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."
