Frederick Salem Zain (April 14, 1951 – December 2, 2002)[1][2] was an American forensic laboratory technician in West Virginia and Bexar County, Texas, who falsified serology[3] results to obtain convictions.
In 1985, FBI Laboratory director James Greer told the West Virginia State Police that Zain had failed basic courses in serology and testing bloodstains.
[5] In 1987, Glen Woodall was convicted of a series of grisly felonies at Huntington Mall, including two cases of sexual assault, principally on Zain's testimony regarding semen from one of the victims.
Forbes was so disturbed by what he found that he asked the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to appoint a special judge and a panel of lawyers and scientists to investigate the serology department.
[7] On November 4, 1993, Senior Circuit Court Judge James Holliday issued a report finding that Zain had engaged in a staggering litany of misconduct and outright fraud.
The Supreme Court unanimously accepted Holliday's report on November 12, terming Zain's actions "egregious violations of the right of a defendant to a fair trial" and a "corruption of our legal system".
[4][7] An investigation in Texas found that while working with the Bexar County medical examiner's office, Zain had engaged in misconduct and fraud that may have resulted in as many as 180 wrongful convictions.
West Virginia alone eventually paid a combined total of $6.5 million to settle lawsuits by people who had been convicted wrongfully due to Zain.