Maggot sleuthing

Two years ago, entomologist Richard Merritt from Michigan State University pulled an all-nighter in a Toronto hotel room to prepare for seven hours of testimony about a court case so controversial it precipitated the abolition of Canada's death penalty. As part of his testimony, Merritt had to review the size, age, and species of a handful of maggots photographed and described from a crime scene 47 years earlier; his conclusions could redeem the reputation of a man who has contested the guilty verdict ever since. "I've testified in about 25 trials," says Merritt, "and this was the most intense."