Editing Henry Lee (forensic scientist)

{{Short description|Taiwanese-American forensic scientist}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Li (surname 李)|Lee]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Henry Lee
| native_name         = {{nobold|李昌鈺}}
| image               = President Steven H. Kaplan with Dr. Henry C. Lee and Sen. Dick Blumenthal (Lee cropped).jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Lee in 2013
| office              = Commissioner of the<br>[[Connecticut Department of Public Safety]]
| term_start          = 1998
| term_end            = 2000
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1938|11|22}}
| birth_place         = [[Rugao]], Jiangsu, China
| death_place         = 
| party               = 
| education           = {{ubl|[[Central Police University|Central Police College]]|[[John Jay College]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])|[[New York University]] ([[Master of Science|MS]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| occupation          = [[Forensic Scientist]]
| spouse              = {{ubl|{{marriage|Margaret Lee|1962|2017|reason={{abbr|d.|died}}}}|{{marriage|Xiaping Jiang|2018}}}}
| branch              = 
| rank                = 
| battles             = 
| governor            = [[John G. Rowland]]
| citizenship         = {{ubl|Taiwan|US (naturalized)}}
}}

'''Henry Chang-Yu Lee ''' ({{zh|t=李昌鈺|p=Lǐ Chāngyù}}; born 22 November 1938) is a Taiwanese and American [[forensic scientist]] and [[biochemist]].

==Early life and education==
The 11th of 13 children, Lee was born in [[Rugao]], then a county in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. He relocated to Taiwan at the end of the [[Chinese Civil War]]. His father, who was traveling separately from the rest of the family, diasappeared when the passenger ship ''[[Taiping (steamer)|Taiping]]'' sank. Lee graduated in 1960 from the [[National Police Agency (Republic of China)|Central Police College]] with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] degree in police administration. He worked with the [[Taipei]] Police Department, where he rose to the rank of captain at age 22, the youngest in Taiwanese history.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Mayor honors forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee | url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/12/21/2003216065 | access-date=20 January 2018 | work=Taipei Times | date=21 December 2004}}</ref>

Lee relocated to the United States with his wife in 1965.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Letting the Evidence Speak | url=http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12,29,33&post=23759 | access-date=20 January 2018 | work=Taiwan Today | date=1 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://cpuweb.cpu.edu.tw/e-profile.asp | website=Central Police University | title=About Central Police College | date=October 15, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023212422/http://cpuweb.cpu.edu.tw/e-profile.asp | archive-date=October 23, 2008 | url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1972, he earned a [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] in [[forensic science]] from [[John Jay College of Criminal Justice]] in New York City. He went on to study science and [[biochemistry]] at [[New York University]] and earned his [[Master's degree|M.S.]] in 1974 and [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in biochemistry in 1975.

==Career==
Lee was chief emeritus for the [[Connecticut State Police]] during 2000 to 2010, commissioner of Public Safety for Connecticut during 1998 to 2000, and Connecticut's chief criminalist and director of the state police forensic laboratory from 1978 to 2000.

In 2004, a crime documentary series hosted by Lee, ''Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee,'' aired on the then [[TruTV|Court TV]] network (now truTV).<ref>{{Cite web |last=MCN Staff |date=2003-09-18 |title=Court TV Collects Trace Evidence |url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/court-tv-collects-trace-evidence-148523 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=Multichannel News |language=en}}</ref> He has appeared on Chinese television and online programs such as ''KangXi Lai Le'' in Taiwan, and ''Voice'' and ''Beyond the Edge'' in [[China Central Television]] on mainland China.<ref>{{Cite web | title=开讲啦视频 | url=http://tv.cctv.com/lm/kjl/videoset/index.shtml#&Type=0&Y=2015&M=05 | website=CCTV-1 | publisher=CCTV | access-date=2017-12-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=挑战不可能第二季首页 | url=http://tv.cctv.com/lm/tzbkn2/index.shtml | website=CCTV | access-date=2017-12-11}}</ref>

His biography, ''True Crime Experiences with Dr. Henry Chang-Yu Lee'' was authored by attorney Daniel Hong Deng of [[Rosemead, California]].

He is the founder of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science, affiliated with the [[University of New Haven]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.henryleeinstitute.com/ | title=Front Page | website=The Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science | language=en-US | access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref>

===Famous cases===
He has worked on famous cases such as the [[JonBenét Ramsey|JonBenét Ramsey murder case]], the [[Helle Crafts|Helle Crafts wood chipper murder]] (the first murder conviction in Connecticut without the victim's body,<ref name="crimestory">
{{Cite video | series = [[Crime Stories (U.S. TV program)|Crime Stories]] | title = The Woodchipper Wife Killer | date = 2008}}
</ref>) the [[O. J. Simpson]] and [[Laci Peterson]] cases, the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 forensic investigation]], the [[Beltway sniper attacks|Washington, DC sniper shootings]] and reinvestigated the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]].

Lee investigated the [[March 19 shooting incident|March 19, 2004 shooting incident]] of Taiwanese President [[Chen Shui-bian]] and Vice President [[Annette Lu]].

Following the O. J. Simpson case, Independent Counsel [[Kenneth Starr]] hired Lee to join his investigation of the [[Suicide of Vince Foster|death of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster]] in [[Fort Marcy Park]] on July 20, 1993.

He also was consulted on the 1991 death of investigative journalist [[Danny Casolaro]], who died in a [[West Virginia]] motel room. Initially, Lee said the evidence presented to him by police was consistent with suicide. A few years later when additional evidence from the hotel scene was revealed to him, Lee formally withdrew his earlier conclusion and stated, "a reconstruction is only as good as the information supplied by the police.”<ref>{{Cite magazine | magazine=Spy | issue=Dec 1992–Jan 1993 | author=John Connolly | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oepe_lUpLWAC&pg=PA63 | title=Dead Right}}</ref>

Lee was consulted as a blood spatter analyst for defense during the [[Michael Peterson trial|trial of Michael Peterson]], a fiction writer and politician from North Carolina who in 2003 was convicted of the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

In 2007, Lee testified as a prosecution expert witness at the first trial of [[Disappearance of Michele Anne Harris|Cal Harris]], an [[upstate New York]] car dealer accused of killing his wife on the night of September 11, 2001. Since no body has ever been found, the state's best evidence of foul play was some medium-velocity castoff impact blood spatter on the walls of the house's garage and kitchen. Lee told the jury that it could only have come from someone lower than {{convert|29|in}} above ground. Harris was convicted at that trial, and a retrial after new evidence emerged,<ref>{{Cite court | litigants=People v. Harris | vol=2011 | reporter=NY Slip Op | opinion=6045 | court=[[New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division|N.Y.A.D]] 3rd | date=2011 | url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4342948080792115609 | access-date=August 18, 2021}}</ref> but ultimately acquitted at a fourth trial after his conviction was overturned on appeal.

In 2008, Lee was involved in the early stages of investigation in [[Orlando, Florida]] for the missing toddler [[Death of Caylee Anthony|Caylee Anthony]].<ref name="OS">{{Cite news | url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2010/12/01/casey-anthony-defense-team-files-expert-witness-list/ | author=<!--not stated--> | date=December 1, 2010 | title=Casey Anthony defense team files expert witness list | work=Orlando Sentinel | archive-url=https://archive.today/20231016052732/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2010/12/01/casey-anthony-defense-team-files-expert-witness-list/ | archive-date=October 16, 2023}}</ref>

====Phil Spector trial====
In May 2007, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, the judge in the [[Phil Spector]] murder trial, said that he had concluded "Lee hid or destroyed" a piece of [[evidence]] from the scene of actress [[Lana Clarkson]]'s shooting. Lee denied the allegation, and "when he testified before Fidler, Lee said he was astonished and insulted by claims by two former members of Spector's defense team that he had collected a small white object that was never turned over to prosecutors, as the law requires."<ref name=CNN>{{Cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/11/court.archive.spector4/index.html?iref=nextin | title=Spector murder trial: Misstep could haunt renowned scientist | author=Court TV | website=[[CNN]] | date=December 31, 2007}}</ref> University of Southern California law professor Jean Rosenbluth said that Judge Fidler's ruling was "very narrow" and noted that the judge had made no finding that Lee had lied on the stand or acted maliciously.<ref name="CNN"/>

====Allegations of error====
In June 2019, the Connecticut Supreme Court concluded that Lee had erred in the murder trial testimony of (then) teenagers Shawn Henning and Ralph Birch;<ref name="SC20137">{{Cite journal | journal=Connecticut Law Journal | last1=Robinson | first1=C. J. | date=June 14, 2019 | title=SHAWN HENNING v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION (SC 20137) | url=https://www.jud.ct.gov//external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR332/332CR35.pdf | access-date=August 3, 2023}}</ref> Lee said a towel tested positive for blood, but he had not tested it all. Later tests found no blood. ''[[The Daily Beast]]'' questioned additional cases in which Lee had testified.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/henry-lee-how-many-murder-cases-did-the-celebrity-forensic-scientist-botch | title=How Many Murder Cases Did Celeb Forensic Scientist Henry Lee Botch? | website=The Daily Beast | date=June 24, 2019 | access-date=August 3, 2023}}</ref> At a June 17 press conference, Lee said that he had tested the towel, adding that chemical screening tests for blood had been done at the crime scene on the date of the homicide.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Forensic-scientist-Henry-Lee-No-false-testimony-14004167.php | title=Forensic scientist Henry Lee: No false testimony in murder case | date=June 17, 2019 | website=New Haven Register}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/henry-lee-fabricated-murder-evidence-ef08de1e15148b3d48129ead10924009 | title=Judge finds forensic scientist Henry Lee liable for fabricating evidence in a murder case | date=July 21, 2023 | website=AP | access-date=August 3, 2023}}</ref>

In July 2023, a federal court found that Lee had fabricated evidence in the Henning-Birch trial. Lee could be held liable in forthcoming civil suits. Henning and Birch spent 30 years in prison before being cleared of the crime.<ref>{{Cite news | title=U.S. Court: Forensic scientist Henry Lee liable for fabricating evidence that sent two teens to prison for murder | url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-court-forensic-scientist-henry-195800945.html | work=Hartford Courant | date=22 July 2023}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Lee holds dual Taiwanese and US citizenship.<ref>{{cite news |last=陳 |first=重生 |script-title=zh:表態挺侯後返美！李昌鈺下月再婚新娘是中國企業家蔣霞萍 |url=https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2018-11-21/169879 |access-date=January 2, 2025 |work=[[:zh:Newtalk新聞|Newtalk News]] |date=November 21, 2018 |language=zh-tw}}</ref> Lee resides in Connecticut, where he lived with his wife Margaret Lee, whom he married in 1962, until her death on August 1, 2017. His wife worked as a teacher and then a researcher for the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]] Medical Center in [[West Haven, Connecticut]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://patch.com/connecticut/branford/wife-dr-henry-lee-mourned | title=Wife of Dr. Henry Lee Mourned | website=Patch | date=4 August 2017}}</ref>

Lee remarried on December 1, 2018 to Xiaping Jiang, CEO of Jiadi (Hong Kong) Co., Yangzhou Jiadi Clothing Co., Ltd, and Yangzhou Jiadi Senior Care Center.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://litchfield.bz/news/judge-gill-back-in-courthouse-to-conduct-a-wedding | title=Judge Gill back in courthouse to conduct a wedding | website=Litchfield.bz | date=December 3, 2018 | access-date=2018-12-09 | archive-date=2018-12-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165401/http://litchfield.bz/news/judge-gill-back-in-courthouse-to-conduct-a-wedding | url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Henry Lee (forensic scientist)}}
*[http://www.henryleeinstitute.com/ Official website] of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven
{{O. J. Simpson murder trial}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Henry}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American forensic scientists]]
[[Category:John Jay College of Criminal Justice alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Committee of 100]]
[[Category:New York University alumni]]
[[Category:O. J. Simpson murder case]]
[[Category:Scientists from Nantong]]
[[Category:State cabinet secretaries of Connecticut]]
[[Category:Taiwanese emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of New Haven faculty]]
[[Category:Central Connecticut State University faculty]]
[[Category:Central Police University alumni]]
[[Category:Chinese Civil War refugees]]
[[Category:American people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Taiwanese people from Jiangsu]]
[[Category:Taiwanese police officers]]