Ways of addressing the issue of problem SBI agents.
Regularly provide agency oversight of agents' reports and testimony. Agency officials say they now perform only occasional spot checks on agent testimony.
Require field agents to record all interviews with witnesses and subjects. Isley did not record his interview with Floyd Brown; he took his first notes more than three hours after he began speaking with him.
Make personnel files publicly available when legitimate questions surface about an agent's performance. The SBI has routinely fought to withhold these records, even when defense attorneys petition for them in court.
Take seriously criticisms raised in court orders. Isley's work was called into question in 2007, when a Superior Court judge freed Brown.
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The conviction in 2003 of Durham novelist Michael Peterson was obtained with “materially misleading” and “deliberately false” testimony from a State Bureau of Investigation agent who was a crucial witness about blood evidence in the murder case that spawned TV movies, books and a film, according to a written order filed on Wednesday. 
Until a few weeks ago, you probably thought that I was the baddest Santa you'd ever seen. That was before Duane Deaver offered expert testimony during trials of convicted murderers. 
Duane Deaver's work paved the path for Michael Peterson's new trial. His testimony also could force another look at the sentences of several other convicted murderers. 
When Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson ordered a new trial for Durham author Michael Peterson, he uttered a phrase seldom used by a judge describing the conduct of an SBI agent on the witness stand: "perjured testimony." 
Durham novelist Michael Peterson walked out of the Durham County Jail shortly after 6 p.m. today, joining his family for the first time after eight years in prison. Peterson spoke briefly after leaving the jail, saying he looks forward to proving his innocence in a "fair trial." 
Michael Peterson's hearing for a new trial this month was not the first time his defense team had challenged the credentials of former State Bureau of Investigation agent Duane Deaver. 
State Bureau of Investigation records of former agent Duane Deaver's cases show that Deaver had not done any work involving people hurt or killed in falls when he testified at the murder trial of Durham novelist Michael Peterson, according to testimony Tuesday. 
The Michael Peterson hearing took on some trappings of a film festival Thursday, somehow appropriate for a criminal case that has spawned documentaries and a feature film. 
To win a new trial, Durham novelist Michael Peterson and his lawyers are arguing that former SBI agent Duane Deaver tailored his expert witness testimony not to the facts or science of a case, but to what prosecutors wanted him to say. Keep up with the latest stories with our free local news e-mail newsletters, delivered straight to your inbox!
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