Texas innocence group derides use of dogs to sniff out criminals in lineups as junk science

Texas group derides scent IDs as junk science

DALLAS — A group that tries to free wrongly convicted people says scent identifications using trained dogs are based on junk science and should be scrapped.

The Innocence Project of Texas says it will release a report next week outlining its reasons why scent identifications should be inadmissible in court. Texas and Florida are the only states that regularly use the method.

The Texas group is critical of Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Deputy Keith Pikett, who says his trained dogs have sniffed out criminals in more than 2,000 scent identification lineups.

Pikett has been sued by two men who were charged after being picked in his lineups. Charges were later dropped in both cases.

Pikett’s attorney, Randall Morse, says his client believes the identifications are accurate.