Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A Riverside, California man who was jailed for two years on arson charges, is now suing Riverside Fire officials and a canine handler connected with building the case against him. The man, Michael Espalin, was acquitted after two trails. He was suspected in approximately 40 arson fires.
The primary evidence against Espalin came from a bloodhound, and a “scent transfer unit” identified by the Los Angeles Times as a STU-100. The STU-100 is said to be capable of transferring human scent from an object (such as evidence at a crime scene) to a “5-by-9 inch gauze pad”, which the bloodhound can then use to track the subject. There was no physical evidence or witnesses that independently linked Espalin to the crime scenes.
The LA Times further reported that there have been several other cases where the scent transfer unit has apparently led to the arrest and prosecution of innocent people. More than $2.3 million has been paid to victims of those cases. In Espalin’s case, he was jailed for two years because he could not make bail that had been set at $500,000.
