Fred Zain

Frederick Salem Zain (April 14, 1951 – December 2, 2002) was an American forensic laboratory technician in West Virginia and Bexar County, Texas, who falsified serology results to obtain convictions.

Background In 1977, Zain was hired as a chemist of the West Virginia State Police crime laboratory,

It was established later that Zain used false credentials to get hired by the state police crime lab. He claimed to have graduated from West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. He had indeed majored in biology, having graduated with a C average. He had never minored in chemistry, but had taken a few chemistry courses, all of which he either failed or barely passed. He had also failed an FBI course in forensic science. Nonetheless, no one checked his background.

Zain soon gained a reputation among West Virginia prosecuting attorneys for being able to solve extremely difficult cases. On that basis, Woodall was freed in 1992. Woodall subsequently sued the state for false imprisonment and won a $1 million settlement. As in West Virginia, the Texas investigation found numerous instances of Zain filing reports on tests that had never even been done, reporting negative results as positive, and describing inconclusive results as conclusive.

Zain was charged with fraud, but his trial was delayed indefinitely after he was diagnosed with liver cancer. In 2001, he was charged with four counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, but the jury deadlocked. A new fraud trial was later scheduled for July 2003. In December 2002, Zain succumbed to his liver cancer and died in his home in Ormond Beach, Florida.

Fallout from Zain's malfeasance continued for several years. In 2016, for instance, former minor league baseball player Jimmie Gardner had his 1987 sexual assault conviction thrown out on appeal after contending Zain misrepresented the evidence against him. In 2019, he reached a $175,000 settlement with the city of Charleston.