proud to stand by two prominent Law Enforcement technical writers, Tim Dees and Michelle Perin-Callahan, as we map out the future of our club. Also there, Mike Black who is a giant in the publishing world and makes the annual conference better every year, Mysti Berry our IT wrangler, John Schembra (a military/thriller/paranormal author) is our very capable membership chair. The other new board member, Scott Decker, an award-winning non-fiction writer, has volunteered to man the social media console. The board came up with some great ideas and ways to implement them. I’ll be talking more about this as time permits in the upcoming months.

If you’re wondering what my job will be, wonder no more: in 2020, I’ll be the PSWA Contest Chair. With Michelle Perin-Callahan’s help, I’ll steer writers toward the coveted PSWA Writers Club award.

View from the Ventura Pier during an early morning walk.

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In May, the Mister and I will be taking a well-deserved break. I’m not planning on posting, appearing or even writing for most of the month.

As always, thank you for your support.

April Fool: When the Standard in Forensics Falls Short, By Scott Decker

By R. Scott Decker
http://www.rscottdecker.com

I began my FBI agent career in 1990 chasing bank robbers through the streets of Boston—the quintessential work of Mr. Hoover’s Bureau. As a new agent with pre-bureau training in science, forensics found me a willing student.

Lead composition analysis—only the FBI offered it—was on the forensic menu. Comparing spent rounds with unfired slugs intrigued me. A match would provide compelling evidence, ensuring prison time for the guilty party. Working the streets of Boston, coming up against its most violent, being lied to, wondering if my newest informant was setting me up, the FBI Laboratory had my back, irrefutable science when I went to court.

One afternoon all hands responded to a bank robbery with shots fired on the South Shore. The bank manager had taken a bullet in the abdomen—he faced months of complicated surgeries. Next in line for a case, it was mine to solve. I put out the word and soon my telephone rang. Sean Dryer and Brian McNelley* had done the heist—Dryer was the shooter—a career criminal known for violence. Within hours I had outlined a search warrant and presented it to the US Attorney.

Our search turned up little, but we did find .38 caliber ammunition; surgeons had recovered a .38 caliber slug from the bank manager and I had dug a second from the bank lobby wall. I wrote a request to the FBI lab for a lead composition comparison and sent my evidence to Washington, D.C. While I waited, more information came in about Dryer. He was suspected in the robbery and fatal shooting of a money courier north of Boston. I retrieved the autopsy slugs and shipped them to the lab—more chances for a positive match.

While I waited for the answer, I scanned each day’s Boston Globe. There in the national section was an article about the FBI laboratory and a statement from its Assistant Director. He had ordered a forensic technique discontinued, a technique only his lab offered. An attempt at revalidation showed flaws; results could not be reproduced. From today forward, the FBI Lab was discontinuing its use of lead composition comparisons.

I glanced at the newspaper’s date—the first week of April, beginning with—All Fools Day! At first I thought the article was a joke, but the gag was on me. My infallible FBI Laboratory, the nation’s leader in forensics, had fooled us. Each case using lead composition analysis would be re-examined, the guilty requesting release from prison, new trials ordered. And I was back to square one, embarrassed for believing in a technique that had never been fully validated, knowing that as I read, Dryer and McNelley were undoubtedly planning their next caper.

*Dreyer and NcNelley are pseudonyms.

For 30% off, use this link: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538101506

My book, Recounting the Anthrax Attacks released from Amazon today (but pre-orders were beginning to ship ten days ago).

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Scott Decker, PhD, began as an FBI Special Agent on the streets of Boston, pursuing bank and armored car robbers. Following September 11, 2001 he transferred to counterterrorism, and investigated the country’s first lethal bioterrorism attack. In 2009, he was awarded the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Scientific Advancement. His first non-fiction book, Recounting the Anthrax Attacks: Terror, the Amerithrax Task Force, and the Evolution of Forensics in the FBI, won first place for non-fiction book in the Public Safety Writers Association’s writing competition.

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