Can you tell me about your education and professional journey?
My background is in chemistry. I got my bachelor’s in chemistry from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia which is an HBCU. An incident happened while I was an undergrad that prompted me to explore a career as a lawyer. There was a case in which I had an attorney who wasn’t the right one for me. This inspired me to research how attorneys train to properly defend clients. Long before this incident, I was interested in pursuing a PhD in forensics because I’ve been obsessed with forensics since I was a kid, but this incident was the catalyst that made me decide to go into law.
I got my PhD in May of 2023 from WVU, and I was the first African American in the program to graduate with this doctorate. I’m also the only African American in the country to hold a PhD in forensic and investigative sciences. I didn’t realize that until after I graduated and started asking around. Now, I’m in my second year at WVU College of Law.
What was it like working on your PhD? Did you feel alone in your journey, or were you able to find support?
Truthfully, I think it depended on the day. There were other black students in the undergraduate program, and there was one black student in the master’s program. However, I was the only black woman in the PhD program, and you could say I was sort of singled out because I was the first direct admit into the PhD program. I don’t have a master’s degree as I went directly from undergrad to my PhD, and that program typically requires you to have a master’s.
I started my PhD right after I turned 22, and everybody else was aged 26 and up, so I already felt a little bit behind. On top of that, I don’t think I was in the correct mindset to be a graduate student. I was fresh out of undergrad and barely 22 years old, and I don’t think I was ready to fully be an adult. I’m happy to say I was supported by my classmates as well as those who graduated before me, and some of them have become mentors.
I was lucky enough to have a great advisor, Dr. Tatiana Trejos. She’s at the top of her subfield which is trace evidence examination, and she was somebody I could lean on. She was like the mom of our research group. Also, I made some friends and met members of the black community which was a great experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
If I had to do it over again, I think I would have waited until I was a little more mature to start a program like that because it was so intense. I’m sure everyone has a little bit of impostor syndrome like I do. It’s something I’m actively working through in therapy, but it’s something that takes time to go away, like most issues. The further I progress in my educational career, the worse my impostor syndrome gets. Finding out I’m the first African American—and the only African American—in the country to have these doctorates made it worse. I got into law school, and my partner and I won a trial competition where we were the first black women to win. Those accolades are great, but I also feel like the more I achieve, the harder it is to accept that I deserve these achievements.
What main goal do you hope to achieve in your career?
I want to create my own forensic consulting firm. I plan to handle criminal law cases with a heavy forensic aspect so I can bridge the two disciplines. I’m passionate about criminal justice reform and wrongful convictions, and I want to reduce the wrongful convictions that are happening. Everybody deserves adequate representation. If you’re going to be a criminal defense attorney or a prosecutor practicing criminal law, then you have to truly commit to doing your job properly, so you don’t let the wrong person get put behind bars or let the wrong person go free.
I can create a firm to give people the opportunity to be properly represented as well as educate lawyers on the forensics side and educate scientists on the law. What scientists say in court shapes the lawyers’ presentation. You don’t want to give too much weight to the evidence, but you don’t want to make the evidence seem less important than what it is.
Can you tell me more about wrongful convictions and how it is addressed in the world of legal defense?
Only the big cases are televised, but let’s take Anthony Ray Hinton as an example. He was on death row in Alabama for 30 years for two murders, and in 2015, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction because they had new evidence and expert testimony proving the gun used in the murders was not the same gun from his mother’s house.
This past summer in Detroit I got to observe the Michael Jackson Bolanos trial which went on for about 6 weeks, and he was a black and Hispanic man accused of murdering a white woman. I listened to the entire trial every day and—being somebody who is a forensic scientist and is now in law school—I’m confident they charged the wrong person. Thankfully, the jury was hung on the charges, so he was only found guilty of a misdemeanor rather than three felonies plus a misdemeanor. I think if the jury felt slightly differently then he could have been in prison for the rest of his life. So, once he is cleared of all charges, the process still costs months of his life that he won’t get back. The entire family is disrupted as well, so that’s quite a high cost to pay even if he managed to dodge conviction. I think restitution is good in certain instances, but how do you give someone their life back? Michael Jackson Bolano’s face was all over the news when the murder happened in October 2023, and the trial was nationally televised. I was in the courtroom during the trial, and there were people from all over the state who came to observe. He can’t go anywhere without someone recognizing him. Applying for a job becomes difficult because employers will know he was on trial for murder which could deter them from hiring him—even though they aren’t supposed to hold it against him. His life is never going to be the same. I feel like charges shouldn’t be brought against somebody unless there is substantial evidence to back it up, but I know that’s not the way the law works.
I know you were honored as Miss Black West Virginia 2025. What inspired you to participate in the pageant? What was it like when you won?
I’ve had a couple of friends who have done pageants, and I never really thought that was my style. I’m more of a tomboy, and I don’t dress up often. I’m not a heels-and-makeup type of girl—though there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m very grungy sometimes and don’t mind getting dirty. Well, one day I was speaking with my mentor who is an attorney in Charleston, and she is also Ms. Black West Virginia USA. She told me she was going to apply, and I said to myself “You know what? If she can do it, I can do it.” She and I are very much alike, and I thought it could be a good opportunity for us to continue our mentor/mentee workshops. Having Attorney Kusimo-Frazier as someone who believes I can do anything has been a driving factor in my life since we first met.
The pageant was also an opportunity for me to network. Prior to being Miss Black West Virginia, I lived in this state for six years and hadn’t traveled past Fairmont. West Virginia is home now, and I plan to practice here, so it was time to see different parts of the state and discover how I could get more involved in the community. Around this time, I created a platform called S.L.A.Y. which is short for Science and Law Advancement in Youth. I’m passionate about getting more kids involved in the sciences as well as legal careers. I feel there’s not enough female lawyers in this country, and there’s not enough minority lawyers either. The same can be said about the sciences. There are more minorities than women scientists, but the numbers are still low. A lot of people are interested in science as well as law, but they don’t know they don’t have to take the traditional pathway to get there. They can do both, like I did.
I had zero legal knowledge prior to law school, but now I’m winning mock trial competitions and making my own path in life. I’m a nontraditional student as I started my education in science. People are always interested to discover I come from a science background, and I am somebody who almost failed biology in high school but went on to get a PhD in a chemistry field. You really can do anything you put your mind to. Also, it’s OK to have tutors. It’s OK to have mentors. I’ve had all of them, and I think it’s important to start talking to the younger generation about different careers. We need more doctors, scientists, and lawyers. Being Miss Black West Virginia allows me to reach into the community to do that. Right now, I am focusing on educating elementary and middle school students because that is the age kids start noticing the different types of careers around them. My target age range is between the ages of 7 and 13, and I want to engage those kids and let them know science is fun and learning the law is fun as well. Hopefully, they choose a career in one of those disciplines.
It sounds like mentorship has played a big role in your life, and now you’re paying it forward by offering mentorship to young people. Could you tell me a little bit more about your mentor and what mentorship means to you?
My mentor is a woman named Olubunmi Kusimo-Frazier, and she’s a trial attorney in Charleston. I connected with her through the Black Law Students Association. At first her role was supposed to be more like an advisor answering questions or offering guidance on different career paths—things like that, but she’s become one of my best friends. I talk to her about everything from school, internships, relationships, and life. She’s been there for me in ways I truly could not have imagined. She has introduced me to some amazing people I would not have met otherwise because she knows everybody, and everybody loves her. I think the best thing about this mentorship is finally having a role model who looks like me. I had teachers in undergrad who were black women, but there was no one else in forensics who looked like me. Now I have someone I can look up to, and I can talk with woman-to-woman. She’s everything I want to be in 15 to 20 years, or so I hope.
I’m mentoring a child in elementary school right now, and she is the sweetest little girl I’ve ever met. Her mom is a medical doctor, so she already has a great role model, but she wants to be a lawyer. I’m teaching her the ins and outs of law school and undergrad. I hope to introduce her to my mentor so she can see that there’s more black women in the scene.
You were selected as a presenter at Black Policy Day in Charleston, WV. Can you tell me more about that?
My experience at Black Policy Day was phenomenal. This was my first time attending, and I didn’t even know Black Policy Day existed until Dr. Smith reached out to me. As the Vice President of the WVU College of Law’s Black Law Student Association, I hope to get other members involved in this annual event.
Attending Black Policy Day opened my eyes to how many organizations in West Virginia are actively pushing for changes and advocating for basic human rights like gender equality. I was aware of the more commonly known groups like Greek organizations or the ACLU, but I had no idea how many other organizations there were until I saw all the tables set up with information. I was floored because I didn’t realize so many people were there to advocate for others, and it really warms my heart. Black Policy Day is making an impact for everybody.
What advice do you have for other women who want to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t let anyone dull your shine. I have a lot of people who support and love me, and I have people who are there for me. Yet, there are also people who are waiting for me to fail, and I let that motivate me.
My advice for those following in my footsteps—or even creating their own path—is to stick to it. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be confusing at times because you are not following a path that’s already been laid out for you. As long as you don’t let anybody dull your shine, then you can achieve whatever you want.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’m writing a seminar paper I’m hoping to get published. It’s called “Forensics in Criminal Law: Bridging the Gap Between Minorities and Indigent People.” It focuses on how forensics and criminal law overlap and how forensics has been misunderstood or misinterpreted to the point it has resulted in wrongful convictions. It also focuses on the need for criminal justice reform. Hopefully, it will be published by the law school, which means anyone can access it for free, but I’m not sure when it will be published. It’ll cover the background of forensics, dispel myths, and explain why it’s not just junk science.
Interview conducted, transcribed, and written by Marlynda Arnett, Program Innovation Leader for West Virginia Women Work.
